1⁄3 of America’s population is living below the poverty line and it’s almost impossible to get out. With a ruthless economy that keeps them stuck and only serves the 1%, as well as everyday life that becomes tremendously harder without the cushion of money, Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth, explains the hardships of being poor in the United States. She also tackles the many stereotypes that people associate with being poor, explains all aspects of living life being poor, and how society treats them. Linda Tirado wants to explain to us what living in poverty is like, how simple it is to treat people with respect, and how “destructive behaviors” aren’t really destructive at all. I think that it’s important for everyone to read this to get a small glimpse into understanding a person's life along with experiences and to stop judging. It has shown me things like how the United States doesn’t do a lot for the poor and that minimum wage isn’t liveable off of, or how a lot of people view poor people as being lazy. Tirado does a very good job explaining the stereotypes as well as the difficulties of being poor, her explanations and personal experiences give you a view into what it’s like. She also does a very good job explaining the hardships of working a minimum wage job, and how big corporations prey on their workers, giving them little to nothing for the long, hard hours of the job. This book gave me a different perspective on life relating to money and how society treats those who are poor with disregard and push ugly stereotypes onto them. I think the main point of the book was to get people who aren’t poor to understand and to realize that being poor doesn’t make someone “lazy” or “unmotivated” to work, but instead that they are tirelessly working against a system and a society that views them as such. Tirado quotes, “I am not asking for sympathy. I am just trying to explain, on a human level, how it is that people make what looks from the outside like awful decisions.” by Ramsey Z.
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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