Life for young Elva Treviño Hart was less than ideal and in her autobiography, Barefoot Heart, she vividly explains the backbreaking work, financial hardships and hardships emotions of a migrant worker's faces. Influenced by the difficulties of daily life, migrant work, school life and society, Elva was shown time and time again what life would be like if she had not made the effort to change her predestined life. Too often, people like Elva Treviño who are born into poverty will continue to live in such conditions for the rest of their lives; however, growing up in unfavorable conditions will have a great positive influence on the life decisions someone like Elva makes. Many people will sooner or later face some sort of economic hardship; however, it is safe to say that many people do not really know what extreme poverty means. The Treviño family knows firsthand what it's like to work boring, boring jobs for very little pay. The life of a migrant worker is nothing to be desired. Simple things that most would take for granted such as variety in food, bathing, clean clothes and beds are things Elva has learned to live with. “We couldn't bathe every day since it was such a big production. But [Mom] made us wash our feet every night” (125). A simple task for any normal person is a big production for a migrant family that has no indoor plumbing. People living in poverty often do not have a large wardrobe, which means that the few clothes they own often remain dirty because even washing clothes is a production. “Ama scrubbed the clothes on the washboard while the rest of us took a bath. She bathed last while the rest of us rinsed off and hung up the clothes she had washed. This was the only opportunity… middle of paper… negative things happened in his childhood and he decided to turn them into positive motivation for a prosperous and fulfilled life. Elva who grew up wishing she could now have everything she wanted. His children should not have wanted things like clean clothes and bathing. However, when a person doesn't have the struggles and tribulations that Elva had to go through, what becomes their motivation? Let's hope it's not all about the money. Elva was determined to have a successful life, she never defined success as being rich. Many people dream of leaving poverty behind, but unfortunately many people abandon their dream early and never get to experience success like Elva. All it takes is a little honest hard work, determination, education and the desire to never sleep on a cold, dirty floor again. Works Cited Hart, Elva Treviño. Barefoot heart. Tempe: Bilingual Press, 1999.