An Analysis of David Shipler's Novel The Working Poor: Invisible in America Essay

David Shipler, renowned author of The Working Poor Invisible in America, uses case studies to prove his belief that it takes favorable conditions, which include, but are not limited to, a specific skill set, financial stability, purpose, and a network of people to completely leave poverty.Renowned author David Shipler exposes poverty and lower class America in the novel The Working Poor Invisible in America. He describes the conditions required to leave poverty he supports his beliefs when he analyzes people in their tragic struggle to find better lives for themselves and their families.Shipler enumerates the conditions needed to escape poverty in his chapter, At the Edge of Poverty. These conditions include, a set of skills, a good starting wage, a job with a likelihood of promotionclarity of purpose, courageous self-esteem, a lack of substantial debt, the freedom from illness or addiction, a functional family, a network of upstanding friends, and the right help from private or governmental agencies (4-5). A person, for example, that has a functional family has access to a support system this system offers encouragement to succeed. This results gaining motivation to continue their education or obtain a better job.Work Doesnt Work further expands Shiplers views as he provides case studies on lower class Americans. Most examples are women who live paycheck-to-paycheck and struggle to care for their children. One case, Christie, followed her mothers footsteps and withdrew from college in search of a more exciting life. Now Christie realizes that she cannot pursue her passion of working with children due to her lack of a college degree. Therefore, she stays a day care assistant barely able to stay afloat. While the labor performed by her and numerous others in the lower class are essential to society, their time and hard work go largely unrecognized. Shipler stresses the point that hard work alone would not pay off (45) one needs his perfect conditions to excel. A lack thereof paints a picture of...

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