Within the two essays On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher and On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner, the idea of living poor is presented as a central theme. Do earthly possessions and abundance of money really make you rich? Or in reality, are you really poor because you're focusing more on self-involvement rather than compassion and thoughtfulness towards other individuals? According to dictionary.com, the definition of poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor. Of these two essays, On Compassion is more effective to its purpose. In the story On Compassion, the author, Ascher, explains how no one is born with compassion and must be taught it. A homeless, black man was staring at a women’s baby in the stroller and she offered him a dollar. At first he was hesitant to take it, but eventually did. Later another man walks into an overpriced coffee shop in which the store owner handed him a bag with food. Ascher makes the readers question whether these were acts of fear, pity, or just simply out of the good of heart. Eighner’s essay On Dumpster Diving, conveys a story of a homeless who only has a dog named Lizbeth left after his savings ran out. The man in this story …show more content…
Throughout the whole essay Ascher kept bringing up so many hidden questions that made the reader think on a much deeper level. For example, like questioning themselves about who they are and how they treat other other people. My thoughts while reading automatically went to a self- examination. Therefore, Ascher achieved her purpose effectively by keeping the audience engaged. Contrastingly, Eighner’s purpose for writing On Dumpster Diving, was to describe how people take things for granted in life and don’t
Statistically, over 670,000 Americans are homeless with a growing number. 48 million people go to bed hungry every night. Although we do provide shelters and opportunities in America, millions of people are homeless worldwide. Even on a more minor level there are still hundreds homeless within hometowns. Everyday we encounter the homeless whether by seeing them holding their personal signs at stoplights, confronts with beggars, or viewing them from afar under bridges. In her essay titled “On Compassion”, writer Barbara Ascher uses rhetorical techniques detailing some of her personal homeless experiences within the city life, Asher does effectively use logos, pathos,
In today’s society, acts of compassion are rare as we get more and more focused on satisfying our desire for success and wealth. However, humans do sometimes show remarkable acts that melts the hearts of men and women and restore faith in humanity within those who are less optimistic. But it might not always be a kind return that you may get from such action. In the story “Sweat” by Barry Webster, a young girl named Sue allows Jimmy as an act of kindness to lick her “honey” on her body. As a result, Jimmy chokes from the honey and Sue gets more rejected from the other students at her school. By using characterization, dialogue and narration, Webster demonstrates the theme that compassion and kindness can bring more consequences than benefits when these actions are done by those who are different.
Poverty has been looked at from two different prospective. You can be in poverty based on either a lack of ambition, or certain circumstances that may have taken place in your life. Anna Quindlen author of Homeless and Lars Eighner author of On Dumpster Diving are both located on the circumstance side of the spectrum. To be on the circumstance side of the spectrum you may have encountered a tragic event in your lifetime, for example the loss of a job. To be placed on the lack of ambition side of the spectrum, you have all the tools to be successful; however, you may be procrastinating or you just don’t care enough. I believe that the people who are in poverty are there because of certain circumstances. Poverty affects many people on a daily basis and Anna Quindlen and lars Eighner bring to light some of poverties harsh
She uses a string full of rhetorical questions throughout her article, as well, to make us contemplate whether people do deeds out of compassion, fear, or something else. She uses rhetorical questions such as “Was it fear or compassion that motivated that gift?”(6), “...what compels this woman to feed this man? Pity? Care? Compassion? Or does she simply want to rid her shop of his troublesome presence?”(9), and “Could it be that the homeless, like those ancients, are reminding us of our common humanity?”(14). These questions make the audience think and contemplate why these people did these acts of kindness. Ascher includes some of these rhetorical questions at the end of both of the narratives to force the readers to quickly analyze the situation and decide what the motivation was. As a result, I can conclude that one woman did it out of fear while the other did it out of compassion; therefore, this proves that people are not born compassionate, but they develop the quality later on in life. This is more effective instead of just expressing how she personally feels about each
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu, once said “frequently people think compassion and love are merely sentimental. No! They are very demanding. If you are going to be compassionate, be prepared for action” (values.com). When one thinks of compassion, sympathy and sorrow come to mind. However, compassion also is accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. This can be accomplished by standing up for what one believes is right. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee deeply develops her theme that compassion is understanding someone else’s perspective and using this compassion to stand up against society.
