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Summary Of Homeless By Anna Quindlen

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Homeless, an essay composed in 1987 by Anna Quindlen, begins by introducing Ann, a character that Quindlen meets while working a story on homeless people. This essay leads the reader to believe that Ann is a homeless woman that frequents the terminal, “although her bags and her raincoat with the grime shadowing its creases had made me believe she was”(Paragraph 2). While Ann and Quindlen are talking to each other, Ann pulls out a few photographs of her house. It could be surprising for someone to want to show a picture of their house rather than their children or spouse. This picture begins to showcase the true value of a home. Quindlen’s essay begins to focus on the homeless and how it is a big issue in the world today. One can conclude …show more content…

Anna Quindlen focuses on the homeless quite a bit to further explain how a lot of them understand the value of a home. People without a home, they have no where to live, not a roof over their head or a place to shield them from everyone. If anyone knew what a home really meant, it would be someone that was blessed to have one and then no longer has one at all. The homeless have the opportunity to go to a shelter, to get away from the streets, even if it is not permanent. These shelters offer a bed, warmth from the cold, hunger for the growling stomach, and a moment to feel that they have something that resembles a home. For some though, that is not enough to visit a shelter. Although shelters provides things that can try to make it feel like a home, it is not a home. It is not something they can call their own. There is no wall they can paint the color of their liking. It does not provide stability nor protection. These places can sometimes be a little dangerous to stay at because all walks of people frequent them. The homeless understand how the little things that a home provide are the best in life. The fortunate that have a house “may find it curious that those without homes would rather sleep sitting up on benches or huddled in doorways than go to shelters” (Paragraph 7). The homeless have always been a big issue, not because they cause problems but the fact that there are even homeless people out there. Quindlen states in her essay that people have somehow desensitized themselves from the problem and they do this by turning an adjective into a noun. This somehow makes society feel better that something so ugly is happening in this world. When the word “homeless” is used, people don’t think of a person that is

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