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The Dirty Kid By Mariana Enriquez: Chapter Analysis

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Poverty cosplay refers to the act of performing or pretending to be poor for aesthetic or entertainment purposes without truly understanding or experiencing the hardships of poverty. The Dirty Kid by Mariana Enriquez illustrates how the narrator engages in poverty cosplay, presenting an illusion of belonging in a poverty-stricken community, while simultaneously maintaining a privileged and disconnected position from others in the community.
Within modern society, there is an abundance of wealthy people who choose to live in impoverished communities, effectively cosplaying as regular, working-class citizens within this community. These people develop a notion that they fit into this community and that this is who they are, however at a moment's …show more content…

The act of wealthy people engaging in poverty and developing a saviour complex is nothing out of the ordinary, and even if the wealthy person may marginally benefit the community they are engaging in, they will never fix the underlying issues of that community. The narrator’s saviour complex is fixated purely on the boy who resides outside her house, and even though she only provided the young boy with a bite to eat, the narrator feels righteous stating “how natural these desperate lives seemed to me” (Enriquez 21), essentially arguing that she knows this community better than others and that she is a martyr for them. Nevertheless, the narrator would react furiously, considering the boy a “spoiled little brat” (Enriquez 22) when the boy continues in his emotionless state through his mother’s berating of the narrator. This is yet another example of the narrator engaging in poverty cosplay and the saviour complex that is developed from it, as it is very common to see wealthy people engage similarly by feeling a sense of empowerment by helping the less fortunate in the simplest of ways, yet when that help is no longer advantageous for them, the wealthy person’s attitudes shift, and become much colder and distant towards the person, just as the narrator does to the homeless

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Therefore, Scalzi creates an image of overwhelming challenges as a reflection of the poor’s sense of hopelessness in overcoming their hardships. Repetition’s effect in Scalzi’s article is further demonstrated by the dozens of comments following a similar repetitive style in terms of expressing personal struggles with being poor. This in itself demonstrates evidence of pathos as numerous members of Scalzi’s audience were convinced to express their personal challenges with poverty, providing noteworthy evidence of emotional responses. Thus, a notable contribution is provided towards Scalzi’s argument as the perspective from the life of the poor is expanded, providing an advanced understanding, within the audience, of the prevailing sense of despair and hopelessness among the

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