This opinion piece, titled “why are we really ashamed about Melbourne’s homeless crisis?” written by Jamila Rizvi for the herald sun, takes on a concerned tone while discussing the issue of homelessness in Melbourne. Various persuasive techniques have been used to make the reader question their belief. The article is aimed at people who are around the homeless often, tourists coming for the Australian Open and commuters in the CBD. This piece makes us question why we are actually ashamed of the homeless in Melbourne.
The long-form essay, “What It’s Like to Fail”, was written by and about David Raether, a former comedy writer who became homeless. After reading his compelling story, I noticed David used two rhetorical strategies to develop his main idea, which was failure can happen to everyone, but anyone can recover from it. The two strategies he used were organization and details. David Raether used organization to show the long process of failure in his life. In the beginning of the essay he talked about his life before his failure and described how successful he was as a comedy writer.
Stuart Byfofsky is an American journalist and columnist. He asserts to let his readers know that he is going to discuss the issue of the homeless. He tells us he is going to be “heartless”. Bykofsky’s main argument is that we need to come together and get rid of America’s living nightmare as he calls them. He uses different strategies to convince his readers that this is a problem.
After bonding with a homeless man, Elise Elliot expressed her empathy towards the homeless in a newspaper article, prompting that it’s time to “Bring a little warmth to the homeless’. Given their dire lifestyle and living conditions, Elliot encourages fellow Australians to make a small gesture towards the homeless and take action towards our less fortunate compatriots. As Elliot aims to convince Australians that the homeless are weak and vulnerable, she opens her statement with an emotive response to the recent murder of the homeless Wayne "Mouse Peer . By using the words "stabbed to death" and “worried about him”, Elliot aims to demonstrate the severity of the issue, further highlighting the “ambos attended to his slashed face’’ Elliot also puts into perspective the constant danger for the homeless with the phrase “Easy prey for drunk and bored thugs”.
In this essay, the author is painting a picture of what it is actually like to be homeless compared to the typical stereotype. In the opinion of most people, being homeless is, someone that does not work hard and only mooches off other hardworking citizens. According to Simon Wyckoff, in reality, being homeless is a struggle to survive. The homeless have to overcome adversity everyday of their lives and most people do not think twice about what it is like to be without a home. Wykoff states a unique statement at the end of his essay saying, "Though it may seem outlandish, I think you'll find that many homeless people work just as much, or more, than you."
The book that I have chosen was “A Place on the Corner”. It was published in 1981 by Elijah Anderson through University of Chicago. In the book we learn some of the inner workings of shelter life, and we ultimately learn why homeless people are homeless; they lack housing. While reading the book the thesis that Anderson introduces is- to prove to the reader that the homeless are not homeless necessarily because they are crazy, maladjusted, drug/alcohol addicts, etc. Instead, they have reached circumstances beyond their control in which they have no place to go other than the streets or shelters.
“1 out of every 100 persons in Europe- or approximately 3 million people [are] homeless,” (Blair 21) states Cornelia Blair, the author of Homeless in America. Not only is this number extremely high, it only accounts to one country; Imagine the number across all 136 countries scattered across the Earth. And the homeless population is constantly on the rise, creating a fear for many who live dangerously close to losing everything. Homelessness is a predicament that affects all people, old and young, and can last from as little as a few days to as long as the rest of their lives. It is a serious problem caused by low income, domestic violence and abuse, and lack of Veteran care, but can be amended by child sponsorships, help from the government,
Quindlen talks to a homeless lady named Ann. Quindlen started to describe the homeless lady, making her seem like an average person on the street. After a while of discussing, Quindlen sees that the stereotypes that were created for the homeless, don’t belong. The author found out that Ann used to have a house, but her job did not pay her well enough. This caused her to go on the streets.
In our growing society, the security one places in their environment has increased drastically. Multitudes of young individuals forge ahead into their future with the assumption that they will attain the quality of life they desire. The reality of our dynamic community lies in the unseen, or rather, the ignored population of all provinces and cities of Canada. Annually, across Canada, there are approximately 20,000 individuals left homeless each year (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News, 2013). The majority of the annual population rarely find themselves homeless and when it occurs it does so for short periods of time.
The surveys taken within the publication lack insight, and only prove to reinforce stigmas and stereotypes about the homeless, therefore canceling out my claim. For example, “...” The source is over 10 years old, leaving the data outdated and subject to alteration. The logos found within the piece help to prove the vast importance and emergence of the issue. It is widespread.
In the article “How I Discovered the Truth about Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich gives her view in poverty and explains why she think Michael Harington’s book “The Other American” gives a wrong view on poverty. She explained that Harrington believes that the poor thought and felt differently and what divides the poor was their different “culture of poverty.” Ehrenreich goes on to explain on how the book that became a best seller caused so many bad stereotypes on the poor that by the Reagan era poverty was seen as “bad attitudes” and “faulty lifestyles” and not by the lack of jobs or low paying jobs. And they also viewed the poor as “Dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification,” or possibly even set an alarm clock.”
In the world we live in today, an estimated 100 million people find themselves homeless and over 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing. For most, being homeless and in poverty is not the desired lifestyle and people work hard to have a constant roof over their heads, and food on the table. However, for a select few, living in poverty and being homeless is a life decision that they desire and enjoy. Both families in the memoirs Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt find themselves in extreme poverty. Neither Rex and Rose Marie Walls nor Angela and Malachy McCourt have the ability to feed, clothe, or house themselves and their families.
Many homeless individuals do not choose to live the life they do, but rather
Homelessness is a product of social inequalities. Karl Marx stated that the capitalist society produces two prominent classes which are in conflict with each other, bourgeoisie and proletariats. The bourgeoisie are the oppressors who own the means of production and the proletariats are the oppressed workers who labor for the bourgeoisie. Capitalism is distinguished not by privilege but instead by individuality of property ownership and that those who create the conditions of the oppressed group express this power in the form of laws that function to serve the bourgeoisie’s interests (Marx, 2004, p.129).
Andy Mulligan has made a very clear and bold statement about the inequalities and injustices that exist in our world today through his novel Trash. He uses his novel to explore these issues by focusing on key themes such as Poverty/Wealth and Justice/Injustice. The theme Poverty/Wealth conveys Mulligan’s statement about the inequalities of our world by using real-world examples of poverty and prosperity situations in his novel. Additionally, by exploring justice/injustice we see that Mulligan elaborates on a distinct and definite line between fair and unfair actions and their outcomes throughout his novel Trash. Therefore, the injustices and inequalities of our world today are clearly communicated and observed through Andy Mulligan’s novel.