Ehrenreich's Rhetorical Analysis: Too Poor To Make The News
Eng 103-D200
27 Sept 2012
Rhetorical Analysis
In Barbara Ehrenreich's New York Times article, “Too Poor to make the News”, she investigates a phenomenon that has been swept away by the waves of media headlines about “middle class cutbacks” and “the super-rich giving up private jets”. (pg 322) She talks to people she met while writing her book “Nickel and Dimed” and uncovers stories of people whose ends could not be met before the recession, and are even less likely to be met now with increasing layoffs, foreclosed homes, and unavailable loans. She describes the problem well, and provides several sad tales, including one about her own nephew and his family's problems. She raises a crucial issue. Accepting the ways in which poverty is …show more content…
Ehrenreich also writes about her nephew and the hardship that he and his family faced when his mother-in-law had a heart attack and was not able to provide for her disabled child and two grandchildren. The mother-in-law could no longer make her mortgage on a single-wide trailer that had depreciated as much as a used car. Unemployment rates increased as much as twenty percent in some areas and during the height of the real estate boom, rents quickly spiraled higher and higher, leaving many lower income individuals no choice but to cram as many as five people into a tiny one bedroom apartment. Dividing the rent among five people was affordable but uncomfortable and sometimes unlawful. Zoning laws were broken due to parking thus causing expensive fines for people who can’t afford to pay other obligations; domestic violence has risen due to stress filled apartments or homes due to overcrowding. The working poor is a term used to describe “individuals and families who maintain regular employment but remain in relative poverty due to low levels of pay and dependent expenses.” (Wikipedia.org) some people do not acknowledge and others have not heard of this group which consists of individuals who work at least one full-time job and sometimes even two or three part-time jobs that only pay minimum wage and have no health benefits, in order to support themselves and their
27 Sept 2012
Rhetorical Analysis
In Barbara Ehrenreich's New York Times article, “Too Poor to make the News”, she investigates a phenomenon that has been swept away by the waves of media headlines about “middle class cutbacks” and “the super-rich giving up private jets”. (pg 322) She talks to people she met while writing her book “Nickel and Dimed” and uncovers stories of people whose ends could not be met before the recession, and are even less likely to be met now with increasing layoffs, foreclosed homes, and unavailable loans. She describes the problem well, and provides several sad tales, including one about her own nephew and his family's problems. She raises a crucial issue. Accepting the ways in which poverty is …show more content…
Ehrenreich also writes about her nephew and the hardship that he and his family faced when his mother-in-law had a heart attack and was not able to provide for her disabled child and two grandchildren. The mother-in-law could no longer make her mortgage on a single-wide trailer that had depreciated as much as a used car. Unemployment rates increased as much as twenty percent in some areas and during the height of the real estate boom, rents quickly spiraled higher and higher, leaving many lower income individuals no choice but to cram as many as five people into a tiny one bedroom apartment. Dividing the rent among five people was affordable but uncomfortable and sometimes unlawful. Zoning laws were broken due to parking thus causing expensive fines for people who can’t afford to pay other obligations; domestic violence has risen due to stress filled apartments or homes due to overcrowding. The working poor is a term used to describe “individuals and families who maintain regular employment but remain in relative poverty due to low levels of pay and dependent expenses.” (Wikipedia.org) some people do not acknowledge and others have not heard of this group which consists of individuals who work at least one full-time job and sometimes even two or three part-time jobs that only pay minimum wage and have no health benefits, in order to support themselves and their