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Rhetorical Analysis Of 'You Ask Me What Is Poverty'

Decent Essays

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. ! ! Parker ́s essay was targeted to an audience that is wealthy like the middle-class. Parker knows what people that are somewhat wealthy think and in her essay she writes down what goes on in there lives and compares it to her own. For …show more content…

Parker conveys the purpose and her message by using a direct tone, putting the audience in an uncomfortable mood. When reading the essay you feel lectured because she uses short and to the point statements such as, “here I am”, “listen to me”, and “poverty is asking for help.” She also uses imperative vera like “put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill fitting shoes, and hear me.” The use of the pronoun ́you ́ is two-fold. The writer first of uses second person to speak to the reader, an example of this is, “Have you ever had to ask for help?” She also uses the second person as a general subject, like ́one in general ́. She also sketches a scenario by describing how one asks for help, “you find out where the office is that you are supposed to visit. You circle that block four or five times.” The reader feels a sense of empathy and frustration with the general ́you ́ with direct, s!econd-person narration; and the reader feels as part of the story that Parker is telling. …show more content…

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. ! ! The essay ́s structure is very persuasive. There is repetition that starts each body paragraph, such as “Poverty is getting up in the morning...” in the second paragraph, “Poverty is

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