amazing grace
I am sure the audience that Jonathon Kozol had in mind when he wrote the article "Amazing Grace" was a reader like myself. I believe he wanted to reach people who may not have been aware of this problem and also to reach an audience that was interested in AIDS or AIDS in the area of the Bronx. He also seems to be making a plea for help from people that would like to make donations, whether it would be a donation of money or time. I consider myself to be part of his audience. Although I was aware of the prevalence of the AIDS epidemic I was surprised the numbers in the Bronx were so high. I believe generally he wanted to let the audience know that this problem existed and he certainly did that for me. Kozol's interaction with real life experiences is highly effective. I found myself to be a very willing audience while reading this excerpt from "Amazing Grace". The one on one personal interviews were an attribute to the article. It really gives you the feeling of being there and leaves you believing what Kozol is writing. For example, when the little girl spoke about where her pets slept I could visualize
I have always been aware of children living with AIDS but Kozol had an intriguing way of presenting the issues by writing real life stories. Kozol's style of writing captured my attention on the issues he has presented. the sleeping arrangements between the family and the animals. I would like to mention this is a big deal for me, reading anything that holds my interest is a rare thing for me. Kozol caught my attention when he wrote about children living with AIDS. Using one on one interviews in his writing is an appropriate way to bring the reader into the lives of the people he is writing about to help us understand the complex problems involved in being poor. I found it to be very helpful in critiquing Kozol's style of writing. There is no more adequate source than the people themselves and Kozol did this with great compassion. For instance, for me the strongest part of the story was when he wrote about the father and daughter living in the South Bronx. The daughter has AIDS and the mother died from AIDS. Overall Kozol's style of writing is compassionate, objective and impartial. I also feel that this subject matter must be fulfilling for him. I'm sure Kozol could have written a best selling mystery novel and made a lot of money or a scholarly sociological essay for his peers but he chose instead to bring to light problems of the poor, something most people don't want to know about and to bring them to a reader like myself who might not otherwise have read this information. I believe he is trying to bring the reader into the lives of these unfortunate people to wake us up to what is happening in our own backyards. However I found myself questioning the amount of pets being owned and fed by a family that was so poor, but almost immediately dismissed it when I weighed it in my mind with the pleasure it gave to the little girl to have these pets.
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Acceptance Essays
