Engaging the Text (#2)

I do not think that the essay is making the case that the wealthy are exploiting the poor. I think Mantsios is just trying to show expose the myths and class problems in America. The author has a lot of factual evidence to back up his claim. The data that is used as evidence can't really be interepreted any way except to support the author's argument. The evidence that the author uses is overwhelming. There were so many statistics in the essay, I can't remember most of them. By the time I finished reading this I couldn't remember a lot of the data, I mainly remember the data stating that sexism and racism affect class. For some reason this piece of information stuck with me. The author really opened my eyes to all the myths of America, and how we all think that middle class is the dominant class. It makes me extremely uncomfortable to talk about class, and I never really thought about why until after I read this. I have always believed that the middle class was the largest, and that you can always work your way up from whatever class you are in. Yes, it is difficult and rare to do this, but it's possible. It's more possible in this country than in any other country in the world.