Evicted Book Analysis Essay

The book Evicted covers a series of people who all experience the same situation in different ways. They all constantly face an abundant number of things like eviction, loss of children, loss of job, and court. All these people deal with these hardships and do their best to overcome with the situation that they’ve been given. The people in Evicted directly exhibit a culture of poverty due to the circumstances that they face, the family that they may or may not be surrounded with, and the social problems around them. Evicted shows how these people are more likely to stay in the mindset of poverty due to the sole aspect that nothing will ever change. 

The culture of poverty theory can be described in two different parts. The first part is that there are negative things that are common everywhere and that occur everywhere, but only become known and problems in poor communities. Things such as violence, abuse, addiction, mental health problems, unemployment, etc. occur everywhere but are become more prominent in poor communities and show up more in areas of that are poverty prone. The second part of this theory is that this can cause a community to become down, and they ultimately take a different view that allows them to see themselves surviving on a day-to-day basis for the rest of their lives. People who are poor or in poverty tend to see the world differently and believe that they will never escape this culture of poverty. 

One of the people that we come across in Evicted is a woman named Arleen. Arleen has two young boys and many other kids that aren’t living with her. Arleen has dealt with many circumstances of being evicted, losing jobs, and even her children. She is constantly evicted from apartment to house. Either her rent can’t be paid, her boys caused a ruckus and caused her to be evicted, or an outside source contributed to the eviction. While she tries to be strong for her boys, internally she lives with a guilt and mindset that nothing will ever change. She desperately searches for places to stay and abide in until she can find a steady job or income which doesn’t happen very often. She constantly must switch her boys’ schools, or she must keep them in a shelter until they can find place to live. Even though Arleen constantly tries to stay positive for herself and her boys, there’s always a thought in the back of her mind that nothing will ever change. At the end of the book, she imagines what it would be like if she had a steady job, steady living arrangements, and could provide a steady lifestyle for herself and kids.

Another person in Evicted those deals with the first part of the culture of poverty theory is named Scott. He struggles with addiction to drugs and cannot find a way to get away from them. This addiction constantly wears him down because without the money and steady shelter, he cannot get any help that he needs to overcome this addiction. This brings to him to the thoughts that he’ll never gain anything from his past back because he’s stuck in a cycle of addiction and eviction. Addiction exists everywhere but seems to be more prominent in poor communities, but it still overlooked by health care professionals. Nobody will allow them the help they needed especially if they’re not able to pay. This comes back to the fore profit healthcare system that have, and that health care professionals only make money if something is wrong with someone, rather than trying to prevent the situation. Without the money aspect, Scott was not able to receive the treatment needed until he was lent the money. Scott is a great example of how someone’s mindset of poverty can change because once he was able to receive the help, he was able to find a good shelter and steady job that helped provide for himself. With a better and stable place to live, this helps your mindset change and you can believe that you won’t always be stuck in the same ongoing cycle of poverty. 

The culture of poverty mindset also affects families. In Reader #41, there are many domestic networks in poor communities and typically families all live together in one place. They live together and rely on each other for money, rent, shelter, food, etc. In Evicted, there is a mother named Doreen who had at least three kids, and one of her daughters named Patrice who also has kids and they all live surrounding each other. Even though they’re all family, they can’t always rely on each other for things because usually everyone is poor. Because they are poor, they typically can’t acquire any assistance from the government and when they do it all goes to rent or their children. This gives them the mindset that they have no chance of escaping the economic system that they’ve come into because they are not able to acquire steady jobs to provide for their family. This ultimately keeps them in a mindset of poverty because they live on a day-to-day basis and feel like they won’t ever escape. This family is also an example of how mindsets can change because they eventually are able to move to another state and out of the poverty-stricken areas and are financially stable while all still living together as a family. They can escape the poverty mindset that has held them captive and live the life that they had also wanted to. 

People who move from place to place, shelter to shelter, can create relationships to eventually move out with those people. There are two women, one named Crystal and one named Vanetta. They met at a shelter and became friends to eventually move out with each other. Due to prior convictions and drug problems/arrests, they are not able to find an apartment for both to live in. In Reader #5, The Mark of a Criminal Record explains that people who tend to have criminal records are less likely to be able to get jobs, and in this case homes. Landlords check evictions and records of convictions of both girls. But black people are more likely to be turned away due to a criminal record, and not only that but if you have any prior arrests then they’re more likely to turn you away. Vanetta, having prior convictions and arrests with kids as well was turned away multiple times due to criminal records. This doesn’t help them believe that there’s any chance of making it out of poverty because they are stuck in the same cycle of having a criminal record and being rejected from homes constantly. They live with this mindset and no matter how hard they try they can’t shake it because the system and the environment that surrounds them.

While many of these adults and parents have this culture of poverty mindset, it can also be passed down to their children. The children in Evicted face the same amount of poverty and hardships as their parents do but is different from their perspective. They only see that they constantly must change schools, don’t have a steady place to live, and that their parents are doing what they can to provide for them. These kids can possibly grow up believing that this is how they’re always supposed to live and that they’ll never be able escape poverty. While some kids try and help their parents, they struggle with their own mindsets that the things that occur only happen to people who live in poverty since it’s all they know, even though it can occur anywhere and everywhere. 

Evicted covers stories of many different people who all experience the same time of situation in different ways. They all have been evicted, unemployed, without children, without food, etc. They have obtained this culture of poverty mindset that allows them to believe that they will never escape the poor community and life that the live in. They began to become worn out and tired of always living in survival mode. Sometimes this mindset could lead to them “accepting their fate rather than trying to improve their lot” (Ferris), and it makes it very difficult for them to grow and improve their living situations. They eventually begin to blame themselves as many did in this story instead of looking at the social conditions which ultimately takes over a person’s life and makes them unable to change or grow.