“ Rachel and her children,” is a book authored by Jonathan Kozol, which he uses to highlight the lives of the homeless. It first appeared in the New Yorker where it acted as a touchstone for the conscience of the nation. This book presents the voices of desperate families and especially children caught up in unpleasant situations. This narration tears the hearts of the readers since it clearly depicts the pain and struggle that homeless children and adults go through. In addition, it shows how the number of homeless people is rising tremendously each day. The author is known as for making remarks on race, poverty, and education.
One of my reactions to this narration is about the misconception the American society has about homeless people. For many years, the homeless have always been viewed as drug addicts, alcoholics, and criminals. Further, the American society treats the homeless as people who do not have dignity and do not deserve better. However, the truth of the situation is that homeless are simply people with nowhere to call a home. In the context, Rachel is poor and she struggles to make ends meet for her children. Other women trade their bodies for a living while other homeless people are drug addicts and peddlers. Some even try to coerce her children into using drugs. Others try to stab them and they run away. In addition, most homeless people are black people, which show issue of race. My reaction to this is that the concepts presented in the book should serve as a transformation for the society prompting people to change their mindset of the homeless. Instead, everyone should support them and treat everyone equally. The government should come up with reform strategies aimed at assisting the homeless to reform.
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In addition, the homeless are kept in hotels and the welfare system pays monthly for the shelter of every single person living in the hotel. Rachael and her children live in two hotel rooms that have poor sanitation and have many shortages. They do not have decent clothing and her children complain about rats and bugs in their beds. This shows that the homeless are merely human beings who do not have the ability to live a decent life. The hotel fee per room stands at $3000 a month. Such amount of money paid to the hotel would be enough to give the homeless people decent housing rather than for them to live in hotel rooms under pathetic conditions. My response is that the American welfare system is ineffective and misuses resources that could be used to help the homeless. The homeless should be embraced and integrated to the American mainstream society rather than isolating them.
My final reaction is on the issue of education. From the context, it is evident that the homeless are not properly educated and they do not receive equal education as the rest of the children. Rachel’s children say how they are ashamed in school and other times they are not treated like other children. This should prompt a dialogue for the treatment of the homeless in America and around the globe. The global education system is supposed to assess priorities of the society in an unbiased and constructive means in order to establish whether the society is prioritizing the conception and negative notion of the homeless over their needs of decent lives. Further, the American welfare system and the global education system should change this perception by instituting equal chances of education and come up with publications that show the nature of the homeless and advocate for their education.
In conclusion, this book should act as a guide and influence on communities from all over the world on proper ways of treating the homeless with dignity. In addition, every member of the society should make it his/her responsibility to assist the homeless to establish their lives. In addition, the government should help the homeless to curb poverty and give them proper education. All this will assist the future generation to lead better lives.
