Face of the poor

Re “Shape up, poor people,” Opinion, April 30

Joe Queenan’s piece on the dignified poor: brilliant. But it seems to me there’s one thing he chose not to mention. In the time of John Steinbeck he writes about, the prototypical impoverished American could be illustrated by Henry Fonda. Give this guy a little money and he’d be indistinguishable from someone you run into at a country club.

Is that true anymore? Could the prototypical impoverished American of 2007 be played by Tom Cruise? Well, I don’t think so.

LORENZO SEMPLE JR.

Los Angeles