Exploring Compassion in Urban Poverty

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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

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