What is Poverty?
Jo Goodwin Parker
About the author
Jo Goodwin Parker was an anonymous person from West Virginia, the Southern United States. Parker mailed her essay to George Henderson, preferring that the editor present no byline. George Henderson, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, received it while he was writing his 1971 book, America’s Other Children: Public Schools Outside Suburbia.
Background
It was signed “Jo Goodwin Parker”. No further information was ever discovered about the essay or its source. Whether the author of this essay was in reality a woman describing her own painful experiences or sympathetic writer who had adopted her persona, Jo Goodwin Parker remains a mystery. So, in keeping with the spirit of its initial publication, Parker’s essay is kept here without any biographical data about its author.
Central Idea of the essay
Jo Goodwin Parker’s essay ‘What is Poverty?’ is about Parker who has personally experienced rural poverty. She explains her story from childhood to adulthood. Her struggles are overwhelming. Using examples drawn from personal experience, she explains the meaning of poverty in this essay. Her use of connotative language creates many harsh images of her experiences in life of poverty illustrating the difficulties and challenges her impoverished family experiences. The essay is a personal account, addressed directly to the reader, about living in poverty.
Understanding text
Answer the following questions
a. What is poverty according to Parker?
According to Parker, poverty is lacking everything that is considered one of the basic needs of human. It is an instance of human misery when one suffers from disease due to the lack of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and enough rest. It also stands for future without hope and past with dreadful shadow.
Alternative (long) answer:
According to Parker:
· poverty is getting up every morning from a dirt and illness-stained mattress,
· poverty is being tired,
· poverty is dirt,
· poverty is staying up all cold nights to watch the fire knowing one spark on the newspaper covering the walls meaning sleeping child dies in flames,
· poverty is asking for help,
· poverty is remembering a black past,
· poverty is looking into a black future
· poverty is an acid that drips on pride until all pride is worn away.
b. How is poverty difficult for Parker’s children? List some specific examples.
Poverty is difficult for Parker’s children specially because there is no one at home to take care of them in her absence, and she doesn’t have enough money to admit them in a good nursery school, lack of money to maintain hygiene and balanced diet. Some specific examples are as follows:
· she came home from the job to find the baby covered with fly specks, and a diaper had not been changed since she left; when the diaper came off, bits of her baby’s flesh came with it,
· other child was playing with a sharp bit of broken glass,
· oldest child was playing alone at the edge of a lake,
· she couldn’t afford for good education.
c. How does Parker try to obtain help, and what problems does she encounter?
Parker tries to obtain help uncomfortably by asking for a loan from a relative and some institutions. She visits the offices time and again asking for help. But she can’t find the right person and place for her purpose. She has to spill the whole shame of her poverty over the desk between her and she never finds the right place. Then she has to find the next place repeating the whole process.
d. Why are people’s opinions and prejudices her greatest obstacles?
People’s opinions and prejudices stand as her greatest obstacles to get support for fighting poverty. Most of the people in the society think that poor people are unjust, not worthy of getting loan and dishonest, and poverty is the mere product of their deeds. Supportive people and institutions are rare and hard to find.
e. How does Parker defend her inability to get help? How does she discount the usual solutions society has for poverty (e.g., welfare, education, and health clinics)?
Parker defends her inability to get help by discussing the support system and the poor’s access to the facilities like welfare, education and health clinics. She presents her own experiences to draw the vivid picture of the poor’s life in the society. For her, poor are living beyond the access of support program, health and education facilities, so they remain unable to combat poverty.
Reference to the context
a. Explain the following:
Poverty is looking into a black future.
This line is extracted from Parker’s essay ‘What is Poverty?’. She talks about the dark future of her children rather than that of herself. She predicts the misfortune of her children who will be deprived of good education, friendship, nutrition and proper shelter. She thinks that her children will not starve but will suffer from malnutrition. To conclude, she expresses her sorrow regarding her children’s future.
b. What does Parker mean by “The poor are always silent”?
By “The poor are always silent”, Parker is implying that poor’s voice is unheard of. The poor are ignored in the society. Their experiences and perspectives are frequently overlooked, and their struggles are marginalized. The poor are often invisible and their cries for help and change go unnoticed. Ultimately, the have come out of their despair to ask for help like the author does in the essay.
c. What writing strategy does the author use at the beginning of the paragraphs? Do you notice a recurring pattern? What is it?
