Elsie Harris Analysis

Elsie Harris was born on September 18, 1961 in Martinsville, Indiana, seventh out of nine children. She grew up in a nicer, friendlier, simpler time. Kids respected their parents and did whatever needed done, and family mattered. People were not as cruel as they are now, aside from “pesky brothers”, Elsie says. You did not have to be afraid to let your kids go out and play. One way or another, food always made it to the table, even if there was not any. Times were tough, but they had all they ever needed: love. From 1962-1971 Elsie lived in what was known as Downyville. A man named Mr. Downy rented 7 cabins in the woods just outside of Martinsville to poor people. The cabins were in a circle. Several other families in the same boat as Elsie’s

Times like these were simpler. Similar to many at the time, Elsie picked up smoking at the age of 14. A year later her father died of a heart attack; that same week she dropped out of her second week of high school to eventually get married because she found out she was pregnant. She doesn’t remember much of the fall and winter of 1976.

Elsie’s childhood reflects the lifestyle of the poor in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. There was a great deal of poor at that time. Subsequently, in the mid ‘60s, various laws were passed to prevent poverty. Some call it the war on poverty. Food stamps were born, and welfare. Social security, Medicare, and Medicaid were created. It seems that Elsie enjoyed these laws firsthand, based on what she says about her government cheese.

The Vietnam War began in 1965 and ended in 1973, which was a great chunk of Elsie’s life. This war was the first war publicized on TV and other forms of media simply because the technologies were fresh. In 1973 Nixon claimed he was not a “crook” in the Watergate scandal, and in 1974 the terror scare of Patty Hearst’s abduction filled the news. Progressively more civilians were gaining access to world news,