Class 11 English: Summary of What is Poverty by Jo Goodwin Parker | Questions and Answers

Class 11 English : What is Poverty by Jo Goodwin Parker | Summary & Questions and Answers

Full Summary of Poverty by Jo Goodwin Parker

An anonymous person called Jo Goodwin Parker from West Virginia, in the United States, wrote this personal essay titled "What is Poverty." With the signature of Jo Goodwin Parker, this article was addressed to George Henderson, a professor at the University of Oklahoma. This essay was later published without any further information about the author or source. The article was written with information about a woman's struggles as a result of poverty.

We may read about the writer's hard life experiences as a result of her poverty in this article. She has detailed her horrible experiences from infancy through maturity, during which she has faced several challenges.

She discussed numerous facets of poverty in her article. She has presented a vivid and honest depiction of what it is like to be impoverished on a daily basis. Poverty, she claims, is more obscene, brutal, and destructive than shown in the media.

Poverty, according to her, is described as a lack of hope, better food, medical care, appropriate sanitation, and proper education. It's as if it's a poison that eats away at pride, honor, health, and the future. Parker's primary goal is to demonstrate how embarrassing, degrading, and nasty it is to be impoverished. She wishes to bring the attention of the readers to the deplorable plight of the destitute. She wants her readers to be aware of poverty without becoming sympathetic to her plight.

Poor individuals are forced to live restless lives in the face of their children's bleak futures. Poverty has a negative impact on relationships. Parker was the father of three children. Due of her poverty, her spouse abandoned her. He didn't work on a regular basis. Because of the family's hardship, he abandoned them all. He went without saying goodbye to his family. During that period, their situation had become a lot worse. They didn't even have enough money to purchase contraception to avoid unwanted pregnancies. She was employed. She was only paid $22 a week at the time. She had anemia as a result of her bad nutrition. The doctor recommended a procedure, but she couldn't afford it. She struggled to care for her children on her own. She had to deal with a variety of challenges while caring for her children throughout the winter and summer seasons' days and nights.

She once entrusted her children to her mother's care. When she arrived home, however, she saw her children in a deplorable state. Her youngest son's diaper hadn't been changed since the morning, and he was covered in flyspecks. Her next child was tinkering with shattered glasses, while her eldest son was alone at the lake's edge. She couldn't afford to send children to a nursery school since she didn't have enough money. For three children, she had to pay up to $20 a week in order to admit them. Her income, though, was just 22 dollars. She chose to leave her career in order to care for her children.

Analysis Of The Essay

This essay is on the effects of poverty. Poverty weakens us in a variety of ways. Poverty is exacerbated by a lack of financial resources. We need money in order to fix difficulties. We'll need a shovel to get rid of the trash. However, we will need money to purchase a shovel. We must be nice and clean to obtain any work, but we need money to purchase soap and clothing. The author has mentioned a number of occurrences that occurred as a result of her poverty. She dropped out of school because she was teased by affluent people's children all the time because she was poor. She fell pregnant many times due to the high cost of birth control. Because of her poverty, her spouse abandoned her. The financial situation was such that she was unable to complete her procedure on time. Her children used to eat cornbread without oil for morning. She used to wash her dishes with only cold water and no soap. She didn't purchase soap in order to buy a diaper for her kid. She didn't even get vaseline for her hands or the diaper rash for the infant. She sought assistance from numerous government and commercial entities, but was unable to locate the appropriate individual to assist her. She was humiliated and ashamed. She had to stretch her hands in various locations for the sake of three children.

Short Summary Of  What is Poverty

Jo Goodwin Parker, an American writer, wrote this essay titled "What is Poverty." Jo Goodwin Parker describes her life in poverty and her daily battles for the benefit of her family in her essay "What is Poverty." In the writing about her everyday life, she is highly detailed. She has shared her difficult personal experiences of living in poverty. Poverty, she believes, is defined as a lack of hope, better food, medical care, appropriate sanitation, and proper education. It's as if it's a poison that eats away at pride, honor, health, and the future. "Dirty, filthy, and spending life with no appropriate underpants on and decaying teeth that stink a lot," Parker says. She claims that she does not have luxury in her life because of the high expense of basic necessities such as hot water, soap, medication, and clothes. Through her writing, she warns all of her readers that obtaining assistance from government agencies' programs is tough. Government-sponsored assistance programs for the impoverished never exist in her region. She wants to seek assistance from a variety of organizations, but she lacks the financial wherewithal to go to them. Parker argues that her profession doesn't help her get out of her circumstance since it pays insufficiently to cover the cost of child care. "Poverty is peering into a dark future," Parker says, adding that her children have no future. Her poverty has caused her a great deal of suffering. On a daily basis, she finds it challenging to manage her family. Running her life on a daily basis is a huge struggle for her. Nobody can hope for a bright future in this circumstances. Parker does not want pity, but rather a knowledge of poverty among her readers.

