In an article entitled “What is Poverty”, author Jo Goodwin Parker uses different devices to appeal to her audience. These devices include descriptions and anecdotes as well as the presentation of counter-arguments. The descriptions that Parker includes in her article tend to accentuate sensory details such as smell and taste, “This is a smell of urine, sour milk, and spoiling food sometimes joined with the strong smell of long-cooked onions” (1). These sensory descriptions enliven the article to the point where the reader can almost smell and taste what Parker is lamenting about. Anecdotes are also used to tell the story of Parker’s past, which was also riddled with the effects of poverty, “It is remembering quitting school in junior high because “nice” children had been so cruel about my clothes and my smell.” (2). By adding a personal anecdote to show that the author has been in poverty her whole life, acts to further strengthen the pathos appeal of the article.
Furthermore, Parker incorporates counter-arguments into her writing. With each counter-argument, she also presents a rebuttal, “I have to decide every day if I can bear to put my cracked sore hands into the cold water and strong soap. But you ask, why not water? Fuel costs money. If you have a wood fire it costs money. If you burn electricity, it costs money.” (1). The combination of counter-arguments and rebuttals makes the article seem well thought out and not like a mere list of rants.
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