In the United States, about, “45. 3 million” people live in poverty (Current). A man by the name of Matthew O’Brien wrote an article called Poverty Is Literally Making People Sick Because They Can’t Afford Food, published in 2014 in the Atlantic. He argues that the poor people are becoming sick due to their inability to pay for their necessities. Necessities such as food. O’Brien starts out with his article connecting himself to his readers, then he uses reputable sources, citing statistics, and talking about possible solutions in helping poor Americans.
O’Brien uses rhetorical situation, audience, and genre, pathos, logos, and ethos in order to make an strong article about what poor Americans are facing because they can’t afford to buy food. One of his solutions is to have an increase in govern lernment resources for the poor. In his article, O’Brien first goes off on how poor Americans struggle to it make it on one paycheck before the end of the month, which have them, “… have to cut back on food”. He says that not being able to eat will cause health problems like hypoglycemia.
Which is a result of low blood sugar. Between the years of 2000 and 2008, researchers looked at the cases of hypoglycemia of the rich and poor, to see if their was a connection between income and the illness. Next, O’Brien talks about the opinions of both political parties on this issue. Then, O’Brien mentions some possible solutions to this problem like having the government to pay out twice a month instead of at the beginning of the month, and possibly raising the minimum wage. First, O’Brien uses rhetorical situation in a serious manner.
With the topic he chose to write about is a current situation in today’s age of the United States. With his rhetorical situation it makes the reader think about income inequality in the United States. Poor Americans in the United States only get one paycheck in the beginning of the month from the government. When it’s time for them to pay for their bills, they have to lower their food costs because in today’s age housing and utilities bills are expensive. Furthermore, O’Brien states, “If they have diabetes, this hunger could turn into an even more severe health problem” (O’Brien).
Resulting in low blood sugar. A solution that O’Brien states is, “We could start by paying out welfare, food stamps, and social security twice a month, instead of just at the beginning”. From this solution it shows that O’Brien really cares for the poor Americans. Which shows that he has a liberal stance in this issue of helping the poor and so through his article he tries to trail in the readers in becoming more sincere with the lower class. O’Brien is trying to gain support from his entire audience. Especially from those who have strong beliefs about income inequality.
These readers that O’Brien is aiming for would most likely have the same beliefs, values, and goals as him. Based of this quote, “Income inequality is making us sick. Well, it’s not making all of us sick. Only the poorest of us” this shows to whom he directs his opinions too even though he doesn’t explicitly say it (O’Brien). He most likely falls as a Democrat. The beliefs of Democrats consists of rebuilding the economy to reduce poverty, focus on making new jobs to provide help to lower class get a start in life, to partner with other organizations to establish more help for the needy, and rebuild the middle class.
There’s a quote where he is speaking against the Republicans, “increasing the EITC… if Republicans were willing to increase poverty spending. But they’re not” (O’Brien). With the views that O’Brien has about income inequality doesn’t align with the views of the Republicans. He is in favor of the Democrats because since the government won’t provide more resources for the poor, the Democrats are at least trying to raise the minimum wage in a way to help to boost the income of the poor. Even though it might not seem that he is in favor of the Republicans he is still trying to get help from them o see if he can change their minds with the statistics that he covers.
The targeted audience is an important factor in trying to understand O’Brien’s purpose. Since O’Brien posted his article in The Atlantic, which is mainly writings about today’s political issues which will provide an audience from both sides of income inequality. Some of O’Brien’s audience might share some of the same liberal views of trying to seek more benefits for the poor, while others will just put down the issue by saying it will just cost more money and cause other problems in the economy.
O’Brien states, “Think about this way: Poverty begets poverty. So anything that stops some of this cycle of bad jobs, bad health, and broken homes could reduce spending on the rest… That’s a cure we can afford” (O’Brien). Through this statement it shows that O’Brien is not just aiming for his people but to everyone, basically saying that we all should be able to help those in need. At the end, O’Brien says, “Maybe giving poorer people more cold, hard cash would let them afford more food at the end of the month—and save the $1,186 that an average hypoglycemia episode costs” (O’Brien).
By this, O’Brien tries to convince his audience using his rhetorical situation of what poor Americans have to spend when they can’t afford food. The genre that O’Brien chose was an article. Through the use of this genre O’Brien went off a logical and factual based terms. Which goes well for the type of topic he chose. Income inequality has been an issue in the United States for a while and there has been controversies about the issue. Through his article O’Brien was able to explain his formal argument well.
