Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol - Quotes

One quote that’s important is, “She seems resigned to things the way they are. ‘That’s how it is.  What can I say?’ she often asks” (Kozol 17).  This first time I noticed Kozol using this quote is when he is having a conversation with Alice Washington about the newspapers.  Kozol uses that line again when Alice is talking about the young girl who had to be buried by the city.  It sounds like Alice Washington feels that she has to apologize for the way her city works.  Alice is apologizing for the condition that the city is in.  It is not Alice’s fault that those children were shot in the park, that families are ruined because of shootings; she did not pull the trigger.

Another quote that I found was, “As confident and grown-up as he sounds, he has the round face of a baby and is scarcely more than three and a half feet tall.  When he has bad dreams, he tells me, ‘I go in my mommy’s bed and crawl under the covers’” (Kozol 8).  I thought this quote was really important because it shows that even though Cliffe acts tough, he is still a little boy.  The innocence that children have is being taken away from them.  Cliffe is so used to seeing violence, drug deals and other things in his neighborhood that he got used to it.  But how can a child become so comfortable with all of the violence that occurs in an area like that, if some grown men cannot handle it when they go to war?

I think is important is when Kozol says, “Many social scientists today appear to hold this point of view and argue that the largest portion of the suffering poor people undergo has to be blamed upon their own “behaviors,” a word they tend to pluralize” (21).  Any sane person would not willingly choose to have two different types of cancer, contract AIDs, and be beaten by her husband.   Kozol ends his description with the statement, “I have yet to figure out what she has done that was irrational” (22).  I will agree that sometimes people’s actions are the reason that they become poor or homeless, for example losing everything due to gambling.  In many cases people who are poor/homeless have a similar story to Alice Washington.  How can they be blamed?  People tell them to get a job; do what you need to, to move up in life.  Unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Point to share: People do end up in these situations, and have to learn how to cope to be able to survive.  But one thing that people should know is that not every single person that lives there is a scum-bag.  Just because it is a bad city or neighborhood, does not mean all of the people who live there are bad.  Central Falls is a great example.  One time my dance teacher drove me to the studio, and drove through Central Falls.  She thought we were going to get shot.  I go to church in Central Falls, and if you drive through Central Falls, you are not going to get shot.