"Amazing Grace" by Jonathon Kozol (Quotes)

Quote #1 (page 6) “There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into their jives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway.” 

        Even though these children are living in one of the poorest cities in the country, they still find joy in their lives. They have learned to deal with what they have, and not to take things for granted. These kids are not yet burdened by harsh reality, unlike their parents, who are struggling to find a place to live and put food on the table. Compare these children to children of upper class families. Many are spoiled and don’t know anything about the real world. Even though the poverty stricken children don’t have as many material things, they learn to be grateful for what they have.

Quote #2 (page 15)  "Once you're in bed, if you call the nurse, you wait for half an hour. 'You know, Mrs. Washington, you've been here before,' they say. 'You know that we are understaffed.' How do they know, when someone calls, that you're not dying?"

                This quote explains the hospital conditions in the south Bronx. The hospitals are so understaffed so the patients can’t get proper care that they need. The government won’t do anything to help fix the hospitals, it’s as if they are saying that poverty stricken people don’t matter, when in reality, everyone both rich and poor deserves equal treatment. These people who need the most help are being completely ignored by everyone else, and are being left to fend for themselves. This quote is relevant to the text because it further explains the terrible living conditions of these people, while not even a twenty minute train ride from the Bronx is where the wealthiest cities are located.

 Quote #3 (page 23)  "I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power. Pretending that they don't so they don't need to use it to help people-that is my idea of evil.” 

                This quote explains how the people with power seem to be unaware of its presence while people without power are the most aware. Since the people of power are stereotypically rich, white males, they are pretending to keep a blind eye on the poverty in south Bronx. These people are “evil” because they aren’t even acknowledging the help that these poverty stricken people need, like food, housing and adequate health care. Without help from the upper classes,the conditions of these poor cities will keep getting worse and the poor people will even get more secluded then they are now.

Thoughts to Share in Class: How easily a rich child could have been born poor, and a poor child could have been rich based on their families background, race, education and religion. Some children’ lives are so much easier based on the presence of power.