Essay Example on Tressie McMillan in her essay on The Logic of Stupid Poor

Tressie McMillan in her essay on The Logic of Stupid Poor People makes an acclamation about the ongoing issue of poor logical reasoning of social status and what it means McMillan wrote this essay in response to a tweet made by Errol Louis which called out the fact that there are poor people who spend thousands of dollars on unnecessary and monetary objects in order to fake their wealth and belong to a group The argument that the author is trying to make is partially in agreement with Louis common yet critical remark McMillan has a blog where she shares her thoughts and opinions like this post about gender racial and economic issues within our society This essay is strictly about the judgments made by wealthier people in regards to the lower class and how most people would have no idea what you would do if you were poor until you are poor McMillan 540 She is attempting to provide an explanation as to why poor people buy out of their budget through the use of ethos pathos and logos rhetorical techniques One of the things that has given the author the advantage of ethos is the fact that she makes sure that we are aware that she is more than qualified to make whatever accusation she decides McMillan not only has the educational background that gives her the credentials to initially propose her argument but she also shares an array of personal experiences that she refers to throughout the passages The author has a PhD in Sociology which is the study of society and relationships of all varieties 

This is what initially triggers the emotional response from the reader and creates a sense of sympathy Pathos is used to touch on more fragile topics and create that connection Although McMillan does show a lot of ethos and pathos appeals in her essay she also shows logos which is the logic and reason side of the argument At about the midway point of the composition the author shares a story of where her presentation benefitted herself in a way that made others look at her differently She had been working at an apartment complex where she was told that she differs in comparison to the rest of not only the female population and the African American population but also her age group as well simply because she kept her car clean She had been originally put into that stereotype until she had been noticed as a classier African American woman with an education that she was not expected to have The author then continues on to say that stories like these are empirical evidence that women and people of color are judged by appearances differently and more harshly than are white men McMillan 539 which is quite true The point of adding these stories into her essay were not just to make the situation more relatable but mainly to give evidence to back up her argument about social injustice In retrospect Tressie McMillan is trying to characterize the sense of belonging that people strive for This is not just present in un wealthy people and it is not all about being able to present yourself properly to look the part She says that being presentable is the bare minimum McMillan 538 That one must keep up with things such as personal hygiene and everyday necessities of course but more importantly they must have successful social interactions McMillan 538 that will get them to higher places Through the use of ethos pathos and logos the author successfully made an argument about the logic of poor people