Face Of Poverty

In addition to changing my views about poverty, Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle modified my views about homelessness. Prior to reading Walls’ memoir, I thought that homelessness was an inescapable part of a

As a main point of her argument, she argues that poverty is generally stereotyped into the poverty that would only be seen in Africa, or another third world country. To support this, she establishes a sense of ethos for her readers by citing other individuals that have also noticed the poverty representation gap. Seeing that poverty is a complex issue to begin with, George addresses this complexity by simply suggesting that it should be represented as such in the media. Nonprofit charities may now have to reconsider their

Eleanor J. Bader’s report “Homeless on Campus” tries to incorporate Aristotle’s three appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. Bader successfully includes ethos where she demonstrates goodwill by trying to inform the audience about homeless college students. She treats the subject respectfully and even includes people with possible solutions to homeless undergrads. Another appeal Bader incorporates is logos with the many specific testimonies given throughout her report. Where Bader comes short is on the appeal pathos where she lacks sensory description even thou there are a few anecdotes and value-laden dictions. Overall, Eleanor J. Bader’s report “Homeless on Campus” applies trustworthiness from the writer and includes expert testimonies, but comes short of real empathy for homeless students.

Eleanor J. Bader article “Homeless on Campus” describes the lives of homeless people that are trying to get a degree. She shows the reader examples of homeless students going through hard times. The reader can see the desire to succeed from the homeless students. They work harder that every other student because they have to find a place to sleep. They also have to take care of others in some situations. Bader also mentions that community colleges should provide sleeping areas for students that find themselves in that situation. Bader does an astounding job of using literacy devices to exemplify to the reader how homeless students struggle to continue school.

“Homeless on Campus” covers that students in college can be homeless, whether the circumstance is that the student has left an abuser, lost a job, or are suffering from drug abuse. Eleanor Bader references Aesha, Johnny Montgomery, and Asad Dahir’s stories of hardship and how they ended up displaced. Aesha left an abusive partner and ended up in a shelter, “It was horrible” she said. Johnny was kicked out of his mother’s house for not getting along wither her boyfriend, “She chose him over me,” he said. Asad was in a refugee camp and was resettled in Ohio with his little brother. Bader uses words such as poverty, problem, and sneaking, giving the report a sad and serious tone. “If seen from the perspective of the students,

In “The Homeless and Their Children”, author Jonathon Kozol explains how poverty and homelessness can go hand in hand, but he also shows his readers that the government in New York City during the 1980’s did not really attempt to assist those in need. The author shows us how the homeless and illiterate struggled by sharing with us an interview with a young woman called Laura who resided in a massive welfare hotel. Kozol did not find it necessary to write this piece in a persuasive tone, or a compassionate tone, or even an angry tone to get his message across. He did not need to include a multitude of statistics to convince his readers that homelessness, illiteracy, and governmental apathy were issues. As stated in the introductory

The image of homelessness has changed since the Great Depression, when many homeless people were elderly and white. Today a growing number of women and families, including young children, are homeless because of insufficient housing and resources (Bassuk & Rosenberg, 1988). As the number of homeless people has continued to rise over the past decade, homelessness has become a central feature of life in America.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a non-profit organization that voices the issue of homelessness, enlightens, “On a single night in January 2014, 578,424 people were experiencing homelessness – meaning they were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program” (The State of Homelessness in America 2015). Staggering statistics similar this inspired Matt Lynch to write his article titled ‘The Homeless Lack a Political Voice, But Not American Ideals’ and it also motivated Anna Quindlen to express her emotions in ‘Homeless.’ Both articles posed by Lynch and Quindlen contain comparative flaws, which range from logical fallacies to the utilization of unfair information. Each writing, however, incorporates multiple pieces of significant information relative to the topic at hand, yet Lynch’s work manages to pull ahead with the addition of minor, yet important, details that Quindlen failed to propose.

Words provoke preconceived ideas and images in the mind, when it comes to a situation like poverty these preconceived notions can have undesirable and unintended consequences. Diana George examines the semantics and the imagery of the word poverty in her article titled “Changing the Face of Poverty; Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation. While also addressing the issue of the perception poverty and what someone in poverty truly looks like (676). Prof. George is arguing that organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which are created to help people in poverty actually perpetuate the wrong image of what someone in poverty looks like (678). Most organizations created to help those in need, especially those in the US tend to portray poverty as what is seen and thought of as living conditions in Third World countries (683). In reality, poverty is all around each and every one of us in this country on a daily basis, and people might not always recognize it for what it is (681,682). Furthermore, the majority of people living in poverty in the United States do not live like or look like someone living in a Third World country. But in reality they are still living in poverty nonetheless (682,683). Organizations that portray people living in poverty here in the US as totally devastated and completely impoverished are doing a disservice to the people they are attempting to help. Consequently, by doing this they are giving a limiting idea of what someone living in poverty

A homeless person is an individual without a permanent, stable housing situation who either spends his or her nights on the streets or in temporary facilities, such as shelters and abandoned buildings. Throughout history, society has been “holding the poor, rape or incest victims, minorities, or the handicapped responsible for their misfortunes” (Zur). Society has been blaming the homeless for being in the position they are in. However, upon closer inspection, it must be noted that “children under the age of 18 accounts for 39% of the homeless population…battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness…[and] 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces” (Who Is Homeless?). It is clear that those who are homeless are not

The issue of chronic homelessness is not just a political or academic debate but has become evident from men and women living without homes in the streets of America. Homeless men and women

The homeless and those in poverty are social problems that are correlated, though majority of society see them as two different social problems. One can not be homeless, without usually being in poverty financially. This disregard for the two as intersecting relations, is due to the way that these troubling condition are claimed by claimsmakers. Gary Blasi, in his article “Homeless Not Poor” discusses the different effect that the homeless and poverty has when society sees them as two different social problems. According to Blasi the debate over homelessness and poverty have little effect on the underlying cause of ending inequality and discrimination in the American society.

Everyday poverty goes on around us and all over the world but thankfully there are organizations that work to help relieve poverty. People or families with low income or no income are affected by poverty. Poverty is the condition of having insufficient funds, goods, or support. While people are sound asleep at night without a care in the world, homeless and poor people are out searching for food or a place to sleep on the streets. Poverty is nothing new and it has always existed, “state poor laws, generally inherited from English tradition, required towns to take care of their poor” (Poverty). In present time when driving around Houston it is common to see homeless people and where they reside, “high poverty areas in Houston have quadrupled

The lack of dignity that these individuals feel is a direct effect of society’s disrespect for the lower class. The stereotypes of the homeless conceived by upper social classes, cause the lower class to lose any respectable role they may have in society. A homeless man in Oberlin, Ohio says, “Many of us historically invisible people, in our quest for visibility, have chosen to take the routes of organization and alliance building. Often we tend to find that our muted voices have more resonance, bass, and credibility within these snugly, institutionally sanctioned cubby holes” (Laymon). After failing to get sufficient help through

Poverty with Many Faces: a Case Study of Malaysia, by Ataul Huq Pramanik, IIUM Press, 2008, 157 pages. Reviewed by Nor Nazirah Mohamed.