Inside The Poverty
People in United states tend to ignore the complex problems the country is facing but focuses on the dominance of the country. People only looks at the surface of the United States and neglects problem about poverty. The bigger cities, like Los Angeles and New York, are mostly impacted by the poverty. It is important to recognize the impact of the poverty in order to understand the complex problem of the United States. In George Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London”, the author provides a vivid image of the poverty and the impact on the people’s daily lives. In 1933 London and Paris, the condition of the poverty was much critical due to lack of support from the government. When we compare the 21st century poverty
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An article from the Atlantic, my life as a retail worker: Nasty, Brutish and poor, provides the inside details of the contemporary low-wage job. The author, Joseph Williams, goes through the challenges being a low-wage employee and the additional side jobs he has to perform. The low-wage workers, who earn little more than minimum wage, are treated unfairly by the upper management in today’s occupations. In the article, Williams have to do extra work after their shits without any overtime pay. Williams had to “mop the floors in the bathroom, replace the toilet paper and scrub the toilets if necessary” and also “Vacuum and Empty the garbage. Wipe down the glass front doors, every night, even if they don’t really need it. It was all part of the job, done after your shift has ended but without overtime pay” (Joseph Williams). The research shows people with higher position jobs take advantage of the low-wage workers. They recognize the low-wage employees need the job to survive and are less likely to quit the job. Therefore, they can force the low-wage employees to perform extra labor. Also, the management has problem trusting low-wage workers. Williams explains how the security “pats the retail workers down” and checks their “bottom of the backpack” before they leave the store for breaks (Williams). The managements recognize the low-wage salary can’t afford other things than paying for lodging and food, so they believe the employees will likely to steal from their work. Also, in down and out in London and Paris, George Orwell goes through same unfair labor practices and lack of trust when working as a “ploungers” in Hotel X. After each shifts, the security checked for stolen food, he says “Then he stepped out into the passage, made me take off my coat and carefully prodded me all over, searching for stolen food”
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
David K. Shipler in his essay At the Edge of Poverty talks about the forgotten America. He tries to make the readers feel how hard is to live at the edge of poverty in America. Shipler states “Poverty, then, does not lend itself to easy definition” (252). He lays emphasis on the fact that there is no single universal definition of poverty. In fact poverty is a widespread concept with different dimensions; every person, country or culture has its own definition for poverty and its own definition of a comfortable life.
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler describes about the lives of United States citizens who live within poverty. He highlights the U.S.’s disregard for its working poor, the nature of poverty, and the causes of poverty faced by low-wage earners. Shipler performs an amazing job with describing the factors that play their parts into the lives of U.S. citizens who live are poor and within poverty.
With his book How the Other Half Lives, Riis offers the audience a glimpse into the unsettling and unnoticed reality of the urban poverty in America at the turn of the 19th century. Not only he revealed the dark side of the society, he also showed the urgent need for change. Riis used emotional as well as logical appeal to support his argument in favor of the need for a social reform. By combining powerful pictures and detailed annotations accounting the conditions of life in the New York, Riis made How the Other Half Lives unique and very effective in delivering his message and initiating a change.
Orwell was an accurate analyst of social conditions in the 1930s in communicating issues of unemployment and social perceptions existing after the detrimental international economic halt provoked by the Wall Street market Crash of 1929. Leading into The Great Depression, Orwell gives a first-hand account of the living and working conditions of the working-class in Britain, gaining insight into ideologies different from what he had been taught in his middle-class upbringing. In his account, the economic upheaval in Britain provides a basis for social issues to be addressed through a physical engagement with the working-class.
After substantial decreases in the 1990s, poverty rates stopped their decline in 2000 and have actually started to again creep upward. The great conundrum of how one simultaneously alleviates the multiple causes of poverty has become a central obstacle to poverty reduction. Into this debate comes author David Shipler, a former New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner, with an aptly titled look at the state of poverty in America today, The Working Poor. Shipler's book is more anecdotal and descriptive than analytical and prescriptive. Yet it is a valuable portrait of poverty in America, just as Michael Harrington's landmark book, The Other America, was in 1962. While he does not offer many concrete solutions, Shipler provides readers with an intimate glimpse of the plight of the working poor, whose lives are in sharp contrast to the images of excess w...
