“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” (Albert Einstein). “Flavio’s Home,” written by Gordon Parks, can be considered one of Parks’ most memorable photography works. Parks’, enduring much hardship of his own as a teenager, turned his struggles around and used it as inspiration for others. His article tells of a twelve-year old boy and his family, stricken by poverty. Through an acutely informative and subtly persuasive article, Parks adequately uses pathos, diction, syntax, and imagery to tell his readers about why and how poverty “is the most savage of all human afflictions.” Speaking to his Life Magazine readers, Parks’ purpose for writing this article is to first …show more content…
As mentioned earlier, sentence structure works directly with diction, and while the words are extremely significant, syntax plays a big role as well. The long, drawn out sentences serve a great purpose. In the case of “Flavio’s Home,” this extensive syntax portrays the long, drawn out lives that these people live. The readers can actually feel time passing slowly as they read the frightening details about the favelas. On the other end of the spectrum, he utilizes short phrases as well, known as segregating sentences. These serve to emphasize critical pieces of information that Parks wants to jump out at the …show more content…
However, even through all the words formed into the sentences that painted the favelas in a tragically beautiful picture, he never states that someone needs to help. He needed to provoke a sense of disappointment that this is what other parts of the world are like, and he accomplished that through an emotional connection. He wanted to provoke that call-to-action feeling capable in everyone, and his readers found that claim. At the end of the article it states, “Parks’s photo-essay on Flavio generated an unprecedented response from Life readers. Indeed, they sent so much money to the da Silvas that the family was able to leave the favela for better living conditions. …” Parks’s readers felt the hope and despair that Parks administered through his writing just as they saw the image of hope in Flavio’s
Gary’s House, Debra Oswald, features the story of an Aussie couple facing the reality of adversity. Oswald has represented common beliefs and representations through the four protagonists mainly focusing on Gary and Dave. Many beliefs and values in the book symbolize the dominant stereotypes of an average Australian. Oswald explores the concept of an Aussie battler and how it perpetuates and challenges the common stereotype of Australians.
I learned many things about Philip Caputo and his tour of duty. He described how he felt in the beginning about the Vietnamese people, which was not as much hate since him and the other soldiers were not as knowledgeable about all the conflict that was taking place in Vietnam. Caputo was very opinionated towards his views of the Vietnamese people. He actually felt sorry for all the villagers who had to see and deal with the negative environment that was brought upon them, and bear the Marines who probed their homes for prohibited Viet Cong relations. Caputo did not find it fair how the American troops mistreated the villagers and protected the concept of apprehending the Viet Cong. However, throughout the end of his tour, he and his men disliked the VC very strongly, learned how to hate and wanted to kill them.
Un Sac De Billes is an autobiography written by Joseph Joffo, a French writer. The story is based on the life of Joseph Joffo and his family during the early nineties. The Germans invaded Paris in 1941 and the Jews happened to be affected the most. The Germans made it mandatory for the Jews to put on an étoile jaune (yellow star) in order to be distinguished from the others. The Joffo family was in distress since they were also Jewish. Thereafter, anytime Joseph, 10 years of age and his brother Maurice, 12 years old went to school with the star on their uniforms, their classmates scoffed at them; even their teachers treated them in a prejudiced manner. Joseph’s dad, Mr. Joffo reasoned with his boys to abscond from Paris to a secure zone, Zone Libre where Henry and Albert, their older brothers resided. Joseph and Maurice affronted a lot of hardships at that vulnerable age; they fled from city to city in order to survive. After the Germans left, the brothers returned to Paris. The Joffos were reunited except their dad who lost his life in the hands of the Germans.
