Poverty As Seen In Flavo's Home

Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth Living in Bootstrap America, tells her story of what it’s like to be working poor in America, as well as what poverty is truly like on many levels. With a thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses her journey from lower class, to sometimes middle class, to poor, and everything in between. Throughout the read, Tirado goes on to reveal why poor people make the decisions they do in a very powerful way.

It is easy for anyone to tell that the life of the working poor is not the ideal lifestyle. Though in Ehrenreich’s words, “It is common, among the nonpoor, to think of poverty as a sustainable condition.” (214)She means to say that it is easy for the nonpoor to ignore the true realities of those in the working class. Many in fact are not ignoring the realities but have never become aware of them in the first place. This is further supported by Ehrenreich statements about how the media rarely ever truly shows the realities of the working poor. It is hard for society to take action for a cause they truly don’t understand. Though by declaring the working poor as a state of emergency this would draw attention to the realities of the average lifestyle. In such creating

Society likes to think that the world revolves around them, people complain about small events such as, not having situations result as wanted. There are things in this world that will never stop existing; poverty is something that has always been around, for some people it is worse than others.“Flavio’s Home” by Gordon Parks, published 1990 was inspired by his autobiography, voices in the mirror. The essay gives a perfect example of what extreme poverty is like. Even though there are difficult times in life, no matter what, just keep going. “Flavio’s Home” did use ethos as a rhetorical appeal but was mainly focused in using pathos. Those who would most likely relate to this essay are people who have experienced tough situations. What Gordon showed as his main concern or issue throughout the whole story was how poorly cared for flavio and his family were.

In “Flavio's Home”, Parks describes the terrible conditions that many families face in a favela called Catacumba, specifically focusing on one family when he encounters a boy named Flavio in the streets. Parks concedes that Flavio takes care of the family by cooking, cleaning, collecting water, and bathing his siblings while his parents are away. He observes Flavio's frequent cough throughout the day, his initial reaction is to flee, but he stays and makes the conscious decision to help Flavio. He concludes on helping the him after being informed that his father cannot take Flavio to the doctor, due to him refusing to take down his store. In the final part of this article, Flavio makes it to the doctor, where the doctorhe tells Parks that the boy is sitting on his deathbed, and will only live for roughly one more year. Parks explains that the doctors couldn't do anything to help with dozens of other patients,the same or worse, who can’t receive treatment. He concludes with telling Flavio that he will be okay, effectively making the reader feel sympathetic towards a boy who will never experience the life of a privileged child.

Parks talks about Flavio and his family, describing the everyday struggles of Flavio as he tries to grow up in Catacumba. Flavio’s siblings are viewed as rowdy and unable to get along. Parks also shows how impoverished the da Silva family is when he finds out Jose da Silva, the father, earns seventy-five cents regularly. Parks also describes how hostile the favelas are during the night, and how they are no place for a child to be nurtured in. Later in the passage Parks describes another side of Brazil when he goes to the hotel he stays in, which is much more fortunate than the favelas. To conclude, the reader finds out Flavio will not live long when he is taken to the doctor, where the doctor proceeds to tell Parks and the da Silva family the news. Parks then ends the article by telling Flavio everything will be okay, upon which Flavio replies with saying he’s more concerned for his sibling than his own well-being Leaving the reader feeling compassionate towards Flavio and his family.

The essay provides vital information about the social distinctions in the society but readers may disagree with the idea that the working poor may never get the opportunity to advance their lives, regardless of the effort they put. It is only right to argue that the working poor remain in the impoverished condition because their undertakings do not generate enough income to help them get out of the unfriendly situation. The working poor, however, may emerge to be

“Flavio’s Home” by Gordon Parks is an essay full of emotions for Flavio Da Silva, the main character of the story. Flavio lives in extreme poverty and he serves as a leader for his younger brothers and sisters. The author emphasizes the horrible conditions in which Flavio and his family live in by stating phrases like, “The floor, rotting under layers of grease and dirt, caught shafts of light slanting down through spaces in the roof. A large hole in the far corner served as a toilet” (para. 6). As we can see the conditions in which this young man and his family live are atrocious. The misfortune for Flavio is just that, he lives a life that no could ever imagine living.