In the novel 1984, George Orwell elaborates on the idea of an autocratic government. This novel describes Orwell’s views on the dark, twisted form of government that he believes will develop in future years. The culture he created for this story was the most horrifying, troubling place a person could reside. The goals of the Party consisted of keeping the citizens squared away and oblivious to the unethical actions taking place around them. This unrealistic society gave Orwell the opportunity to create a vision of what a future communist nation might resemble. The purpose of this work is believed to be informative to citizens of how the government impacts our way of thinking, living, and believing. Fear from the citizens is used as manipulation by the government; this means the government shapes the citizens that will not conform to their society. Throughout this writing, the author remains in a dark, cold mood; thus, creating the feeling of negativity and opposition to the government. Ethical appeal is revealed in this
Insular poverty, elucidated by Professor John Kenneth Galbraith in his 1969 essay, The Position of Poverty, refers to the collages of people who are poor because the designation of their lives trap them on ‘social islands’ where nearly everyone is living in these standards. (Galbraith 404) Poverty has flagrantly become a ‘back of the mind’ subject in America. The underlying question remains; is American society responsible for the uprise of insular poverty? Despite the "efforts" America puts off to relieve the world of insular poverty, American society is indefinitely responsible for its popularity due to the absence of will for the impoverished to climb out of the hole of poverty, the absence of opportunities given to poverty minority, the absence of compassion for the povertized.
Symbols usually consist of objects, characters, or figures expressing a larger concept or idea. In 1984, symbols find themselves in many main ideas and themes. Some symbols are used to represent a deeper meaning in characters and plot, while others show comparison and contrast between ideas. Several of these symbols are clearly shown throughout the book, catching the attention of the reader to further the understanding of the battling themes. Sometimes, words do not come close to describing what is going on.
The book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external conflict between Winston Smith and Big Brother; and the internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. Orwell wrote the novel to show society what it could become if things kept getting worse: he sensed of the expansion of communism when he wrote the novel. The conflict between democracy and totalitarianism at the year of 1945 created two characters, Winston Smith and Big Brother, in orwell's mind. Big Brother is the embodiment of all the ideals of the totalitarian party. In contrast to Big Brother, Winston Smith keeps the idea of democracy emphasizes freedom, he has to hide his own thought because the Big Brother's party will punish him by death if the party finds it out. George orwell criticizes of Big Brother's society by describing it as a dark and a gloomy place. It warns that people might believe that everyone must become slaves to the government in order to have an orderly society, but at the expense of the freedom of the people.
According to Schwartz-Nobel, America will lose as much as 130 billion in future productive capacity for every year that 14.5 American children continue to live in poverty (Koppelman and Goodhart, 2007). Sadly the seriousness of poverty is still often clouded by myths and misunderstandings by society at large. This essay studies the issue of poverty and classism in today's society.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero.
England in the nineteen-thirties was a very bleak and dark time for the working class and unemployed citizens. In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell, describes the overlooked injustices that happened in in Northern British industrial towns. Orwell depicts his experiences and views on social class and English society. The book is an eye-opener to the challenging hardships that many of the working class gentry faced during the years of the depression; Things such as, horrible housing, social injustices, and a lack of consideration from the government. The primary focus of part one, was to inform the middle class people that the unemployed were victims or a corrupt society, government, and economy.
George Orwell’s 1984 created the term “Orwellian,” and this term continues to play a significant role in today’s society. “Orwellian” is a term often used to refer to a society or an aspect of society that exhibits some characteristic of 1984’s Oceania. When Orwell wrote this novel, he was predicting what the technology would be in the future. A recent New York Post article proves that technology has surpassed Orwell’s expectations. The article specifically explains mysterious actions taken by the FBI. Some FBI planes have the ability to capture video and cellphone activity. This situation is similar to George Orwell’s 1984, as they both invade people’s privacy by capturing video and listening to conversations. The technology of the 21st century is closely linked to the technology used by Big Brother in 1984.
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell The story of "Down And Out In Paris And London" deals with the author's experience with tramps and the poverty stricken in Paris and London in the 1920 - The '20s. He lives with them on equal terms and suffers the same hardships and tribulations. Orwell shows great compassion for the plight of the poor and feels that society is very unfair in their criticism and judgment of the tramps and beggars. that roam the streets of the city. He feels that these people are victims of their circumstances.