Evicted By Matthew Desmond Sparknotes

Evicted is a book that tells of America’s very real problem of poverty. Matthew Desmond gives readers a detailed image of the lives of eight people who are struggling to live in some of the poorest of neighborhoods in Milwaukee. The characters in this book speak for themselves and we get to witness firsthand their attempt to rise above poverty and fight against a system that profits off of them being poor. The characters struggle to afford places that many would consider uninhabitable. Eventually, they get evicted when they succumb to multiple problems that are a factor of their surroundings. Issues involving drugs, race, education, work and the meaning of home all come into play. This book showed us how eviction strengthens the inequality

The book describes the landlord, Sherrena, as well as other landlords, as having “rent collectors”. The “rent collectors” are vehicles used when going to meet with tenants that have a bigger purpose than only collecting rent. They usually carry a ladder, plumbing supplies, toolboxes, and a pistol, amongst other items. The “rent collectors” are a symbol of the landlords attempting to be equal to the tenants, rather than being seen superior to them. Though Sherrena has a lipstick-red Camaro at home, she uses an old 1993 Suburban with 22-inch rims as her “rent collector”. Since this book is nonfiction and takes account of true stories, implicit norms are shown throughout the book. Much like many other cities, the book describes the city of Milwaukee as being racially divided. “The Menominee River Valley cuts through the middle of the city and functions like its Mason-Dixon Line, dividing the predominantly black North Side from the predominately white South Side” (Desmond, 33). Sherrena is the black landlord of the North Side, while Lenny Lawson is the white landlord of the South

The landlords can be seen demonstrating tu quoque at the Milwaukee Real Estate Investors Networking Group (RING). At RING, using real estate as a profit is seen as a norm and harmless since others are doing it too. The tenants typically demonstrate appeal to pity, since that allows them to move in regardless of their background. A pity was used by tenant Lamar towards Sherrena, since he is missing his legs due to an accident. However, slippery-slope is seen by the landlord Sherrena when she does not always allow things to get buy her; knowing it will lead to more things getting by. This is seen when Lamar paints the house horribly. Though she feels pity, Sherrena does not allow this knowing it will lead to more issues with