Critical Analysis Of 'You Ask Me What Is Poverty'

The selected extract is part of an essay called ‘What is poverty’ written in 1971 by Jo Goodwin Parker. The rethorical question “You ask me what poverty is?” used as opening line of the essay, already points out the content and purpose of the piece. Through her use of stylistic devices, sense imagery and tone, the author engages the reader directly with this abstract yet concrete idea of poverty with the purpose of showing what living in poverty actually means so that they feel the need to act and do something about it.

Since this extract is from an essay, the author is likely to be targeting a wealthy, middle/upper educated class, calling on them to recognize her struggle. In order to send her message in an even clearer and more direct way, Parker adds in the text some inside thoughts from the targeted audience. For instance, she says, “You can say in your clean clothes coming from your clean house, ‘Anybody can be clean.’ Let

Parker makes reference to many concrete images emulating their sound, smell or how hey look like as so to SPIZZICATE all the senses. The repetition of the word “smell” and the continuous use of sibilance such as “sour milk and spoiling food sometimes joined with the strong smell of long-cooked onion” present in the second paragraph, produce a very sharp smell. The reader is able to imagine the “smell of poverty” also through the use of phrases such as the “stench of rotting teeth,” “urine,” and “sour milk.” Moreover, the touch sensorial area is urged by the use of the hands that are “so cracked and red,” because the author cannot afford Vaseline. The sight as well is inserted throughout the text with examples such as diapers, runny noses and grits with no oleo that paint a picture of poverty in the reader’s mind. The effect of this use of imagery on its audience is that you become more conscious of the effects of