Parker - "What Is Poverty?"" Parker - "What Is Poverty?" N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Jo Goodwin Parker was an anonymous person from West Virginia whom mailed his/her essay to George Henderson. The essay discussed their life during poverty with three children that were malnourished and ill. Parker quit her job which was the only income that they were getting. She was only getting seventy-two dollars a month which, wasn’t enough money to take care of the four of them including her mother. The author of this essay wrote their testimony to describe what they went through during poverty.
The author stated “Poverty is getting up every morning from a dirt- and illness-stained mattress”. Parker slept on a mattress that smelled like spoiled milk and onions. The sheets were used for the bed and also for the babies’ diapers. The refrigerator needed to be fixed which means everything was spoiled.
Parker also states poverty as “being tired and dirty”. The doctor diagnosed with anemia and worms but didn’t have the money to get herself cured. The babies where covered in flies and were barely changed when the author wasn’t around. The narrator had little to no soap or hot water to wash clothes because she couldn’t afford to pay her bills or buy soap. The narrator describes poverty as “remember and asking for help”. Parker remember the day he/she quit school because she was bullied. The mother of the narrator didn’t care because parker could get a job and help out with the bills for now on. Parker always needed to ask for help because she couldn’t afford a lot of things. The narrator asked for help for