The Differences in the Presentation of Poverty in...

Welcome to the year 1963. Three years into this decade have proved to be not only influential to the future of our nation but also to serve as a cautionary tale. New technological inventions, major political occurrences, and a more aware society have proved to be very important events. These events in addition to many others will undoubtedly influence our nation in many ways but it seems to be that our nation has lost grip of a crisis much closer to home and much closer to the individual person, this specific person mentioned is the American citizen. Rich, poor, middle class, privileged, etc. are all ways to define oneself in the American Society, but as we reach the end of this decade, will we be able to say we efficiently took care of†¦show more content†¦Harrington’s book would surprise most Americans who are sitting in their new suburban home in front of their new TV. To these members of our nation America appears to be doing completely fine economically and in te rms of social welfare. In the start of his book, Harrington says, â€Å"here is a great mass of people, yet it takes the effort of the intellect and will even to see them† (Harrington 2). According to Harrington’s research, he found that nearly 50,000,000 Americans live in poverty. Not only is this number quite large, but also worrying because these individuals have essentially become invisible to those who are not considered to be living under the poverty line. What Harrington means is that it takes someone who is actually paying attention to this issue in order to fully understand what is truly happening to our society. Harrington calculated our nation’s poverty by figuring the number of Americans who got by with an annual income of less than $3,000. He argued that this data wasn’t hard to come by as it was census data, but the average American who is well off has little to no real reason to ever pay attention to this sort of shocking truth. Our diverse country has beautiful coasts, large cities, and miles and miles of rolling hills in the Midwest. However, part of the problem we are experiencing is the lack of awareness of the isolation certain portions of our country create. The â€Å"Other America† Harrington references exist in the dirty slums of the