ipl-logo

Analysis Of Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor By Gloria Watkins

1308 Words6 Pages

Gloria Watkins is the author of the essay Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor however, when she wrote this essay she used the pen name Bell Hooks and that is how she will be addressed. Hooks’ essay is her assessment on the light in how the upper class society sees the lower class or “poor” society. The multiple prejudices that the upper class people have towards the “poor” is one of the leading topics for Hooks’ essay. In her essay, Hooks uses some suggestions from a fellow scholar named Cornel West. Hooks uses West’s statement, “that black intellectuals within the “professional-managerial class in the United States advanced capitalist society” must “engage in a kind of critical self-inventory, a historical situating and positioning …show more content…

In doing this, everyone could realize that the poor people are just like everyone else and they deserved to be judged as so. No one in the world likes to be judged because of the way they look. Each and every person prefers to be seen for the person they are and the characteristics one has. The self confidence of each individual is often determined by what other people think without taking the time to get to know someone. The worth of a person is not judged by someone’s wealth and possessions but by their actions. Poor people can read this essay and use it as a tool to take action and work with the wiling upper class to help their communities succeed. As a team, both classes can make improvements economically. Just because a person is poor, does not mean that they are worthless, they just do not have the resources to do it on their …show more content…

Just because a person is in the middle class or upper class does not automatically make them intelligent and a person with good morals. This also means a poor person is not automatically dumb or evil. The people of society today need to stop making such horrible judgments so that everyone can work together to potentially defeat poverty. Each and every person is either rich or poor and thus every person deserves to be treated with great dignity and respect. Hooks uses multiple emotional and logical arguments to address this point in her essay. For the emotional appeal, Hooks uses her own experiences to pull the reader in to seeing what it is like to be that “poor” person. “Progressive intellectuals from rich classes who are themselves obsessed with gaining material wealth are uncomfortable with the insistence that one can be poor, yet lead a rich and meaningful life” (Hooks 436). In order to convince oneself and others that one is worth more, they dehumanized the poor and labeled them as dishonest and lazy. Just because a person owns a million dollar house and five cars does not mean that person is more honest or hardworking than a poor person who can barely afford a Junker car. Most millionaires hardly do any labor and would most likely refuse to do anything if asked to do so. Those who happen to be in the poor and working class do not have a

Show More
Related
231 Words | 1 Pages

In “Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education”, Hooks talks about her experience as a southern black woman from a small town rural, Kentucky, at Stanford. As a young girl from Kentucky, hooks was confused when and stressed at the first occasion when she went to Stanford. She took a little time to see the difference in the way of life, language and community. As a southern black, Hooks appreciates her parents and her community after she goes away to school. Additionally, she became an accomplished scholar and assumed her position in the society with her education.

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

Myself, for example, I am a full-time office manager and serve tables on weekends to pay for the extra necessities like food, gas, and clothing. I drive a nice car, live in a nice house, and dress professionally. Those that see me may assume I have plenty of money or come from money, when in reality, I work two jobs for survival and necessity; hence, the working poor. In my case, I am working towards my degree to rise above my financial struggles and gratefully, the only mouth I have to feed is my own. I would not be able to afford to have a child.

Read More
1588 Words | 7 Pages

“Someday, the capitalist system will disappear in the United States, because no social class system has even eternal. One day, class societies will disappear” - Fidel Castro. Peter Singers’ “A Solution To World Poverty” is viewed as a drastic way to end world poverty. Barbara Lazear Aschers “On Compassion” makes the reader understand that it is okay to help the lower class. Singer and Ascher have contrasting viewpoints on social class, particularly on donating money and the willingness to save a lower class citizen.

Read More
1710 Words | 7 Pages

Lots of people in poverty have to ask people and family members for money. People who live this lifestyle sometimes feel worthless because they don't have what others have. In today's world our worth is determined by our materials, or even how much money we earn.". Hooks said, “We were socialized early on, by grandparents and parents, to assume that nobody's value could be measured by material value… one could be hardworking and still be poor.” Her family already knew that she and her siblings would be judged on their material status, but they wanted the children to see people for their work ethics and personality.

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

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.”

