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Being trapped in poverty is a form of helplessness that some of us couldn’t even imagine. The short essay “What Is Poverty?” by Jo Goodwin Parker, gives an extremely detailed interpretation of what that may be like. In the essay she describes her present life, her past life, and even what she thinks her future will be. She also allows us to understand that she’s not the only one being affected by her poverty, but her children are being affected by it as well. Parker does an exceptional job of catching the reader’s attention using various techniques of writing. For example, illustrations or analogies, short and repeating sentences, sentences beginning with And or But, and a closer that could’ve had an emotional impact.
In this essay, Jo Goodwin Parker uses different metaphors and analogies to describe her surroundings and her feelings. These metaphors and analogies help give us an image or an idea of what she was actually going through. They paint a good picture and could make us feel some of what she feels. She talks about the red cloud of shame and the black cloud of despair, these colors can be affiliated with
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She also includes a phrase that could leave the reader with a thought or an answer. She says “The poor are always silent. Can you be silent too?” this leaves her audience with something intense to think about. That means that it can also leave the reader upset or angry with their own ideas or answers to a way out of the life that she and her children led. Giving the reader a reason to be upset or sad, or even happy over is sort of the reason for writing. Leaving them with a new way of thinking or viewing their surroundings is probably the reason she wrote this essay, to change the way the public view people in poverty and maybe want to
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 this short, but charming story, Amy Tan uses imagery to bring the story to life. With figurative language, the reader is immersed into the Chinese culture and can better relate to the characters. Tan main use of imagery is to better explain each character. Often instead of a simple explanation, Tan uses metaphors, similes, or hyperboles to describe the person, this way they are more relatable and their feelings better understood.
Poverty is a difficult and horrible way to grow up in life. It causes people to become stressed, and terrified of the world. It also demonstrates the ugly side of the world. When you ae in poverty. It causes people to become desperate and do horrendous things like murder, rape, and prostitution. But poverty can also produce strong, determined, and hopeful humans. In Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus by Carolina Maria de Jesus, we see the ambitious mother of three living the daily struggle of living in the poor favelas in Brazil. She provides the best life she can to her kids, while also perusing her dream of becoming a writer. In Testimony: Death of a Guatemala City by Victor Montejo, the readers follow the inspirational
...inds at the end of the story that she had been taken advantage of, she" turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly&emdash;like an old woman"(Steinbeck 334). This story seems to give the impression that being a good person does not stop bad things from happening to you, and that the world is really survival of the most fit.
Jo Goodwin Parker’s essay “What is Poverty” is real definition of living in poverty. There is a meaning that she wasn’t us to listen to what it feels like living in poverty. Parker talks about how her children had to face the lack of health conditions. They lived with very minimum money which came from her working to help stable her family. I wouldn’t even use the word stable because there were so many difficulties she had to go through. Telling everyone about her condition to get a job is not easy especially if you have to repeat your situation every time. This essay made me feel like we should be grateful for all the amenities we have in life. I don’t feel sympathy for Parker but I have respect for this woman
Anna Quindlen, a celebrated novelist and winner of a Pulitzer Prize, writes “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids.” The essay gives a window into life for impoverished citizens in our country and the how families struggle to survive in this system. Families are struggling just to survive with the little government assistance they receive. The quality and space in a shelter or even government provided living is atrocious and, to be frank, borderline unlivable. Quindlen describes a family of six cramped into a single bedroom, an inexcusable and terrible way to live and yet better than nothing at all (332). Children of families that have to live in situations like this grow up not knowing stability or security. Quindlen, passing on the sentiments of the children who live in these housings: “The older kids can’t wait to get out of this one” and “He’s humiliated, living here” (332). These kids are stricken by poverty and want nothing more than to have their own
There are multiple causes of why a family or individual can fall into poverty, which includes but is not limited to, disability, unemployment, age, and recessions, as we have seen through the 2008 recession and the Great Depression. Throughout this paper, I will address poverty as a social problem and its causes. I will also focus on how children and family households headed by single mothers are affected by poverty, and how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families came about to help children and families in poverty. Before we can explain the causes of poverty, one must first define what poverty is. If you were to ask someone for their definition of poverty, you would get several different definitions.
