What do you think of when you hear "working class?" You could perhaps think of a specific race, gender, sexuality, or specific type of lifestyle. In “The Dispossessed” by William Deresiewicz he aims to raise awareness among his audience that working class people still exist and should be recognized. Its target audience is the younger, educated generations of the middle and upper class. Through the use of logic and building his credibility, Deresiewicz presents a compelling argument for how the working class has been overlooked and forgotten. The intent of “The Dispossessed” is to convince the audience that the working class still exists and should still be recognized. . Deresiewicz targets class categories; particularly the middle and upper class. The essay premiered in the winter of 2006. Just over a year after Hurricane Katrina, when the world was introduced to the working class of New Orleans, Louisiana, who had lost their homes and were stranded for several days in the Louisiana Superdome. During this time, New Orleans residents fought for the right to rebuild their homes. Now, five years later, the text does not have the same effect on readers because since the essay was written Americans have already gone through the effects of Hurricane Katrina and have since moved on to recession and job losses. The recession has pushed thousands of people into the working class, so it's not that the working class is being ignored, it has grown since the initial publication of this essay. The essay begins with a statement by Deresiewicz. “Sometimes you don't realize that something is missing, no matter how big, until for a... half a sheet of paper... In "The Dispossessed", William Deresiewicz brings several techniques together in a successful attempt to persuade the intended audience. His approach was frank and direct and provided examples that would capture the interest of readers. What Deresiewicz was trying to achieve in this essay was not only that the working class was not noticed, but also that the members of this class had different values ​​from those of the upper class and were not defined by the middle class. These people are not lost in the void between the poor and the middle class, but belong to a separate category society's blindness in recognizing people associated with classes outside their own. Works Cited Deresiewicz, William.