What is poverty?
The essay “What is poverty” by Goodwin Parker is about poverty and what poor people have to live through every day. Through her use of harsh, provocative language and her experiences she engages the reader directly with this abstract idea of poverty, making it very real and concrete. By using this technique, Parker induces the reader to feel many emotions forcing him to question his stereotypes on poor people. The essay is directed to the middle class because they don’t treat poverty as a real issue, usually just ignoring that it is there. The purpose of the essay is too make people aware that poverty is there even if they ignore it.
Parker writes her essay for the wealthy, targeting ‘clean’, middle-class people that have …show more content…
The use of a direct, personal tone is not usually employed when writing an essay therefore it places the audience in a very uncomfortable mood. The reader feels lectured as if he has done something bad because she uses imperative verbs, such as, “put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill fitting shoes, and hear me.” The use of the imperative also reduces the distance between author and reader causing a more emotional reaction from the audience. Her use of the pronoun ‘you’ is employed in two ways; it is used to speak directly to the reader, such as, “Have you ever had to ask for help?” and uses it to describe the reader as one of many. For example sketches a scenario, describing how one goes about asking for help. “You find out where the office is that you are supposed to visit. You circle that block four of five times.” Using ‘you’ in both ways causes the reader to feel part of the story. By not following the conventions of a ‘traditional’ essay Parker is able to get a more emotional response by the …show more content…
She uses images that the reader can imagine perfectly since they are simple and extreme. For example she explains that “poverty is staying up all night on cold nights to watch the fire, knowing one spark on the newspapers covering the walls means your sleeping child dies in flames.” This horrific image of a child burning to death, together with the newspaper-covered walls help the reader understand the desperation this mother is feeling since she is talking such a risk just for warmth. There are many more nouns, such as diapers, runny noses and grits with no oleo that paint a picture of poverty in the reader’s mind but also of a baby in misery. Parker also employs phrases that use smell making it more realistic for the reader, like “stench of rotting teeth,” “urine,” and “sour milk.” Another sense, which is described, is touch, through hands that are “so cracked and red”. The effect of this use of imagery and synesthesia on the audience is that it becomes more conscious of the effects of poverty since it can imagine better the
The essay “What is poverty” by Goodwin Parker is about poverty and what poor people have to live through every day. Through her use of harsh, provocative language and her experiences she engages the reader directly with this abstract idea of poverty, making it very real and concrete. By using this technique, Parker induces the reader to feel many emotions forcing him to question his stereotypes on poor people. The essay is directed to the middle class because they don’t treat poverty as a real issue, usually just ignoring that it is there. The purpose of the essay is too make people aware that poverty is there even if they ignore it.
Parker writes her essay for the wealthy, targeting ‘clean’, middle-class people that have …show more content…
The use of a direct, personal tone is not usually employed when writing an essay therefore it places the audience in a very uncomfortable mood. The reader feels lectured as if he has done something bad because she uses imperative verbs, such as, “put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill fitting shoes, and hear me.” The use of the imperative also reduces the distance between author and reader causing a more emotional reaction from the audience. Her use of the pronoun ‘you’ is employed in two ways; it is used to speak directly to the reader, such as, “Have you ever had to ask for help?” and uses it to describe the reader as one of many. For example sketches a scenario, describing how one goes about asking for help. “You find out where the office is that you are supposed to visit. You circle that block four of five times.” Using ‘you’ in both ways causes the reader to feel part of the story. By not following the conventions of a ‘traditional’ essay Parker is able to get a more emotional response by the …show more content…
She uses images that the reader can imagine perfectly since they are simple and extreme. For example she explains that “poverty is staying up all night on cold nights to watch the fire, knowing one spark on the newspapers covering the walls means your sleeping child dies in flames.” This horrific image of a child burning to death, together with the newspaper-covered walls help the reader understand the desperation this mother is feeling since she is talking such a risk just for warmth. There are many more nouns, such as diapers, runny noses and grits with no oleo that paint a picture of poverty in the reader’s mind but also of a baby in misery. Parker also employs phrases that use smell making it more realistic for the reader, like “stench of rotting teeth,” “urine,” and “sour milk.” Another sense, which is described, is touch, through hands that are “so cracked and red”. The effect of this use of imagery and synesthesia on the audience is that it becomes more conscious of the effects of poverty since it can imagine better the