1). This was an effective point because it immediately grabbed the reader’s attention. It also played on people’s natural, instinctive qualities to help those who are in need. It got readers to start thinking from the author’s point of view and could make them try to help him in any way they can. Another way he used an emotional response was by talking about “tax dollars” (par.17). This was well placed because many Americans think that they work too hard to have their hard-earned tax dollars go to waste. This also brought the readers closer to the author because they would not want that to happen, which is a typical fear of
Jonathan Kozol's book, Amazing Grace, analyzes the lives of the people living in the dilapidated district of South Bronx, New York. Kozol spends time touring the streets with children, talking to parents, and discussing the appalling living conditions and safety concerns that plague the residents in the inner cities of New York. In great detail, he describes the harsh lifestyles that the poverty stricken families are forced into; day in and day out. Disease, hunger, crime, and drugs are of the few everyday problems that the people in Kozol's book face; however, many of these people continue to maintain a very religious and positive outlook on life. Jonathan Kozol's investigation on the lifestyle of these people, shows the side to poverty that most of the privileged class in America does not get to see. Kozol wishes to persuade the readers to sympathize with his book and consider the condition in which these people live. The inequality issues mentioned are major factors in affecting the main concerns of Kozol: educational problems, healthcare obstacles, and the everyday struggles of a South Bronx child.
Despite the similarities in the two texts presented by the authors and photographers, their work is presented in two various ways. Agee and Evans project was done after living with three tenant families and Evans photographs are completely separate from Agees text. There are not any captions or names and they do not tell us where the photos are taken or who the people in the pictures are. Lange and Taylor’s project on the other hand is written in a way that helps us read the photographs and it is easier to see the connections between the text and pictures. The captions underneath the photos are based on words formulated by the people in the picture. However, the photos that do not have any people in them still have captions, but in this case we can assume that someone has told the photographer or author what to write for each photo. By this method the true meaning of how the turmoil during this period affected the people in question is more precisely illustrated because it includes the words uttered by the people thems...
Towards the end of the 19th century, reformers used many different tactics to encourage the public to advocate for social reforms. Jacob Riis used photographs of New York City’s slum tenements and its inhabitants to shock people with the truth. His book, How the Other Half Lives, provides a clear picture of the dangers that tenement life poses to middle-class values. Because all life is a product of its environment, Riis used pictures to encourage members of the middle class to see the poor’s struggles before it became a problem that undermined society’s ability to function. His approach had on tenement reform and the struggles of life in the tenement houses were detrimental to changing the poor’s way of life Jacob Riis, used a first-person perspective to explore the living conditions of that era. Riis was an immigrant, a photojournalist, a police reporter, and more importantly a social reformer He paints a very clear un-shielded
However, she never really experienced the actual life of living in poverty as the majority of people living in poverty experience. Barbara, an educated white women had just that on other people living in poverty, because of the color of her skin and education level that is more often than not restricted from people living in poverty. She was able and more qualified for jobs than other people living amongst the status she was playing. She also was able to more readily seek better benefits than people living in poverty. When she first start her journey in Florida she had a car, a car that in most cases people living in poverty do not have. She was also able to use the internet to find local jobs and available housing in the area that many people living in poverty are restricted from. Another great benefit she had was the luxury of affording a drug detox cleansing her of drugs deemed bad. Many people living in poverty do not have much extra cash laying around much less fifty dollars to afford a detox for prescription drugs. She also had the luxury to afford her prescription drugs, another option that many people living in poverty do not have. Another element that made Barbara’s experience not that genuine was the fact that she was not providing for anybody other than herself. Twenty-two percent of kids under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line (http://npc.umich.edu/poverty/#5) , Barbara did not have to provide for pets or kids which would of changed her experience altogether of living in poverty. Not to belittle Barbara’s experience, but many factors of what life is like living in poverty were not taken into consideration during her
