Summary of on the Meaning of Plumbing and Poverty Essay

Who are America’s poor children? How many children in America are poor? What are some of the hardships that face poor children in America? These are only a few questions that we can ask ourselves when considering children who live in poverty in America. Children face monumental hardships in our country because of poverty or the condition of not possessing the means to afford basic human needs. The economic crisis that we find ourselves in today threatens to cause a dramatic increase in the number of America’s poor children; however poverty in America has long been a crisis that has faced the children of our nation. This essay will investigate the previous asked questions and research

The text Changing the Face of Poverty by Diana George and the text Homeless on Campus by Eleanor J. Bader deals with the main idea of poverty in its different forms across America. The authors want to prove that people are turning a blind eye towards poverty because many people do not see it in their everyday lives. If the rising destitution in America would be acknowledged, programs such as Habitat for Humanity and the LeTendre Education fund could be more efficient in tending to the needs of those in poverty. The authors explore how homelessness/poverty is inaccurately portrayed by organizations or people, inhumane and abusive conditions in poverty infused homes, and how the two female authors use similar appeals throughout their

As a child, Jeannette’s sense of wonder and curiosity in the world undermine the need for money. During her young adult years, a new wave of insecurity associated with her poor past infects her. Finally, as an experienced and aged woman, Jeannette finds joy and nostalgia in cherishing her poverty- stricken past. It must be noted that no story goes without a couple twists and turns, especiallydefinitely not Jeannette Walls’. The fact of the matter is that growing up in poverty effectively craftsed, and transformsed her into the person she becomeshas become. While statistics and research show that living in poverty can be detrimental to a child’s self-esteem, Jeannette Walls encourages children living in poverty to have ownership over their temporary situation, and never to feel inferior because of past or present socio-economic

Poverty is a main part of life for many people in the world, more importantly the United States. Jeanette Walls shows how big of a problem poverty is in her memoir “The Glass Castle”, with her stories of how she grew up and her family’s struggles. How her family was treated along with what the people living around them found important clearly shows their economical class. The problem of food scarcity, or not having the bare necessities are some of poverty’s main problems. In “The Glass Castle”, the issues of poverty are displayed through not having the basic necessities, not being able to provide for children, and how there is not always enough food to feed everyone in the family.

Author Bryan Stevenson (2014) writes, “The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned”(p.18). According to the non-profit, Feeding America (2016), in 2015, 43.1 million, or 13.5%, of people in the United States were impoverished. Poverty is a vicious cycle, trapping people and families for generations. The inability to escape poverty is due in part to difficult class mobility in the U.S. but also because certain factors reinforce the idea and state of poverty. Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller Just Mercy, Lindsey Cook’s article “U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal”, Michelle Alexander’s excerpt “The Lockdown”, and Sarah Smarsh’s “Poor Teeth” all explore the idea of poverty and the systems that sustain it. While all four readings focus on poverty differently and explore it using different techniques, they all share similar big picture ideas about how poverty is fortified through systematic, societal, and psychological efforts.

The poverty cycle was introduced in such a way so that a message of how the significance of the quality of education affects the fate of an individual. An example of how a lack of quality education perpetuates the poverty takes place when Moore narrates “My grandparents agreed…My grandparents took the money they had in the home in the Bronx, decades of savings and mortgage payments, and gave it to my mother so that she could pay for my first year of military school.” (Moore 95-96). The distress for an education of higher quality is present in this passage because Moore’s mother and his grandparents were willing to sacrifice large sums of money in order to change Wes Moore’s fate through a better education. Wes Moore uses this passage in order to convey the message that an individual’s environment plays a significant role in determining one’s fate. In contrast the other Wes Moore was not able to pursue a higher education because of a dearth of the opportunity to do

Parker also explains her purpose through the use of stylistic devices like imagery. She uses concrete images to portray the idea of poverty. She explains that “Poverty is staying up all night on cold nights to watch the fire knowing one spark on the newspapers covering the walls means your sleeping child dies in flames.” What adds to the readers idea of poverty is the horrendous image of a child burning to death, also the newspaper-covered wall of a make-shift house. There are plenty other nouns like grits with no oleo, runny noses, and diapers that paint an image of poverty in the reader ́s head. You also have the sense of ́smell ́ through this essay by phrases that describe the “sour milk”, “urine”, and “stench of rotting teeth”. You can also ́feel ́ poverty through hands that are “so cracked and red”, since the author cannot afford vaseline. The use of imagery makes the a!udience more conscious of the effects of poverty. !

Book Theme: In the arduous journey from childhood to adulthood, a young woman is faced with two things that need great attention and balance - the progress of her individual social standing, and the welfare of her immediate family.

As you can see, there are more than the basics of poverty. These poor people struggle on a daily basis to provide the needs of themselves and their family. Poverty affects adults and their children in so many ways. I believe that poverty should be one of the main focuses of America. I have deep sorrow for these people doing whatever they can to make money. I think that poverty needs to be decreased in the United States. I don’t know how the people in poverty do it. They have a weight that they are carrying on their shoulders that they shouldn’t. It’s time for a change.

The scourge of poverty in the United States of America is a tragic story that seems to never end. When President Lyndon B. Johnson fired the first shots in the “War on Poverty” in 1964, the rate declined by a several percentage points in the coming decade. Sadly, whereas in 1964 the percentage of Americans in poverty was approximately 17 percent of the population, the rate still stood at 14.8 percent a full 50 years later in 2014. The ongoing plague of poverty has given rise to a moral value shared almost universally in communities across America: in a society as prosperous and successful as ours, it cannot possibly be considered moral to bear witness to so many poor people who can see little or no way out of their lot in life. Unfortunately,

Melanie Scheller grew up in very poor family in South California. She was embarrassed of her family’s poverty, and it has strongly affected her throughout her life. In the essay “On the Meaning of Plumbing and Poverty,” Melanie Scheller identifies herself as rural poor person. Even when she became rich, she still feels kinship with poor people. One of the signs of poverty for Scheller was the lack of indoor plumbing because in her childhood she used to live in a house without it.

The setting of this book is in Terri’s childhood home in Ontario Canada. The time period is the 1960s-1970s.

Bryant Myer has comprehensively pulled together some strings that I have not come across in my understanding of the poor and non-poor. He has broadened my knowledge of poverty, leading me to the thought that all of humanity is poor. In my perspective, poor is defined within the parameters of material needs but Myer expands it to the idea that those who may not be poor financially can be poor emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically. Throughout the reading, there are many various models that are suitable for more understanding of poverty. It was an interesting read and very inspiring in terms of evangelism.

She lost another love by the name of Oluf, could not find much work, and lost hard-earned money through a bad business investment. After all this peril she took Russell and Doris and moved to Baltimore. Another move equaled more stress, less money, and more struggling to get by. With what seemed to be the world against her, she made it. She remarried, bought a house, and became the success she demanded of herself. Every step of the way Russell was exposed to all the ups and downs. His mother’s life during those times shaped and influenced his own.

While it has proven to be difficult to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman is optimistic. In his book So Rich, So Poor Edelman makes a call to action. There are four prominent ideas that underpin Edelman’s reasoning throughout the book: (1) More people must understand why poverty is still so prevalent in America; (2) extreme poverty must be taken into consideration as a shocking 6 million Americans’ sole income was food stamps in 2011. This fact alone creates a sense of urgency that drives Edelman; (3) increasing income inequality should be treated as a moral issue; and (4) bold political action will be required if substantive progress will be made in alleviating poverty.