The author has mentioned a number of occurrences that occurred as a result of her poverty. She dropped out of school because she was teased by affluent people's children all the time because she was poor. She fell pregnant many times due to the high cost of birth control. Because of her poverty, her spouse abandoned her. The financial situation was such that she was unable to complete her procedure on time. Her children used to eat cornbread without oil for morning. She used to wash her dishes with only cold water and no soap. She didn't purchase soap in order to buy a diaper for her kid. She didn't even get vaseline for her hands or the diaper rash for the infant. She sought assistance from numerous government and commercial entities, but was unable to locate the appropriate individual to assist her. She was humiliated and ashamed. She had to stretch her hands in various locations for the benefit of her three children.

Questions And Answers of What is Poverty

Before You Read

a. What do you consider poverty to be? Do you have a definitive explanation of it or do you consider it an abstract circumstance?

Ans. I consider poverty to be a curse. Yes, I have a definitive explanation of it. I have watched the lifestyle of poor people in my lifetime. Just as the writer, I also think the same about poverty. poverty is living life in disparity where we feel a lack of various things. Poverty is living life without hope, better foodstuffs, medicinal care, proper sanitation and proper education. It is like an acid that destroys pride, honour, health and future.


b. Look at this picture. What do you see? Where do you see such people? Who are the poor? Why are they poor? Where do the poor usually live?

Ans. I see a poor woman with her baby on her lap. Poor are those who have lack of basic requirements in their lives. They are poor because they don't have good economic status and support. They usually live in different places as footpaths, fields, deserted and old houses etc.

Understanding The Text

Answer the following questions:

a. What is poverty according to Parker?

Ans. According to Parker, poverty is a lack-that is living without hope, better foodstuffs, medicinal care, proper sanitation and proper education. It is like an acid that destroys pride, honour, health and future.



b. How is poverty difficult for Parker’s children? List some specific examples.

Ans. Poverty has marked effects on Parker's three children. They live in misery as a result of a lack of adequate food, education, clothes, and care. Parker has included her children's poor health in her presentation. She has supplied us with details on her children's poor health. They used to have oilless corn cornbread for breakfast, according to her. They used to dress in filth. They were not enrolled in a formal education program. Parker has told us of a time when she had left her children in the care of her mother while she was at work. That day, she returned home to find her youngest covered in flyspecks and whose diaper hadn't been changed since the morning. Her younger kid was tinkering with the shattered spectacles. Her oldest boy was playing along the lake's edge.


c. How does Parker try to obtain help, and what problems does she encounter?

Ans. Paker tries to obtain help by spreading her hands in front of different people and institutions for the sake of her children. Due to the lack of money, she tries her best to find supportive hands most of the time. To get help, she encounters problems to find the right organisation and person most of the time. She has to move to different organisations. She has to wait and tell her miserable story time and again.


d. Why are people’s opinions and prejudices her greatest obstacles?

Ans. People's opinions and prejudices are her greatest obstacles because these aspects prevent her from getting supportive hands for the sake of her family. Most people don't realize the bitter experience of poverty. For them, the pain of poor people is nothing. They keep on giving their opinions and prejudices against poor people. In the case of Parker, these opinions and prejudices of people make her fail to get help to run her family.


e. How does Parker defend her inability to get help? How does she discount the usual solutions society has for poverty (e.g., welfare, education, and health clinics)?

Ans. Parker justifies her incapacity to receive aid by expressing her feelings about her poverty. She challenges society's traditional answers to poverty by sharing her own experiences with welfare, education, and health clinics. She claims that in the interest of welfare, she must travel and spread her hands in a variety of organizations and locations. She has been constantly humiliated at these agencies. She must repeatedly demonstrate her destitution. She will have to explain her narrative many times. Sometimes welfare services claim to be able to assist, but getting to them takes a long time. School launch programs exist under the guise of education, but they are ineffective. She has seen the state of her two children after sending them to school. When it comes to the most important features of health clinics, Parker's life is far from such institutions. She had to trek kilometers to receive medical treatment. If she begs for assistance, the person who offers it expects her to be unhelpful. Parker is this far far from all three critical elements.

