talking points #1

Jonathan Kozol: Amazing Grace
Author's Arguments:



Kozol argues that people’s lives get ripped away from them when tragedy hits hard. He believes that no matter why a person is in the situation they are in; they deserve a better life or another chance to have an equal chance in life as the people who do deserve it from working hard. He also argues that even though people live in poor quality homes and towns, they deserve to have a good life, without the threat of tragic situations occurring.

Quotes:
1- "I am in hell and you are not and so I hate you and I have to try to bring you down to where I am. I feel pity for them and fear because they are lost." It seems as though Kozol feels the pain of these people and trying to put himself in their shoes to see how it feels and to know what they go through. I think that everyone can change how they act but sometimes people get sucked into their lives of poverty because of the chances they have missed and because they are just so used to the way things are change isn’t even an option for them.
2 - "When roaches crawl on virtually every surface of the houses in which many children live. Rats emerge from holes in bedroom walls, terrorizing infants in their cribs" when I read this I almost gagged. I live in New York and reading this made me sick. Children should not be living under these conditions it’s horrible. Children who have to sleep with jackets on to avoid getting sick should be better taken care of.
3 - "The $150 million spent to build the dazzling new structure..., is almost exactly the same as what the city spent in the same year to purchase the massive prison barge that it has moored at Hunts Point in the South Bronx, where it accommodates the graduates and dropouts of much less attracting high schools on six floating floors of prison cells."
This quote makes you think about how much money the cities and states waste on people who have screwed up and are in prison, instead of spending it on the people who can barely make it through the day and who can hardly afford to take care of their families.

Questions/Comments:
I enjoyed this article; because it made me think about people struggle to get through the day. I showed me how some people have it so easy and some have it so terrible. Kozol points out problems that really effect people in everyday life and why they may be in the situations they are in. He points out how some people have to change their whole lifestyle because of their living conditions and to support their families.