Synopsis
Fe has the opportunity of a lifetime. The sort of life-altering event that economically challenged minorities pray for. All of her efforts, all her blood, sweat, and tears have paid off with a single letter of acceptance from the Business College of the University of Texas at Austin. So long as she’s able to come up with her share of the tuition that isn’t covered by student loans, within months, Fe, a young Latina woman, will transfer out of community college to earn the credentials that will lead to the real job opportunities she has always dreamed of. She’d be the first in her family to achieve this and rise from the economic hole they’ve been in since her grandfather immigrated from Terreon, Mexico, gaining his citizenship through military service during World War II. However, all of Fe’s dreams seemingly melt away on this day as she stares down at a positive readout on the pregnancy test she just took.
Fe’s moral fiber is shaken when they’re pitted against her economic needs. She faces the reality of an abortion pill that will make her problems disappear leaving a blot in her very being. That is until her employer, whom happens to see the pillbox at a glance within her purse, makes Fe an offer that’s almost impossible to refuse. Angela Torres Marshal is an opportunist that heads a non-profit center where Fe works as her apprentice. However, never mind any conflicts of interest, Angela, whom is unable to bare children of her own, will see to it that the non-profit center foots the bill for Fe’s college fund, and wipes out her debt in exchange for her child. Suddenly Fe’s moral dilemma and future wellbeing compound in both possibility and corruption, neither of which can be traded for the other.
With both her morals and future in a bind, Fe seeks the comfort of her boyfriend (the father of her potential child), Julian, whom she hasn’t told for fear of losing him. After all, he has problems of his own. The U.S. is about to invade Iraq so the government has begun offering signing bonuses of up to twenty thousand dollars to new recruits. Given that her boyfriend is into the arts and a minority at a low-income level, his family is pressuring him to join the National Guard. After all, he’d be able to earn college credit and a paycheck while serving his country. Since they’re predicting that the U.S. military will tear through Iraq like it did a decade before with as much or perhaps even more efficiency than Afghanistan, no one expects the Guard to do anything but protect the homeland.
Before Fe’s able to make a decision she’s met with yet another obstacle. Julian’s mother gets wind of her potential deal with Angela. She insists that her son get a portion of the money since the unborn child is his as well. With the money, she knows she can get Julian into a good school and deviate from their military plan.
It becomes clear that in a world governed by the almighty dollar, Fe’s moral qualms don’t fit in with the scheme of things. In essence, she risks doing what might be considered right by keeping the child and struggling for success the entirety of her life, do what might be considered smart by selling her unborn baby for financial security and a promising future or rid herself of the problem all together by aborting it, though the business bridge that her employer provides would be tarnished and her moral being may never recover.
Fe discovers that life has a price tag. To put it simply, there is a cost to living. With the burden of deciding between the success of her family or an addition to it, being too much to bare, Fe’s final decision lies in a leap of faith. The Cost Of Living is a story about a young American woman struggling with her own fading culture, moral standing and socio-economic state. It focuses on American culture as defined by social class, making The Cost Of Living an American story, not a minority tale.
