Is Homelessness an Extreme Form of Social Exclusion?

619 Words3 Pages
Homelessness can be defined as not having a home to live in, not having a stable income, having no support and being forced to live on the street. Robert Swindells Stone Cold is a novel describing the life of a homeless young teen named Link. It exposes the harsh reality and troubles of living homeless and gives an insight in the lives of these people. Homelessness can be seen as an extreme form of social exclusion due to the lack of identity homeless people have, their isolation from the rest of society and the discrimination they suffer in the workforce. Most homeless people have come from troubled backgrounds such as abusive family relationships, lack of support, loss of income and many other reasons which have forced them to be become homeless. Becoming homeless has thus lead to them losing their identity in the community and being placed under the stigma of being alcoholics and drug addicts. This lack of identity can be seen in the novel when Link states “You can call me Link” and when he refers to his parents as “Mr and Mrs X”. By making the main characters nameless, and using pseudonyms instead, it reinforces the lack of care society has for homeless people and shows that no one knows who they are and no one cares. Isolation is an extremely harsh and demoralising experience to live through. In the case of homeless people it is an experience they must live with every day of their lives. The concept of isolation can be seen in the text when Link states “Nobody knew I was there”. The use of first person pronouns makes the audience sympathise and personalise with the struggles of isolation Link experiences. The repetition of the word nobody in the statement “Nobody cares, see? Nobody gives a toss” also emphasises the fact that society does not care for the homeless. Towards the end of the novel even Link comes to the realisation that he and other homeless

More about Is Homelessness an Extreme Form of Social Exclusion?

Open Document