There is a big gap between wealthy and poor people and it has grown a lot over the years. One part of England is doing well, while the other part is struggling and facing bigger challenges.
It causes a lot of difficulties for the poor, but is it just materialistic or is it also psychological? In the essay “Poverty is a state of mind” by Bernard Hare from 2012, originally broadcasted on BBC radio 3, he reflects on his life growing up poor and talks about how he finds poverty as something controlled by your mind.
Hare is a social worker and a writer. He was born in Leed in 1958 and grew up in poverty. His father was a coal miner, and his mother was a shop worker in a department store, even though they both had a job, they were poor, probably because of the time they used on the pub drinking and smoking. But Hare did not have a problem with that since he did not feel poor at that time. In the story we follow Hare through his life as a child in poverty, social worker, back to poverty, helping a group of children, and then becoming a writer.

I am going to analyse this essay by focusing on Hare’s own experiences, his use of contrast, and his intention in writing this essay.
Even though Hare grew up in poverty, he did not notice it much in his childhood. By looking back, Hare sees that they had a good social circle in the neighbourhood, love, and the things needed to survive: “As far as I was concerned, we had warmth, love, shelter, enough to eat – except towards the end of the week sometimes, as most people got paid in cash on Friday – and a safe community environment to run around and play in.” (p.2 l. 51-57) Because of that he never felt poor, he was grateful for where he grew up.
It seems, that because of his grandmother he went to grammar school, which prevented him for ending like his dad, so he later on could get a good education. Next, he wanted to get out of poverty, because he got arrested a couple of times, and he thought poverty and his disaffection with society affected him badly. So he got into a university to become a social worker, but through the education he drank and smoked. He says: “You can take the boy out of poverty, but you can’t take the poverty out of the boy. I was raised in the drink culture and I took it with me.” (p. 3 l. 163-166) Here he experiences how poverty actually does have affection on him later on in his life.
But when everything began to look better, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher got in charge, which affected the miners, including his father. Therefor Hare felt he was in the mid-dle of it all. He wanted revenge and got into a bad environment, again. He says: “The world of drugs is the world of crime – and when you no longer care about society, or feel any obligation towards it, no longer feel the need to pay taxes, a whole range of possibilities open up.” (p.4. l. 212-217) After that he just wasted his life away, until one day he saw an example of child poverty and ended up being their only adult they could look up to. That is where it changed him, he writes: “They left me with the little choice but to get my old social work books out and start cleaning up my act.” (p. 4 l. 260-262) Because of that, he no longer wanted revenge and he started to become a writer.
By experiencing all of this, he discovers how poverty is not only materialistic, as he says: “Poverty isn’t only about a lack of money and resources. The worst poverty is found when there is a lack of education, understanding, hope – liberty fraternity, egality, as the French say.” (p.4 l. 288-292) But poverty can also be physiological. He was happy in his childhood because of the beloved times with his dad: “I loved spending time with my dad and his work-mates in the pub.” (p. 5 l. 296-297) and “I loved the noise of dominoes clattering on tables, the lilting Yorkshire voices, the tongue-in-cheek arguments over a few pence in change, and their loving insults and banter. Their lives depended on each other underground and they were as close as men can be.” (p.5 l. 312-319)

The contrast in the story is the big gap between the rich and poor. As said before, when the Prime Minister Thatcher got in charge, it looked bad for the miners. They were the ones who got all the blame. When Hare tries to help them by collecting money in pubs in London, there are two different reactions, as he describes: “I went into pubs in London shaking a bucket, collecting for the cause. In some pubs, I filled the bucket. In others, I was spat at and pelted with food.” (p. 3 l. 185-188)
If you were poor your opinion did not mean anything, and when the miners got back to work they were still unimportant, he writes: “The miners marched back to work in 1985, battered and beaten, but defiant. Most would be redundant within the year.” (p. 3. l. 198-201) This shows how the low standing people were not respected, and how they were struggling and facing tougher challenges than before.

The intention behind writing this essay, Hare wants to inform us how it has been growing up in a poor environment. It was not bad only, but it got worse later on when people with a higher social standard treated them badly. As said before, he had a good childhood with people who cared and they got food on the table. But society made it harder and harder for them to continue living like that. Therefor, it is an eye-opener to people, showing us how it has been for those who were and are poor.
As Hare has witnessed poverty in England since the fifties, he got a lot of relevant information and experiences from the poor side of the country, and how it has developed through the years. He wanted to tell his side of the story, good and bad sides, for him, but also for everyone else who was living in poverty.

So, is poverty just materialistic? Or is it psychological too?
Hare experiences good things in poverty such as good social environment, but also bad things, which could be overcome by just having people who cared around you. He sees, how the poor people stick together against the rich end of the country, the higher standing people. So yes, Hare proves how poverty also is psychological, that the materialistic stuff did not mean that much when he was away earning money, he was not happier than before. When he was with his family and friends in the poor environment, he was fulfilled. Trough his story, it appears how Hare thinks poverty is not something you are born into, but something that is caused by you.
This also links to the title, “Poverty is a state of mind”, poverty is what you make it to be.