In The Working Poor by David K. Shipler, Shipler analyzes the effects of poverty and the accountability of working poor in America. Chapter six of the book focuses on traumas of childhood that affect the later life of a person. In this chapter, Shipler speaks of sexual abuse within families, neglectful parenting, and other factors that contribute to a poverty-stricken life. He gives real-life experiences and the effects that an individual’s childhood has had on his or her life. Although his examples are based on real lives of the poor in America, it appears as though he has found the most extreme cases. While these situations are horrible, not all poverty-stricken people are classified under these extreme conditions. Shipler offers excellent points and facts involving the traumas of childhood affecting the future, but fails to acknowledge that not all children will succumb to the struggles of poverty nor does he offer plausible solutions to his criticisms.
Jimmy S.Baca use of metaphors, similes, imagery, diction, tone and mood are used in a very effective way in his essay Coming into Language. His use of metaphors and similes really give the reader a visual, helping develop imagery. Baca’s use of imagery paints pictures in the reader’s head but also develops a type of emotion by the use of diction. The word choice used provides the reader with an understanding of where the author is coming from leading us into tone and mood. The author’s tone starts off very low but by the end of the essay you will feel very satisfied.
Poverty is referred to as the inability to provide for basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, medical, etc. Walls (2005) stated that at times they would go days without eating and would keep their hunger to themselves, but always thought of ways to get their hands on some food. She further stated that “At lunchtime, when other kids unwrapped their sandwiches or brought their hot meals, Brian and I would get out a book and read. I told people that I had forgotten my lunch but no one believed me, so I started hiding in the bathroom stall during lunch hour. When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pail, I’d retrieve them and return to the stall and polish off my tasty finds ” The major thesis addressed by the author, detailed the struggles she faced.
Lisa Parker’s “Snapping Beans”, Regina Barreca’s “Nighttime Fires”, John Frederick Nims’ “Love Poem”, and John Donne’s “Song” all demonstrate excellent use of imagery in their writing. All of the authors did a very good job at illustrating how the use of imagery helps the reader understand what the author’s message is. However, some of the poems use different poetic devices and different tones. In Lisa Parker’s “Snapping Beans” and Regina Barreca’s “Nighttime Fires”, both poems display a good use of personification. However in John Donne’s “Song” and John Frederick Nims’ “Love Poem, they differ in the fact that the tone used in each poem contrasts from each other.
The notion of poverty has a very expanded meaning. Although all three stories use poverty as their theme, each interprets it differently. Consequently, it does not necessarily mean the state of extreme misery that has been described in ?Everyday Use?. As Carver points out, poverty may refer to poverty of one?s mind, which is caused primarily by the lack of education and stereotyped personality. Finally, poverty may reflect the hopelessness of one?s mind. Realizing that no bright future awaits them, Harlem kids find no sense in their lives. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of realizing their full potential does not derive from achieving standards that are unachievable by others. Instead, it arises uniquely from denigrating others, as the only way to be higher than someone is to put this person lower than you.
She shows us that there is no hope for the poor without understanding. Parker is successful in getting her point across with her use of connotative language and her ability to create images. She has done a good job. of attacking the reader and getting him or her to listen to what she has to say. Even though she attacks the audience she does it in an appropriate way whereas she does not come across as offensive.
A woman who had lived an unsteady life throughout her childhood was negatively affected as an adult by the things that she had went through in her earlier years. In an article entitled “One Family 's Story Shows How The Cycle Of Poverty Is Hard To Break,” Pam Fessler stated that “Like many before her, she carried her poverty into adulthood, doing odd jobs with periods of homelessness and hunger.” The woman had realized that her children were being negatively affected by the unsteady lifestyle that they were living. The mother had said that her six year old daughter had emotional issues, which led to her making herself throw up after eating, running away, and talking about killing herself (Fessler). The little girl had been emotionally affected by poverty, which caused her to do things that most six year olds would not think about doing. The people who live in poverty as a child are more likely to struggle in adulthood. Poverty has many negative effects on children and tends to affect the way they grow and live the rest of their life as an
In conclusion, sometimes actions take place that changes a person’s outlook on life and as you can see poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/ her.