Both Gabrielle Roy and David Adams Richards have delved into the reality of poverty among Canadian families. Roy's novel, The Tin Flute, depicts the pain and hardship of poverty, through her portrayal of the Lacasse family. Florentine Lacasse fervently attempts to detach herself from her family's financial situation, only to realise that it is a battle she cannot win. Similarly, the Hendersons must endure the misery that has been brought upon them by their poverty, in Richards' Mercy Among the Children. Lyle, the eldest boy, is conflicted between his family's desolation and his pursuit of economic power. While Florentine's hopes and wishes conceal the harsh reality that is her poverty, Lyle's anger prevents him from confronting it. Both attempt to resolve their issues through relationships, physical appearance and charity, only to feel isolated from society in the end.
The poor often seem to believe that if they associate with rich people, their wealth might be transmissible to them.
Lyle
Lyle
LyleFor her family to afford their pitiful home in the working-class neighbourhood of St. Henri in Montreal, Florentine must work as a waitress at the Five and Ten. There, she meets Jean Lévesque, a young man who Florentine believes is her ticket out of poverty:
It seemed to Florentine that if she leaned closer to him she would breathe the odour of the great, exciting city. She could see St. Catherine Street, the department-store windows, the elegant Saturday-night crowd. . . Sometimes, not often, she had gone out with boys, but they'd only taken her to the neighbouring movie house or some dingy suburban theatre. . . How this unknown young man made the lights shine brighter, the crowd seem gay, and springtime on the point of burgeoning in the wretched trees of St. Henri! (Roy, 17)
Florentine interprets downtown...