Urban Poverty in ‘Amazing Grace’ by Jonathan Kozol

Overview of “Amazing Grace”

Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and Conscience of Nature is the title of the book. Jonathan Kozol is the author of this book. It is a non-fiction book that was published in the year 1995. The author succeeded in bringing the stories of poor people and children through his strong and powerful writing. As a reader, I conclude the book is full of sad, true stories, which make me feel emotionally attached because the author had stated the life of pain, death, suffering, life-consuming fire, and tragedy of the poorest urban neighborhood in America, the south Bronx in New York City.

South Bronx people live with depression, asthma, fears, and anxiety, which is common among children. The author also mentioned many other things that adults, old, and children suffered from overcrowded schools with the lack of school supplies and low maintenance. They also suffer from pediatric AIDs, positive AIDs, murder, drug-related violence, dysfunctional hospitals, and rat-infested homes where families have been suffering. Amazing Grace makes clear that the ghetto is not a social accident but is created and sustained by greed, neglect, racism, and experience. This book has impacted me, and I love reading Amazing Grace.

Personal Reflection and Insights

Reading this book for me was an eye-opening read for me. It impacted my thinking. Amazing Grace has taught me about the lives of the children and adults in the South Bronx. I came up with a visual imagination that touched me emotionally, and I was heartbroken about all of the sad and depressing stories. Tragedy and death at a young age of children who lived in those neighborhoods. The book was moving and absorbed me while I was reading.

Chapters three and six used quotations and short phrases which make the reader understand. It was wonderfully written and created more empathy toward the people’s attitudes. The book taught me not to prejudge their appearances and conditions because nobody knows what they went through. Becoming poor is not their fault, and treating them inhumanely is poor, even with how high a person’s lifestyle is. Poverty is not only a social problem. It is also a national issue. We cannot totally eradicate this issue, but we can make a difference and reduce poverty by providing charity, urging the government to work on it, participating in non-profit organizations, and volunteering in social work.

Significance and Takeaways

Reading this book is encouraging and interesting. I love reading this book because of the way the author has provided details about this area, giving his point of view and narrating every character’s stories in a beautiful way, which amazed me. The writing styles of Kozol not only emphasize the inequalities of education funding in the nation but also describe how the wealthy are unwilling to throw money into failing schools because they figure, “What is the point?” He also compares inner city schools possessing the characteristics of a totalitarian government or an atmosphere like that of a prison.

The book is significant in almost every aspect of life: spirituality, religion, health, education, crime, diseases, poverty, drug abuse, motherhood, childhood, and crime. Those are the reasons that made me read interesting. Kozol has done an incredibly remarkable job in his writing that evolves and explores the real lives of many people who live in the Bronx and other similar areas in America, which has left a big question mark for their future situation and humanity.

The thesis of this book would be that Jonathon Kozol has spent much of his life talking with and listening to children, mothers, and people in the South Bronx, the poorest congressional district of our nation.
The main theme of this book is to make people aware and to love, care, help, and take action on this national problem.

In my opinion, he has presented a good argument in this book by questioning not only the reader but the nation. He asks questions about the lives of these children in a different way. What is it like for children to grow up here? What do you think the world has done to them? Do they believe that they are being shunned or hidden by society? If so, do they think that they deserve this? What is that enables some of them to pray? When they pray, what do they say to God? Stating facts and relevant events, supports, details, his own experiences, and interviews. Johnathon Kozol defied the stereotypes of urban youth too frequently by presenting his powerful writing on TV and in newspapers.

References

• Kozol, J. (1995). Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation.

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