The Message We just finished reading “Amazing Grace” by Jonathan Kozol. Kozol went to the South Bronx and met a little boy named Cliffie. Kozol was taken by Cliffie on a walk in the neighborhood. He learnt that this city is harsh. There are lots of meanings in this story, this story shows that everyone is struggling with something in their life. For that reason, sometimes people are sad and stressed. In Amazing Grace Cliffie was telling Kozol how once he gave a homeless man his pizza, Kozol asked “Did your parents get mad at you?. Perhaps Kozol asked this question because he wants people to realize that you should always help people, no matter what. When Kozol and Cliffie were walking around the neighborhood they saw, “dozens of whom are
The important theme of being lost is explored in Jane Godwin’s Falling from Grace, where a girl, Grace, gets lost during a storm. Her sister, Annie, and family have to deal with emotional loss while trying to find her. Meanwhile, Kip, a teenage boy, has to go through his own struggles and decisions.
From death’s in the family to moving to different states, Wes has to adapt to his surroundings in order to keep going. Wes realizes that life is so much different aout of the Bronx and that he was going to have to show a sign of maturity and responsibility if he wanted to make it in the world. Wes had a challenging childhood, one where he didn’t always get his way nor be the best at everything. Despite Wes’s stubbornness and humility Wes kept his head up through all of it and ended up not only making it in this world, but leaving an impression. Wes shows the readers that no matter your battle, you are never alone.
In addition, this book succeeds in terms of depicting real life situations to young children. As presented in the story, Reed’s father lost his job; thus, causing him to move back in with
In Joan Didion's essay "Slouching Towards Bethlehem", she writes her observations of the people in the Haight-Ashbury district as she interviews people there. She demonstrates sound critical reasoning by using the personalizing lens, distancing lens, ethos and pathos and does a decent job of doing so.
The author of the book, Wes Moore, describes the different opportunities and life style he had with another person who shared the same name. The similarities that those boys had when they were younger were significant. Both boys grew up without a paternal figure and their mothers had to work extremely hard to take care of the rest of the family; they were constantly moving from city to city to ensure education and safety. Their mothers had to work excessive number of hours to cover the most basic needs. Living in poverty changed the future of the boys.
Today's world is filled with both great tragedy and abundant joy. In a densely populated metropolis like New York City, on a quick walk down a street you encounter homeless people walking among the most prosperous. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten the prosperous person will trudge straight past the one in need without a second thought. A serious problem arises when this happens continually. The problem worsens when you enter a different neighborhood and the well-to-do are far from sight. Many neighborhoods are inhabited only by the most hopeless of poverty - ridden people while others downtown or across the park do not care, or are glad to be separated from them. Such is the problem in New York City today and in Mott Haven in Jonathan
The Grace That Keeps This World, by Tom Bailey, is an enthralling novel about the Hazen family who have lived in Lost Lake their whole lives. In this novel Kevin Hazen, a young man of 19, is searching for where he belongs in the world and in his own family. He wants more for his life than the life of survival that his parents have lived their whole lives. The story of the Hazen family is centered around the first day of deer season. For the Hazens, this hunt is more than just a sport. They use the meat of every deer they shoot to help them survive through the winter.
The author Wes faced numerous challenges in his childhood that forced him to make difficult choices. The first challenge results from the fact that Wes and his family moved to the Bronx shortly after his
In addition, Wes uses the changing narratives to show the similarities between both Wes’ stories. These writing styles combine to create a book about poverty, discrimination and the tragic loss of childhood innocence.
Little did she know the Bronx wasn’t the same place she remembered growing up it had become a war zone filled with violence and drugs. The family moved in with their mother’s parents, their grandparents. The other Wes Moore’s mother tried to keep her kids out of bad neighborhoods by moving them into higher class neighborhoods away from the violence on the streets. Eventually, her older son got caught up in the drug life and moved out, so it was only
While reading Amazing Grace, one is unable to escape the seemingly endless tales of hardship and pain. The setting behind this gripping story is the South Bronx of New York City, with the main focus on the Mott Haven housing project and its surrounding neighborhood. Here black and Hispanic families try to cope with the disparity that surrounds them. Mott Haven is a place where children must place in the hallways of the building, because playing outside is to much of a risk. The building is filled with rats and cockroaches in the summer, and lacks heat and decent water in the winter. This picture of the "ghetto" is not one of hope, but one of fear. Even the hospitals servicing the neighborhoods
Like her other poems, the story of the poem, "The Boy Died in My Alley" is very simple, but the narrator gradually narrows down the incident described in the poem to the general plight of the black children who live on the street. The poem starts when a policeman informs poet about a black boy who was shot behind
“When people speak of great men, they think of men like Napoleon – men of violence. Rarely do they think of peaceful men. But contrast the reception they will receive when they return home from their battles. Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power, a man who’s achieved the very summit of earthly ambition. And yet his dreams will be haunted by the oppressions of war. William Wilberforce, however, will return to his family, lay his head on his pillow and remember: the slave trade is no more.”
Another theory about the event is that Grace is possessed by a demon. Demon possession is when a bad spirit gets into a person’s body in order to make him trespass and step aside from God. Some of the symptoms are voice change, memory deletion, agitated breathing, access to hidden information and indiscretion. All of these characteristics are shown when Grace is hypnotised. Some examples are the fact that the tone in her voice changes, it is described as “thin, wavery and watery”, also she refers to others violently with insults. Opposite to Grace’s thoughts, Dr Jordan’s way of thinking is far from being innocent or good. As he is one of the narrators the reader can realise that he is a negative man who thinks down on others and keeps imagining
Erin was explaining how her father had an impact on her daily life. “I’ve learned to be less selfish and to help others in need. During last Thanksgiving, he brought my sister and I to a local soup kitchen. For a few hours, we made and packaged food to give to the homeless” (Kinaci). This describes how Erin’s dad is trying to get her into the habit of volunteering to do good deeds for people who are not as privileged as her. When you finally stop thinking about yourself and start to think about others, you are lending them a helping hand and pulling them from their dark struggles such as poverty to the light-filled side of opportunities such as a new beginning. As a role model, it is important to be selfless because you are giving hope to those who need it in order to keep going. You are also voluntarily leading others to the path of accomplishment and