What do most individuals think of when they heard the word “poverty”? Some may imagine a person panhandling on the side of the road. Others may picture a family or group of people making an abandoned alleyway a place to call home. Upper-class people may view poverty as someone having to use public transportation because they cannot afford the cost of owning an automobile. Jo Goodwin Parker’s “What Is Poverty?” and Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How I Discovered the Truth about Poverty” both have rather divergent views of the same topic. But which one is right? Who really knows what poverty is? In the United States, the Census Bureau “determines the official poverty rate using poverty thresholds that are issued each year” (“National Poverty Center | University of Michigan”). Each author considers what the true …show more content…
Parker writes about poverty through her own eyes, because she lived in a life of poverty. She grew up in poverty, and even after she started a family, her family lived in poverty with her. Parker’s family lived a life of uncleanliness, sickliness, and overall in hazardous conditions. She explains the smells, family life, disappointments, and safety issues she faced for herself and her children due to this unfortunate way of life. Between the lack of hygiene and the scanty amounts of food she had to share between herself and her children, it is a wonder how they managed to survive both mentally and physically. As Parker describes her life in poverty more, readers can see that her family support system was not ideal either. Between job issues and difficulties in making ends meet, Parker’s husband left her. Though her husband was the