Ignorance Depicted In David Shiplers The Working Poor

In David Shiplers’ The Working Poor, he explores the life of the forgotten people of America. He listened to the voices of those who are a victim of either circumstance, or their own created misfortune. The books shows the stories behind the working poor’s tired eyes, and wrinkled faces. It brings a whole new light to the underbelly of America. It takes off the blindfold of ignorance that society wears. In David Shiplers’ The Working Poor he shows the barriers that hindered the working poor from escaping the maze of poverty.

The popular tooth paste brand Colgate is, “#64 World’s Most Valuable Brands” (Forbes). The company that specializes in tooth health is in the A-List category of brands. By this fact, teeth must be extremely important part of American society. To most people that is common sense, but there are some who can’t afford common sense; for example Caroline Payne. In the book Shipler gives a brief outline of Caroline’s work life, and talks about how she never got a promotion. “… Wal-Mart manager, Mark brown called her a ‘nice lady’…. ‘She can definitely move up.’ But she did not move up. She had never moved up” (Shipler 51). He sets up the reader to believe that Caroline maybe a bad worker, and others are saying nice things to avoid looking bad in

the book. The way he present his argument, he makes the reader form a misjudged opinion on the subject then baffles the mind with a powerful statement. “The people who got promotions tended to have something that Caroline did not. They had teeth. Caroline did not have teeth” (Shipler 52). Shipler also used redundancy in his book. By repeating haunting facts about a person the reader is forced to face the fact, not once but twice, that poverty is sometimes out of someone’s control.
“‘Violence,’ Shipler points out, ‘has a longstanding place in many whites' images of blacks. So, if you are black, if you are a man, if you are large and strong, or if you have a prison record, you are likely to be perceived as a person with a temper, a vein of rage’ (Suskind). Shipler writes the book without really caring for boundaries. He takes social stigmas, stereotypes, and throws it in the face of the reader. He makes the reader stare reality in the eyes, and realize the world that surrounds them can be quite vile. Shipler talks briefly about Kevin, a black man who was formerly incarcerated, Shipler shows the reader that he is not only handicapped by his race, but also his past. “He had received a butcher’s certificate in a training course… employers didn’t rush to put a knife in his hand” (Shipler 42).
“She could not afford to put her own two children in the day care center where she worked” (Shipler 39).
Fear is an emotion that can cut a man at his knees.

In the case of Marquita it stopped her from getting her GED and essentially bettering her life. “‘So there’s really nothing stopping me from doing it except me being afraid to just go in and do it… More than four years later, she still not dared to try the test again.” Shipler shows that fear has no limits on the control it has on someone’s life. That at the core, the working poor is still humans that are capable of such things. Also in the case of Camellia, a woman who was a one step short of getting a job at Macys. Due to her low self esteem, mixed with fear, she decided to not go to the orientation, and in short giving up before she was even up to

bat.
Through out the book David Shipler lays out all the things wrong with our society. He urges both the government and business to take responsibility for their part of the problem. “Relief will come, if at all, in all amalgam that recognizes both the society’s obligation through government and business, and the individual’s obligation through labor and family – and the commitment of both society and individual though education” (Shipler 300). Shipler does a great by showing the world the unseen Americans. He became the writer of the poor. As they sang their sad songs with smiles on their faces, he wrote down the lyrics of their heartbreaking melodies.