Kozol's Essay 'The Untouchables'

Most people describe poverty as a lack of essential items, such as food, clothing, and shelter. When individuals are not able to afford nutritious meals, attend school regularly, or have access to health care, regardless of their income, they can be considered to be in poverty. The new face of poverty involves many people who are homeless because problems that arose, or unforeseen circumstances occurred, forcing them into these situations. In the essay, “The Untouchables,” Kozol wrote about the struggles and hardships Richard Lazarus and others encountered because of homelessness. Jo Goodwin Parker wrote a vivid first hand description about living in poverty in the essay, “What is Poverty?”. Lazarus lived on the street struggling to survive, where as, Parker lived in a house struggling to support her family. In New York, Lazarus either slept in a park or in a dilapidated hotel operated by a shelter organization. Other homeless people, unable to find room in a shelter or afraid of something within the shelter, seeked sanctuary in public transportation buildings, subway tunnels, or church doorways. Parker struggled to provide anything but the bare essentials for her family.
Kozol writes, “So from pity we graduate to weariness; from weariness to impatience; from impatience to annoyance; from annoyance to dislike and sometimes to contempt” (265). Treatment of the homeless in most cities have became harsh. An anti-homeless activist in Phoenix stated he was “tired of feeling guilty about the homeless”(Kozol 262). A columnist from a major magazine wanted the homeless evicted from the streets. When Parker asked for help, she received seventy-eight dollars a month to clothe, feed, and provide shelter for herself and three children. Attitudes toward the poor have evolved into indifference, or worse,