Poverty is a potential outcome for everyone. It’s sneaky and many people fall victim to it every year. No one believes that they have the potential to fall into debt, but it can happen through a string of bad luck, time running short, and other possibilities that can’t be controlled. People who are struggling with difficulty believe that there is no way out because no one will help them. However, there are ways for us, as a society, to help those who are short on income receive the help that they need. Many of the impoverished are thought to be slackers, addicts, or self-destructive to their lives. Society can help each other by dismembering the stereotypes given to people who are underneath the “Poverty Line” that they used as wedges between the classes. Labels given to those who’re poor have nothing to do with who they are as humans.
Many researchers have examined compassion fatigue in regards to individuals who work closely with children in child welfare. As more research has developed there have been several prominent themes that have emerged. Compassion satisfaction, a stable support network, compassion fatigue measurement scales, self care, and trainings have been found to support foster parents and promote strengths that reduce the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout. These themes have allowed professionals and foster parents alike become more effective in their carer roles.
During the duration of Eighner’s time as homeless, he had found the best diving spots where he had found diaries, birth control pills and slightly warm pizzas. Eighner wasn’t bothered by his lifestyle, rather he simply embraced it, as he dove in the broad daylight. Eighner and his dog Lizbeth, jumped into dumpsters to survive daily, they would pick out people’s “trash” and use it as their own. Food was a particularly dominant thing Eighner would find in the dumpster, he learned what food was the best
Merriam Webster defines poverty as the state of lacking a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The United States Census Bureau identifies poverty as a lack of goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. Professor Gene Nichol, however, defines poverty from an emotional, yet som...
Through the essay, "Dumpster Diving," Eighner impresses his superiority by illustrating disinterested people and their lack to complete certain tasks the author is skillful at.
Which is quite different then the way many people view homelessness. Ascher also uses a lot of words that have positive connotations such as “lucky”, ”joy” and “faith” when describing him and his surroundings, which helps to illustrate a certain picture of the homeless man and the way he views his solitude. I mostly agree with her portrayal of The Box Man, because I can relate with the fact that loneliness is not a reason for unhappiness. For me personally being alone has never been a source of unhappiness in fact I actually find my alone time to be quite refreshing and is what I long for after a long day of interacting with people.
Our SSI text explains that “the poor are reacting realistically to their situation”, in other words, the poor have learned to live with their situation and therefore they accept the fact that their values are as such because anything more would be unattainable for them (Kerbo, 2012). In this view of poverty, the reasons for poverty are not due to the differences from the poor and the middle class, it is due to their situations. I agree with this view of poverty more than the culture of poverty argument, because personally I feel most people in society are not complacent with being poor their entire lives. The situational view of poverty focuses on the social and economic circumstances that are the source of poverty instead of the individual reasons, like the attitudes, values and behaviors of the poor regarded with the culture of poverty view. There are certain times in some individual’s lives where they have to experience poverty, such as after an injury or a death in the family, they may experience poverty for a time, but it is not a learned trait through
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
Poverty, also known as the silent killer, exists in every corner of the world. In fact, almost half of the world’s population lives in poverty. According to the United States Census Bureau, there were 46.7 million people living in poverty the year of 2014 (1). Unfortunately, thousands of people die each year due to this world-wide problem. Some people view poverty as individuals or families not being able to afford an occupational meal or having to skip a meal to save money. However, this is not the true definition of poverty. According to the author of The Position of Poverty, John Kenneth Galbraith, “people are poverty-stricken when their income, even if adequate for survival, falls radically behind that of the community”, which means people
When one hears poverty they think of having no money or a house and being on the streets like a homeless person. That is in fact true but, poverty is more than that it is more widespread across income levels. Not just those at the absolute bottom of income earned and wages. 12% of Americans are unable to meet their basic needs 20% being 18 years or younger (mit.edu). Poverty does not just affect people on the individual level it also can have effects on communities as a whole.