The Working Poor: Invisible in America

Caroline Payne, who in 2000 works on the cash register in a New Hampshire branch of Wal-Mart, earns just 80 cents more an hour than she did working at a Vermont factory in 1970. Hard-working and enthusiastic at the age of 50, Caroline had failed to gain promotion. A main reason for being overlooked is her appearance in an increasingly image-conscious age: she is toothless, her teeth “having succumbed to poverty, to the years when she could not afford a dentist” (52). Her lack of promotion has caused her to become depressed, which in turn, leads to further neglect of her personal hygiene. 

Like many of the women in Shipler’s book, Caroline’s hardships stem from a troubled childhood where her parents were uncaring, and she endured sexual advances from her stepfather. She then went on to have a series of troubled relationships with men herself, one of which resulted in her special needs daughter, Amber. Caroline’s difficulties educating Amber have resulted in high costs and given her lack of financial resources as well as drastic shifts in her employment and home life. For Shipler, Caroline’s life is an example of what happens when there is a lack of financial buffering and how difficulties in one area of life have a domino effect.

Brenda St. Laurence is a New Hampshire-based home-worker for young mothers at risk, although she is also Payne’s case-worker. Brenda, who has a high-school diploma and originates from a working-class family of eight, had a childhood where values of “frugal self-help and self-denial” (28) were instilled in her. Having learned to live without luxury herself, she is mildly judgmental of poor mothers who have cable television but not milk. In Shipler’s text, Brenda’s “good choices and hard work” (28) are an example of how a disciplined, stable family of origin can motivate a poor person to improve their lives and be of service to the community. The young mothers Brenda works with respond well to her “sweet toughness,” a kind of “affection unlike anything they had already received” (28).

Ann Brash is a low-paid book editor with middle-class origins who descends into poverty after her divorce. Ann endured intense criticism from family members after she chose not to take on multiple jobs so that she could focus on nurturing and educating her children, Sandy and Sally. Still, Ann’s conscientious sacrifice in this respect paid off, as both children went to college. Ann’s ability to make friends also helped, as people from her church and community helped out by providing her with accommodation and the funds for her daughter’s college tuition. When her daughter Sally chose to drop out of college, Ann was devastated, fearing that she would repeat the cycle of poverty. For Shipler, Ann’s story illustrates the importance of community and strong family bonds, as well as the harsh choice faced by low-waged single mothers: the choice to be present with one’s children or to adequately provide for them.

Shipler writes how “[t]he fragile life of Tom and Kara King fell apart until nothing was left but love and loyalty” (174). The Kings met after Tom had been thrown out by his then wife and rented a room from Kara and her violent, alcoholic husband. When Tom saw him beat her, the two of them ran away together and soon fell in love, forming a family with Kara’s two sons from a previous marriage and their own daughter, Kate. In Shipler’s text, they and their pragmatically ambitious children function as an example of how a loving family can motivate each other and ease the burden of poverty. 

Hardworking, determined, and loving, Kara is beset with health challenges —first, epilepsy, which means she cannot drive, and later an aggressive lymphoma. Given her lack of financial means, Kara’s best option was to become “a guinea pig” (177) in an experiment and thus obtain chemotherapy for free. Unfortunately, the treatment proves ineffective and Kara dies.

Tom, who is tattooed and muscular with a “gentle smile and quiet resilience” (176), struggles with alcoholism but attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with Kara’s encouragement. As a manual worker, Tom is diligent and determined to provide for his family. He has a motley string of jobs, ranging from farming, to being a mechanic for U-Haul, to maintaining factory machinery at LaCrosse, a boot factory. By praising Tom’s adaptability in working various jobs, Shipler emphasizes a practical kind of intelligence, one that is often viewed as inferior to the academic kind in American society.

“Peaches” is the pseudonym given to Celestine Travers, a Washington, D.C. woman who was living in a homeless shelter and running Xerox machines for a law firm: “Her face was the kind that attracted photographers and artists who wanted to document suffering for it bore […]the hard look of hurt” (254). Peaches endured intense physical and psychological abuse as a child from her foster family, something which leaves her with low self-worth and a discomfort in social interactions. It is only after months of employment training that she is able to lift her gaze from the floor and speak loud enough to be heard. As Peaches gains more skills and better employment, she finds a new confidence, makes room for creativity through selling silk flower arrangements, and has a chance for romantic love with a decent man. Through the example of Peaches, Shipler shows the importance of rehabilitation programs such as Washington, D.C.’s Center for Employment Training. When people go through confidence-shattering life experiences, sustained interventions are needed before they can thrive in employment.