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Blog #2 - Evicted

(I created this literary criticism essay, which focuses on the author's effect on the reading experience.  Enjoy!) In the Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction novel Evicted, the author creates a new kind of book by exploring a topic in a journalistic style.  Therefore, Matthew Desmond’s style and creativity in the making of Evicted leads to a reading experience unlike any other. First, Desmond begins the novel with a prologue, saying, “Jori and his cousin were cutting up, tossing snowballs at passing cars” (Desmond 1).   Similarly to a fiction novel, Desmond continues to describe the life of the “characters”, who are actually real people. By writing the majority of the book as if it was a fictional story, Desmond is able to portray factual information in an entertaining and effective manner.  This is especially difficult given the subject matter, which is the poverty crisis occurring in Milwaukee. However, Desmond turns this information into a Pulitz...
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Microblog #4 - Evicted

As I continue reading Evicted , by Matthew Desmond, I’m beginning to discover more and more social issues arising.  Typically, Desmond only uses a moderate amount of dialogue, but after several pages of arguing between two residents, Arleen and Crystal, Arleen yells, “You don’t know what it’s like to have your father molest you and your mother not care about it!” (Desmond 194).  Crystal then responds, “Yes, I do! I know exactly what that’s like ‘cause my stepfather molested me when I was just a little girl, and that’s why they sent me to foster care” (Desmond 194). After this, Arleen and Crystal (momentarily) overcome their differences and forgive each other.  While it was initially difficult for me to read the dialogue that preceded these statements because of the grammatical errors (improper English), Desmond does an excellent job of portraying human suffering, which is something I'm going to be talking about in my next blog post (so stay tuned!)  Of course...
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Microblog #3 - Evicted

While reading Evicted , by Matthew Desmond, I began noticing the lack of violence that was being described throughout the book.  Of course, there were mentions of shouting, cursing, and crime rates, but true violence was yet to be discussed over halfway through the novel. However, when Desmond began discussing the struggles that black single mothers face, it brought up the topic of domestic violence in poverty-ridden areas.  For example, it states, “The year the police called Sherrena (the landlord), Wisconsin saw more than one victim per week murdered by a current or former romantic partner or relative” (Desmond 192).  After providing a few more statistics (geared toward poverty-ridden areas and black mothers specifically), Desmond describes a circumstance typically seen by victims of domestic violence who rent in impoverished areas of Milwaukee.   In Evicted, a woman named Trisha’s abuse is described.  After several 911 calls are made becau...
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Blog #1 - Evicted

In Evicted , written by Matthew Desmond, statistics play a powerful force.  For that reason, I decided to create an infographic that provides the readers with a way to experience the effect of the novel without actually reading it.  However, there are two parts to this novel. One, the facts that support the book, which I have decided to display here, and two, the stories behind them. In order to capture both parts of the novel, I created several different types of infographics. First, I created an infographic for Arleen and her family.  This depicts how much she has to pay for rent, her welfare check, and many other statistics.  In general, I have tried to capture how eviction has impacted her and her family’s’ lives, but also the cyclical nature of poverty.  For example, if Arleen tried to move out of her apartment and into a better one, she wouldn’t have enough money for food, and would be forced to move again. Next, I created this in...
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Microblog #2 - Evicted

Now that I’m almost halfway through the non-fiction book Evicted by Matthew Desmond, I’ve begun to think about why this novel got the recognition it did.   There are dozens of books about poverty, so why did this one win the Pulitzer Prize? I think the answer lies in the question (granted, my own question).  That’s because this book isn’t about poverty. It’s about a crisis, one that’s occurring in our own backyard, yet many of us aren’t aware of.  This book isn’t solely about eviction either, but the actual people it affects on a daily basis. It’s about learning to see these people not based on their credit history, criminal background, or number of evictions in their file.   More than anything, Desmond manages to write about human beings, and not just his “subjects”, and this distinction is actually very clear in the book.  For example, Desmond states, “Arleen and Trisha began talking and sharing meals. Arleen could be quiet and cautio...
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Microblog #1 - Evicted

This week, I began reading Evicted , by Matthew Desmond.  This non-fiction novel is a New York Times Bestseller and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and for good reason.   Only a few pages into the book, I realized how impactful Desmond’s work was, and still is today. In the “Author’s Note”, Desmond states that most of the events took place between May 2008 and December 2009.  Besides the fact that all of the events recorded took place in such a short time span, it surprised me how long ago the events occurred (almost 10 years have passed!).  I wondered, have things really changed since then? In order to answer this question, I did some background research, and the results were truly heartbreaking. I learned from Forbes that as of 2015, more than 20 million renters—more than half of all renters in the U.S.—were cost burdened, meaning they spent at least at least 30% of their income on rent. That's up from almost 15 million in 2001. And while rent...
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Blog #2 - All the Light We Cannot See

Instead of analyzing my one favorite passage from All the Light We Cannot See , I decided to choose and analyze 4 different quotes that truly exemplify the novel as a whole.  Thanks for reading! The four different quotes I chose to analyze all represent unique aspects of the novel All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  These include examples of imagery, the devastation of war, and meaningful and heartfelt statements.  When they combine with each other, they create this beautifully-written novel. The first quote states, “When Paris was like a vast kitchen, pyramids of cabbages and carrots everywhere; bakers’ stalls overflowing with pastries; fish stacked like cordwood in the fishmongers’ booths, the runnels awash in silver scales, alabaster gulls swooping down to carry off entrails” (Doerr 352).  Many quotes in All the Light We Cannot See are extremely similar to this in their use of imagery and description, which is one of the reasons the pers...
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