Many people around the world are concerned in having the latest technology, the best cars, and the best houses, and spend money in such expensive things, but don’t realize that many others can’t even afford a meal or a roof over their heads. In the article “Camping for Their Lives,” Scott Bransford writes about the development of tent cities and the people residing in them. He is trying to inform the audience about the people living in tent cities, the difficulties they face in their daily lives, and how the government can improve conditions for them. Scott Bransford interviewed people living in tent cities; therefore, his argument and the article are trustworthy. Marie and Francisco Caro, who didn’t have the financial stability to buy a house after they got married and seeing as living in California was already too expensive, they used old office cubicles and scrap wood to build themselves a shelter. The author makes his argument stronger by using “Taco flat” as an example, Taco flat is a tent city that shelters squatters pitching up tents as a place to live. These tent cities house many homeless people and basically shuts them off from mainstream society even if their homelessness is a cause of physical or mental illness, or past mistakes. Bransford brings in points that local officials of Ontario, California, invested in a $100,000 campaign to keep squatters and set up camps to keep them in line and make them follow a strict guideline which made people feel as though they were in jail. The author does show that homelessness is a big problem, and how citizens aren’t really doing anything productive to stop it. The author establishes a compelling tone for people to be aware of what is going on with the homeless population.
The author argues for treating tent cities as communities instead of as homeless encampments that should be demolished. He states that they will be neglected and may have to live below standards of society until people accept them as communities. He believes that the government should come up with a solution to provide living standards for this community that will bring them back to society instead of alienating them away. “Most are required to do 10 hours of community service a week” (Bransford l. 19, 2009, p. 390). These people already feel like they have been pushed away from society and instead feel like castaways that will never be able to reconnect back into society as equals. Bransford also states that The main factors can be the economic downturn, which could result in greater unemployment and a rise in homelessness, which makes sense because the more the unemployment rate goes up, the more the homeless population rises, which would make this problem of people being turned away from society and the pressure on the government to do something about it in which they would actually help and bring these people back into society as working, productive people even more higher.
The author doesn’t seem to be biased towards any one side in the aricle He wants to bring awareness to the homeless problem in our country but doesn’t address anyone in specifically to make his article persuasive. No personal opinion is stated, and he doesn’t make his article about his stand on the issue of the homeless. The author uses direct quotes and facts from actual real life residents of the tent city community as a way of bringing attention to this issue There doesn’t seem to be any bias or anything that doesn’t fit into the whole article as a whole. The author doesn’t seem to be on any side, he brings a lot of attention to the topic at hand which is the problem of homelessness in our country.
In conclusion, Bransford’s ‘Camping for Their Lives’ is an article that brings awareness to the countries homeless problem, and how the people of this country can move forward with this issue instead of avoiding it and leaving these people feeling out of society. This article is persuasive because of the real-life elements, neutral and informative tone, easily understood language, and unbiased viewpoints. Bransford uses persuasiveness in his article as a way of bringing attention to the homeless issue..
