Reading Response

This reporter obviously researched Passaic County's population and ratio of people at or below the poverty line as well as the what the average person made an hour. He stated all of this information in the essay right at the beginning. He didn't research ahead of time - places to live and the cost, available jobs, transportation, the cost of food etc. However, that was what made up part of what he was trying to do. Had he researched all of that ahead of time, he would have had an unfair advantage and would have tarnished the experience. This reporter wants to experience life in Passaic County first hand and to see what the less fortunate have to do to survive. Anyone could get online or read a newspaper to get facts and statistical information but that is not what he wanted to report on. It was all about the "experience".

Tom, the reporter, is most definitely an outsider. With his blond hair, Caucasian appearance, ability to speak English and being a man he sort of doesn't fit the typical struggling worker in this community. Nevertheless, to become an insider he follows their lifestyle right down to the last detail. He only gives himself $424 to get started, the average monthly income, and he leaves all of his comforts at home. He has to live and even live with out on just $424 to start until he gets a job and starts making money.

This reporters experience was truly effective because he actually lived his story. However, he could have sacrificed even more, like many of these poverty stricken workers do, and not seen his girlfriend or talked to her on the phone. Those instances gave him something to look forward too and a reprieve from the stress and repetition of his life. Those workers rarely get that and most definitely not once a week. Also, to really live the life that these men and women do he should have gotten a second job. He even stated that many of them have to do that in order to survive but usually get run down with exhaustion.

Tom's audience for this story could really be a number of people, I think. This story really makes me appreciate my lifestyle and what I have. I'm thankful that I don't have to go thousands of miles away from my family or have my husband do that just to make such small wages to support our loved ones. So, this could definitely target those adults that take what they have for granted. This could also target the government and shed some light on how some people work themselves to the bone and still can't make enough money to survive. As well as some of the discriminatory acts that these businesses do to the workers.

This story brings many controversial aspects to light. The poverty that our country still has, discrimination, immigration, and the appreciation for how most of us are a lot better off then we think or will admit.