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Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace is an amazing way of telling the rest of the world what it actually means to live in poverty. I am always complaining about what I need and do not have just like a lot of other people. After reading this book, I will be more likely to be gracious for what I do have and can do without having. This book not only told me about the people in the South Bronx’s lives, but it also abled me to visualize them. Jonathan Kozol has an extraordinary way of illustrating this story. The world knows of all of the problems that are out there such as guns, poverty, drugs, and violence. This book elaborates these issues and will hopefully open up society’s eyes to this horrible situation.
Amazing Grace deals with many social problems in the neighborhoods of the South Bronx. Jonathan Kozol spent many long, heart-throbbing hours with the underprivileged people that live there. Any problem that one can think of, the people in these areas have to face on a daily basis. The people that live there are mainly blacks and Hispanics.
The first issue that I want to address is how society lumps all of these people together in the one place. More than 3,000 homeless families have been relocated by the city to this neighborhood (11). A question that Jonathan Kozol is asked many times is, “Why do you want to put so many people with small children in a place with so much sickness?” (11)
Most of these people would like to have assistance, but are not given the chance. One woman stated (about charities), “If they want to help the poor, they
don’t need to have a party first. They could skip the party and just send the money up to feed the children who are hungry. Who is this charity for? In a way, it’s for themselves so they won’t feel ashamed goin’ to church to pray on Christmas Eve. Maybe they think this way they won’t end up in Hell” (44). The welfare system is also working against these people. They are treated...