At the beginning of each paragraph, the author Jo Goodwin Parker uses an anecdotal approach to illustrate the harsh realities of poverty. She begins each paragraph with a personal experience or observation, drawing the reader into the experiences of those living in poverty. She does this through her use of first-person point of view to deliver her perspectives on poverty using rhetorical questions, metaphor, imagery and anaphora. She presents her feeling in conversational style to make the audience feel as if she is talking to them.
Parker’s first-person point of view creates effect of knowing what she is feeling while living on poverty. A recurring pattern here means the use of anaphora ‘Listen’, and ‘Poverty is’ which create effect of empathy towards her situation instead of pity.
d. How does Parker develop each paragraph? What details make each paragraph memorable?
Parker develops the first paragraph with a rhetorical question and most of the remaining paragraphs are initiated with anaphora, i. e ‘Poverty is’ to convince the readers to agree with her feelings about poverty. Her use of connotative language creates harsh images of her experiences in a life of poverty. The details of her own painful experiences of poverty make each paragraph memorable. Her writing technique and the use of imageries make the text really attention seeking.
e. In the final paragraph, how does the author use questions to involve the reader in the issue of poverty?
In the final paragraph, the author uses the question ‘Can you be silent too?’ to involve the reader in the issue of poverty. Here, the pronoun ‘you’ refers to the readers, especially those who are living in poverty. Having bitter experiences in life of poverty, she comes to the conclusion that the poor are unheard of, and ignored. She says that she has come out of her despair to talk about poverty for no one takes it seriously. When the poor ask for help, they immediately turn to deaf.
The author believes that most of the readers are like her whose voices are unheard of. They might be wandering for support to fight poverty but their efforts are still meaningless since people’s opinions and prejudice stand as obstacles. The support system, and facilities of health and education are beyond the reach of poor. Thus, she concludes with the expression “The poor are always silent” followed by the question “Can you be silent too?”. The question includes the readers who are facing poverty.
Reference beyond the text
a. Define a social problem (homelessness, unemployment, racism) imitating Parker’s style.
Homelessness, unemployment and racism are social problems that victimize the poor and marginalized or minority groups. An unemployed is always penniless and always broke.
Unemployment is a social problem that haunts our society like a ghost. It haunts the poor and the rich alike, the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the healthy and the sick. It is a problem that is both obvious and invisible, a problem that can be seen in the long lines at job centers and in the empty faces of those who have given up on finding work.
Unemployment is not just a problem of money. It is a problem of dignity and self-worth. It is a problem of hopelessness and despair. It is a problem that tears families apart and leaves individuals feeling lost and alone. It is a problem that leads to poverty, crime, and homelessness.
Unemployment is not a choice. It is a result of the choices made by those in power. It is a result of a society that values profits over people, a society that has forgotten what it means to care for one another. It is a result of a world that has lost its way, a world that has forgotten that the value of a person is not determined by the size of their bank account.
Unemployment is a problem that we must solve together. We must work to create jobs and opportunities for those who are struggling to make ends meet. We must work to ensure that everyone has access to the education and training they need to succeed in the workforce. We must work to create a world where everyone has the chance to fulfill their potential and live a life of dignity and purpose.
Unemployment is a social problem that affects us all. It is a problem that we must address with courage, compassion, and determination. It is a problem that we must solve, not just for those who are struggling, but for the sake of our society and our world. The worst of all is that the voices of unemployed remain unheard of. So, they are always silent.
b. Using adjectives to highlight the futility of the situation, write a short definition essay on Growing up in Poverty.
Growing up in poverty is a bleak and hopeless experience that robs individuals of their basic needs, opportunities and dignity. Poverty is a complex issue that encompasses not just a lack of material wealth, but a lack of access to education, healthcare, and basic human necessities like food and shelter.
As Parker states in "What is Poverty?", poverty is not just being "poor", but is a state of constant struggle and deprivation. Children growing up in poverty face immense challenges, such as limited access to quality education, inadequate nutrition and health care, and a lack of safe and stable living conditions. This often leads to a cycle of poverty that is difficult to break, perpetuating the futility of the situation.
In poverty-stricken communities, children are often forced to mature quickly and take on responsibilities that far exceed their years, sacrificing their childhood and opportunities for personal growth and development. The emotional toll of growing up in poverty can also be devastating, causing feelings of hopelessness, frustration and lack of dignity and respect.
To conclude, growing up in poverty is a devastating and soul-crushing experience that leaves deep emotional and physical scars on those who endure it. It is a complex issue that demands immediate attention and action, as it robs individuals of their basic rights and opportunities, perpetuating the cycle of poverty for future generations.