He provided suitable evidence that brought his readers to reality of the issue. Through his article he tries to hook in his readers through statements such as, “Income inequality is making us sick” (O’Brien). With O’Brien’s use of first person he tries to gain a personal connection with the readers to build up his credibility. When an author tries to gain a personal connection with their readers, it could remind them of their past, hit emotions, strike a nerve, which is a bonus to the author because hat means that the reader will take the author’s writing more serious instead of forgetting about after they read it.
Also throughout his piece, O’Brien uses strong sources to also try to strengthen his credibility and to convince his readers. These sources are “Health Affairs” and “California Office of Statewide Health Planning Development”. Citing these sources helps persuade his audience that the government is not really providing enough resources for the poor, leaving them in the possibility of getting hypoglycemia before the end of the month.
From these sources that came with the statistics will likely cause the audience to develope more emotion towards the poor. In this case, O’Brien is using pathos with these statistics in order to have his readers have more concern for this issue. Pathos appeals to the emotion side of the argument. It’s a way to have the audience develop emotion to the argument.. A statement of pathos in O’Brien’s article is, “… low-income people (red line) were <27 percent more likely to be hospitalized for hypoglycemia in the last week of the month than in the first” (O’Brien).
The average for hypoglycemia attacks cost “$1,186”, as a reader you would feel shock to see how expensive it is to go into a hospital because of low blood sugar. For someone who is poor would believe that is a lot of money compared to someone who was rich. The quote that I mention before of, “… something like increasing the EITC … if Republicans were willing to increase poverty spending. But they’re not”, would make Republicans get upset and make the Democrats feel superior over them.
O’Brien also mentions, “So anything that stops some of this cycle of bad jobs, bad health, and broken homes could reduce spending on the rest”, this quote could remind the readers that came from a background of being poor of how they lived when they were a child or how they are currently living. Part of O’Brien’s argument there is some logos which is the logic side of the argument, meaning convincing the audience with reason. Some logos examples in Poverty Is Literally Making People Sick Because They Can’t
Afford Food by Matthew O’Brien, was a chart from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The data from the chart showed how many people go into the hospital for both hypoglycemia and appendicitis of both high income and low income families before the end of each month. The cases of appendicitis was to see if lower class people are naturally unhealthy, or if it’s the lack of food that is causing them to have bad health conditions. From the data, it showed that there wasn’t no change between high and low income families in the cases of appendicitis.
So it turned out that lower income families had more cases of hypoglycemia, showing that the amount of food that people eat does affect their health. Since the average hospital bill of hypoglycemia is “$1,186”, shows what happens if poor Americans are not able to have food to eat. (O’Brien). With the solution that O’Brien made that the government should pay people of low income twice a month so that they’ll have more money to buy food for themselves before the month ends is a good idea.
This would help poor Americans not to go into the hospital for missing out on meals. When O’Brien says that 27 percent of low income people are most likely to be placed in the hospital for hypoglycemia before the end of the month, shows how much poor Americans are affected by poverty of not being able to afford food to eat. As well as pathos and logos, there is some remnants of ethos in the article Poverty Is Literally Making People Sick Because They Can’t Afford by Matthew O’Brien. Ethos is the ethics side of convincing the reader.
The California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development showed the connection between low income families and hypoglycemia cases. O’Brien mentions that if the government doesn’t want to provide more resources the next best option would be to raise the minimum wage. This is an ethical appeal that shows he doesn’t just want help the poor but also give benefits to others. This shows that O’Brien doesn’t just only care about the poor Americans but also wants everyone to be able to afford food and not get hypoglycemia. Finally, the article
Poverty Is Literally Making People Sick Because They Can’t Afford Food by Matthew O’Brien’s that was published in The Atlantic in 2014 provided a convincing strong argument for his readers about how poverty causes health problems. In this case hypoglycemia. O’Brien provided strong evidence to lure in his audience from both sides on the issue. People who agreed with O’Brien and people who have the opposite opinion. O’Brien made his opinions clear on this issue to not just to provide information but to make his readers to think about the topic in a serious way.
As we all know it income inequality has been an issue that existed in the United States for a while. He intended to reveal something that people of middle to high income families don’t think about in their everyday lives. That missing a few meals could cost you over $1000 which may not seem much to them but for someone who is poor what could be a life savings to them. O’Brien believes that if we all work together from both sides on income inequality we all could make a difference in helping the poor Americans not go hungry.