Read More
1161 Words | 5 Pages

They understand the sacrifices their parents have made for their children and to support their family. But, upper classmen might not be able to understand why inequality causes consequences because they do not experience the same situations. Those who earn more do not need to work more hours and sacrifice little things, such as vacations, in order for their children to go to school. They may not even notice any changes to their lives because they make more than enough to live stress-free, while low income families spend most of their time struggling to make ends meet. Although this essay was written about 11 years ago, I believe it is still just as effective as when it was first written because the economy is constantly changing and always leads to consequences because of the inequality present in society.

Read More
976 Words | 4 Pages

Singer’s Solution Good or Not? Who wouldn’t want to find a solution to end or reduce poverty in the world? A utilitarian philosopher, Peter Singer stated his own solution in his essay called “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”. Singer’s solution is simple: people shouldn’t be spend their money on luxuries, instead they should donate their money to overseas aid organizations. Peter uses two characters in his essay in hope to get to the hearts and minds of the people, and encourage them to donate.

Read More
1656 Words | 7 Pages

1. A heightened vulnerability is a major commonalty between the families in &2.00 a Day. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about how an African American man cannot have control of his body. Black men are vulnerable in this country; at any moment a black life can be taken.

Read More
856 Words | 4 Pages

INTRODUCTION Growing up as a poor black woman can be hard, especially in the 1950s. For bell hooks this may have been challenging but, this did not prevent her from persevering. Hooks is known for being an American author, a social activist and a feminist. She attended University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Stanford University. Her teaching career began in 1976 as and English professor at University of Southern California.

Read More
433 Words | 2 Pages

In her poem, Brooks wrote about two characters whom, we speculate, weren’t originally poor; yet, throughout the piece, she writes without any ambition or call for change for them. This is Brooks way of displaying the prideful and classist culture of the fifties and sixties. In 1960, being on government assistance was worst than just being poor; in the words of many financial analysis of that time, there is no “free” meal. Henceforth, the prideful and classist culture discouraged many deprived citizens to seek the government for help; ultimately this led to numerous social injustices.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

1984 Synthesis Essay Poverty negatively influences how the minds of people work in the world. The fact that poverty exists itself, obstructs people from changing their circumstances in what is known as “the cycle of poverty.” The lower class is incredibly disadvantaged in that it lacks the necessary social and economic resources needed to increase chances of social mobility. In return, the absence of these resources may increase poverty. Therefore, the lower class is unable to change its situation because the majority believes that any efforts to climb the social ladder is highly inefficient.

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

She begins by talking about her college experience of how her own professors and fellow students believed and “always portrayed the poor as shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy” (Paragraph 5). This experience shocked her because she never grew up materialistic. She brings up the fact that she is the person with the strong and good values that she has today because she grew up in a poor family. In culture, the poor are always being stereotyped.

Read More
724 Words | 3 Pages

In “Moving On” Diane Cook creates an emotional wall in order to get through a loss. The female protagonist in the story creates a barrier that helps other people move on with their lives. In this situation the female loses her husband and is sent to an institution to be reprogrammed. When I lost both of my family pets at different times, my reaction to both of them was unalike any other. When someone loses an important person in their life they wind up with something or someone different to fill the void.

Read More
1170 Words | 5 Pages

The Truth About Poverty “Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit” this quote was said by Mahatma Gandhi and it relates so well with this article “It is Expensive To Be Poor”, answer the question yourself, Is it expensive to be poor? This article is titled like that to get the audience's attention early and have them thinking ahead of reading. The author Barbara Ehrenreich is building a pre thought when she does this which helps support her claim. “It is Expensive To Be Poor” by Barbara Ehrenreich is an article posted on “The atlantic” “which is where you can find your current news and analysis on politics, business, culture, and technology”. Knowing what “The Atlantic” offers for readers this gives Ehrenreich a detailed look at who she is writing to.

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

The author wants the reader to continously think about what poverty means to her, such as “Poverty is being tired” in paragraph 3, “Poverty is dirt” in paragraph 4, and “Poverty is looking into a black future.” in paragraph 10. This reminds the audience that not everyone suffers from poverty in the same way. For the author, poverty is having to take care of family when all the odds are against you, and this is what gives the reader a perfect understanding of it. As stated in the passage, “Listen to me.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor By Gloria Watkins

Related Topics

Open Document