What does it mean to be poor? Jo Goodwin Parker's article, "What is Poverty?", summarizes her ideas of the true definition of poverty. The article is harsh and direct and can actually make the reader uncomfortable while reading it. Parker's stern and caustic tone throughout the article makes her seem angry at the reader. Parker's content is extremely graphic and too personal for the reader. Though her ethical appeal and logical appeal are extremely weak, her emotional appeal is excessively strong. Parker directs this article at the reader and attacks the reader's emotions through her harsh tone, graphic content, and lack of rhetorical appeal.

Parker's tone throughout the article causes the reader to feel many different emotions. She begins the article with a stern, harsh tone by demanding, "You ask me what is poverty? Listen to me"(467). The tone is too direct to the reader, causing the reader to feel uncomfortable from the very beginning. Then, her tone starts making the reader feel guilty. Parker uses the phrase, "You say in your clean clothes coming from your clean house, 'Anybody can be clean'"(468). This phrase not only is too direct, but it makes the reader f

By using a stern tone, harsh images, and rhetorical appeal, Parker arouses too many of the readers' emotions. Parker does an excellent job of engaging the reader, but she is a little extreme in places making the reader feel uncomfortable while reading the article. Her tone is overly confrontational and attacks the reader in a negative way. Her content creates too many harsh images of her experience in a life of poverty. The excessive amount of emotional appeal also makes the reader uncomfortable. If Parker would have used more logical appeal, she could have proven that her article was not one-sided. Everyone in life has a series of choices, but through this article one can tell that

health."(468) The reader cannot help but to feel guilty for her children because most people have all of these commodities. Parker also possesses an angry tone. She describes poverty as "acid that drips on pride until pride is worn away" (470). Her tone here is angry because she is indignant that poverty might be destroying her life. When she says, "Can you be silent too?" (470) it seems like she is mad at the reader. She wants the reader to do something about poverty instead of being "silent" (470). By using her harsh and guilty tone, Parker makes the reader feel quite uncomfortable.

In addition to her tone and content, Parker's lack of rhetorical appeal also makes the reader feel uncom

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Approximate Word count = 940
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)