In this essay “What is Poverty?”, Jo Goodwin Parker starts of with a rhetorical question “You ask me what is poverty”, this is the opening line of the essay and it encapsulates the essay ́s purpose. Through the use of the writer ́s language she also captivates the reader with the idea of poverty and what it is by making it very concrete and real. The writer wants the reader to understand what poverty is so that they can feel like they need to help not only the writer but p!eople who struggle in that situation. !

Poverty is a transmittable disease; it begins with parents and spreads to children and the people around them. It could obliterate a flawless society and affect everyone and everything around it. It is akin to a genetic code that is pre-written and out of human control. Everywhere people look, children can be seen with bones protruding out of their flesh, yet these children are the most hard-working beings alive. Poverty is a global issue that every member of humanity has dealt with at some point in time, and it is more likely that someone will help another in need after being helped themselves.

Poverty is not easily defined, because it plays out in many different ways. To be in poverty, one is generally making at most three times the amount of money they would need to sustain themselves and their family members living a minimalist lifestyle. These families tend to eat cheaper food, use public transport, have less access to good educational institutions, are exposed to harmful environments, and have less access to healthcare, among many other things. Through the lenses of conflict theory and functionalism, one can begin to understand why poverty so affects many aspects many people’s lives in ways that carry them through adulthood, and sometimes pervades later generations of their families.

Poor people is a collection of interviews with first-hand sources of those in poverty mixed with the authors, William T. Vollmann's, inner struggle and thought-process of what poverty is. Vollmann's position on poverty is stated early on in the book "For me, poverty is not mere deprivation; for people may possess fewer things than I and be Richer; Poverty is wretchedness."(Vollmann 36). Poverty to Vollman is wretchedness meaning " a condition of extreme affliction or distress, especially as outwardly apparent" (Wretched). He continues with, "It must then be an economic state. It, therefore, remains somewhat immeasurable ... I can best conceive of poverty as a series of perceptual categories." (Vollmann 36). These perceptual categories are the five categories in the book, self-definitions, phenomena, choices, hope, and placeholders.

Multiple studies have been completed to show that people from all racial groups and ethnicities are negatively affected by poverty. Those in the lowest social class, while a mix of ethnicities, are predominantly minorities and affected the most. What stood out about Philippe Bourgeois’ is that he not only studies the people and their culture but he lived it with them. Mr. Bourgois spent two years with his wife and child living with the Puerto Rican’s in East Harlem, NY. He lived with them and became a friend to many of them with the hopes of providing an accurate analysis of their culture. While living there he encountered all of the barrios social problems; from gender inequality to drugs and illegal activities to racial segregation.

Poverty for centuries has been a very severe issue that has troubled many nations while impeding economic developments and progress. Poverty stricken countries are majorly concentrated in the continents of Africa and Asia. Continents like the Americas and Europe have globally been recognized as been wealthier yet still many parts of these ostensible countries face massive cases of poverty. Most at times, countries with high populations owing to high birth rates face the most cases of poverty. The definition of poverty can be boundless in the sense that poverty entails so many subsections as it sometimes gets complicated to group everything under one umbrella. Society tends to focus more on the tangible aspects of poverty because many people associate poverty with lacking money and it makes sense because poverty in terms of lacking money is a major problem affecting almost every country in the world. Even though it is debatable that poverty can be physical, intellectual, spiritual and even emotional, it is best to talk about the lack of money and economic developments in this essay. With reference to the oxford English Dictionary, poverty is state of being extremely poor and the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Reflecting on this definition given, I deduced that malnutrition and hunger can define poverty. In the light of this, I think poverty is lacking a comfortable place of shelter, being ill and not having access to a better

To being with poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. In other words, according to the sociological dictionary poverty is defined as “the state of lacking the material (particularly income) and cultural resources that a person requires to live a healthy life.” Some sociologist have tended to explain poverty by referring to people’s moral failures, or dependency cultures. Sociologist have been trying for many years the art of balancing the importance of social structures (how society is basically organised) and the role of individual people’s independent choices and actions.

Many describe poverty as an economic deprivation, or lack of income. However, this alone does not incorporate the different social, cultural and political aspects of this unfortunate reality. Poverty is not only a deprivation of economic or material resources but a violation of human dignity. The general scarcity, lack, or the state of one without a specific amount of material possessions or money. It is a versatile concept that may be defined as either absolute or relative. Time and again, poverty is a call to action, for the poor and the wealthy alike, it is a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.