Rhetorical Analysisi - 1004 Words

Amanda Homme English 111 6/22/11 Rhetorical Analysis Essay The work that I chose to write about is â€Å"The Homeless and Their Children† taken from Jonathan Kozol’s book, â€Å"Rachel and Her Children†. This is a story of a woman whom Kozol calls Laura and her four children that lived in a run-down hotel room in 1985. The intended audience for this piece was pretty much anyone interested in reading this particular book. He wrote it for the general American public. I believe that Kozol felt bad for the women and their families that had to live in this government sponsored hell-hole. He describes Laura as a â€Å"broken stick† and says that Laura, â€Å" is so fragile the I find it hard to start a conversation when we are introduced a few nights†¦show more content†¦He seemed to be feeling down and depressed for Laura. He describes how there is a â€Å"spindly geranium plant† in the window of Laura’s room and how â€Å"the blowing snow hits the panes and blurs the dirt† (Kozol 3). It just seems that the reality and sadness of the situation are really setting in. The detailed descriptions, such as when he describes Laura and her children, as I mentioned in paragraph two of this paper, that Kozol puts into his piece also help him to set this sympathetic tone. Kozol is also very descriptive about the way the hotel looks and the management of the hotel. He wants us to be right there with him, Laura and her children. He wants this so that we feel what he feels for her and also to feel what Laura is feeling. On a personal note, I would like to read the rest of this book and possibly other works that Mr. Kozol did. In discussion with other classmates, I discovered that he did a lot of work with homeless and illiterate people. I do not know if he still writes, however, I would like to do some research and find out how long of a time period he did write for and compare some of the stories to see if and how situations changed over the