Reference To The Context

a. Explain the following:

Poverty is looking into a black future.

Ans. This line " Poverty is looking into a black future" has been stated by the writer Jo Goodwin Parker in her essay. She has put forward this line for her readers to present her experience related to poverty. Here in this line, the writer is advising all the readers about an ugly and cruel aspect of poverty. According to her, poverty leads people towards the black future. Poor people have to live miserable life daily. It is quite difficult to manage proper daily foodstuffs for them. For them, there is no hope for the upcoming future. They keep on spending their lives in disparity looking into a black future. Poverty breaks expectations and dreams of future days.


b. What does Parker mean by “The poor are always silent”?

Ans. By "The poor are always silent", Parker means the helpless state of poor people. In poverty, money plays a very vital role. Money itself is the right solution for all the problems. But, due to lack of money, poor people feel weaker. They always remain silent in front of others. They have to listen to others words being silent due to their pathetic state.


c. What writing strategy does the author use at the beginning of most of the paragraphs? Do you notice a recurring pattern? What is it?

Ans. Here in this essay, the author uses her repetition strategy at the beginning of most of the paragraphs. Yes, I notice a recurring pattern. It is the structure " Poverty is". The essay is well organized, and the structure “Poverty is” is repeated at the beginning of each paragraph.

Here, with the help of her repetition strategy, she tries to establish a relationship between the woman and the readers. The author's informal style makes the writing appear as part of a casual conversation between the narrator and the readers. Goodwin Parker’s writing is extremely effective and reaches its purpose.


d. How does Parker develop each paragraph? What details make each paragraph memorable?

Ans. Parker develops each paragraph starting with her repetition strategy. She starts most of her paragraphs with a repetition statement as "Poverty is". Later, she provides her personal experiences about her topic sentences.

The author first clearly explains to her readers that her purpose is to help people understand what poverty is. Her second purpose is to convince all her readers to help people in need. The details related to her personal painful experiences and the bitter reality of poverty make each paragraph memorable.


e. In the final paragraph, how does the author use questions to involve the readers in the issue of poverty?

Ans. In the final paragraph, the author uses questions in her informal style of direct conversation to involve the readers in the issue of poverty.


Parker has done a successful job at involving her readers through her persuasive manner. She asks them to look at the poor with an angry heart but not with a pitiable heart. This manner of question has attracted readers' emotions as well as attention. Here, in the final paragraph, she has become successful to attract her readers' attention toward her plight and the struggles of other's in her situation.

Reference Beyond The Text

a. Define a social problem (homelessness, unemployment, racism) imitating Parker’s style.

Ans. Sleeping on footpaths is a sign of homelessness. You are forced to sleep on sidewalks due to your homelessness. Walking on pathways makes you weaker in a variety of ways. It ends up becoming a source of pride and status for you.

Unemployment is a source of humiliation in one's life. Unemployment lowers your social worth. You are constantly ashamed and humiliated due to your lack of employment. People make fun of you because you're unemployed.

Racism is a way of life that is filled with humiliation. Racists make you feel insignificant in society. They continue to make fun of you because of your skin color. You will be humiliated in your culture because of your skin color. It is a misfortune to live in a society that is based on racism.

b. Using adjectives to highlight the futility of the situation, write a short definition essay on Growing up in Poverty.

Ans. Poverty is described as a pitiful state in which individuals lack a variety of vital items in their daily lives. Apart from other people's viewpoints, I believe that growing up in poverty is a nuisance. Poverty makes it impossible to be joyful. Most of the time, living in poverty irritates you. Growing up in poverty is a tedious experience. When you live in poverty, you never attempt to accomplish anything fascinating. Growing up in poverty is both perplexing and discouraging. You're always perplexed about your existence. Inequality and disparity never allow you to be free and accomplish good in your life. Growing up in poverty is a terrifying experience that exposes you to a variety of challenges and obstacles. It gives you a weary and worried experience in which aches are constantly waiting to greet you.