Carolina told about two boys wandering the streets of the favela who were from shelters in the city. At the shelters, there were innocent children abandoned or orphaned, but also there were young criminals sentenced to stay there. Both groups were thrown together and treated as though they all had prison sentences. Carolina wrote, “I felt that in the State Shelter the children’s morals were lowered. […] What’s lacking? Concern for the unfortunate or money from the State?” (81). Whether it was babies dying in the favela, or children growing into poverty, the families of favelados were destined for misfortune. Carolina’s older children were still in school, but they contributed to the family income, as was common at the time, by going out to beg or to collect paper and scrap with her. Favelas of Brazil bred the destruction of innocence and children grew up quickly, such as when “the son of Joaquim went to school drunk” (130). Intersectionality of race and class was also pertinent. Racism and classism prevented poor, impoverished children from receiving any opportunities to improve their
In the story “Flavio’s Home” by Gordon Parks, he draws you into a world that is very descriptive and allows yourself to imagine what it would be like if you were standing there with him. Gordon was there with Life reporter Jose Gallo to find a father with a family to examine the poverty of that particular family in Rio de Janeiro. Instead they came across a boy named Flavio, they followed Flavio up the mountain to a leaning shack. Flavio was only twelve but had worked so hard from the time he could stand that his body had taken the toll. Gordon describes the favela of Catacumba, pale by comparison to New York’s Harlem and Chicago’s south side. In so doing this gives the readers in those populated city’s an idea of how much greater the poverty
Stories about life 's struggle to survive in everyday America can make one think twice of the American dream. In David Shipler’s book The Working Poor, David tells many different tales of people living in poverty and also analyzes what 's wrong and why. The book’s portrayal of the poor is not for the meek however, as one reviewer exclaims, “Through a series of sensitive, sometimes heart-rending portraits”, (Lenkowsky). In the book a lot of American ideologies are turned on its head as The Red Phoenix explains how our poor are viewed as, “Wealth and decadence are the tell-tale signs of hard work and brilliance paying off, while poverty is a sign of laziness, irresponsibility and a disposition or work-ethic undeserving of the
In the late eighteen hundreds to the start of the twentieth century the United States is on the brink of reformation but the remnants of a societal barrier between different classes, and races of people is still very prominent. Jacob Riis the Author of “How the Other half lives” approaches this issue in an expose that literally sheds light on the darkness of poverty as well as the tenements the lower class is forced to live and in most cases die in. Riis can be seen as a forerunner of progressivism as he uses photojournalism and his firsthand personal involvement, to pinpoint causes of problems in lower class housing in the city. There are three significant reasons he believes tenements have become a dilemma, individual action by the poor,
An eight or nine year old boy with dirt in his face, wearing ripped jeans, shoes and a dirty shirt doing his best to stop one of a thousand cars in order for him to wash the windshields of a car for a miserable wage. This young man was struggling to carry a large container with soap and water and a small red rug which he held with his small, left hand. His facial expression revealed fear, doubt and resignation. The inside of me wanted to cry and at the same time, I wanted to take him with me and give him a warm cup of milk. He looked as if he had not eaten anything for days. As he approached our car the other drivers would curse him and tell him to disappear from this world. With a sad glimpse, he kept his journey towards our car. His big and dark brown eyes expressed pain, dismay, and despair. Heartbreaking stories similar to this one are most commonly occurring in the urban metropolis of Mexico and Latin America. These children suffer from the abandonment of their family and the economic issues of the country; moreover they are deprived to health care, exposed to violence, drugs, and HIV through sexual promiscuity. Street kids are not choosing to live in abandoned buildings, cardboard boxes, parks or on the street itself; they are forced to take on the challenges of life that no other human being experiences in many years. Therefore, street children should be helped due to the constant marginalization.
Perhaps, the film Dangerous Minds puts too much emphasis on the character of Louanne as a savior for the children, and sensationalizes the idea of “gang life.” However, it nevertheless manages to draw attention to important social factors that can influence the lives of children growing up in poverty, and how these factors can effect who we become. I see the film as an avenue to begin breeching mainstream views that cloud the issue of poverty in the United States, to start opening up paths for discussion, and consideration for the steps that might lead to social
If it wasn’t for him loving to write, there may not have been these great books in the world today. As an adult, he set his life’s work on exposing social ills, using his boundless talents and energies to spin engaging, poignant tales from the streets (pbs.org). Charles introduced new forms of publishing that became popular and influential really fast. Dicken’s keen observational style, precise description, and sharp social criticism have kept his large body of work profoundly enduring (pbs,org).