“Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids”
Anna Quindlen discusses the naivety and oblivious nature of people in our society. She details the fact that people do not acknowledge the hundreds and hundreds of homeless children walking through our streets. She uses this factor as a contributor to stress the issue that homes are becoming too expensive for the average person to afford to keep a home. Thus, people everywhere are becoming homeless with little to no way out. The strength of Quindlen’s argument is through the use of pathos appeal to connect to her readers.
Throughout her essay, Quindlen is persuading her readers to recognize the issue that is being overlooked everywhere. People are unable to support themselves financially and are being forced on the street. Innocent people that are simply trying to make a living, hold a job and raise their children are finding themselves homeless because they are laid-off, or cannot support the number of children in the home because of their low salaries. Quindlen says, “…if there is a bureaucratic foul-up in your welfare check or the factory in which you work shuts down, the chances of finding another place to live are very small indeed” (317). People are not getting the help they need, and a lot of them are being forced onto the street because of uncontrollable factors. Her essay is very effective because she reaches to the emotions of her readers to sympathize for these poor people, especially the children, and tying it with her persuasive tone. She is able to get her point across to the readers and have them thing about the problem that goes unseen every day. These poor children, most importantly, need homes, or at least the family needs help to be able to support and shelter these children properly.
I personally believe people and the government should pay more attention to this pressing issue. Children and low-income families that are doing what they can to provide for themselves need the extra help. The children should not have to suffer because people are not doing what they can to help them. There is help out there, and there are people that can afford to lend some kind of support to the hundreds of families out there. Even if it’s just one family, or child, taking the initiative to let them know support is out there, is enough.
I will have to admit that after reading Quindlen's piece, I personally found that her use of pathos was over-excessive and her non-existent use of logos and ethos made her argument weak. However, as I read through your essay, I was more and more convinced that the author wrote the piece in order to touch upon a deeper, pressing issue in society. I liked how you provided a brief but comprehensive summary of the piece as you tied it into your analysis. I also think that you analyzed the piece well and used quotes effectively to support your claim. I especially liked how you mentioned that Quindlen “reaches to the emotions of her readers to sympathize for these poor people, especially the children, and [ties] it with her persuasive tone.” To add, the fact that you concluded your analysis with a small, but helpful, solution to the problem left me on an encouraging and hopeful note. Well done.
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