Untouchables By Albert Bliss Analysis

Two Different Perspectives on Homelessness

Homelessness is a subject that has been debated over by many people for decades. Two essays that really put the homeless into the spotlight are “Untouchables” by Jonathan Kozol and “Homeless man interviews Himself” by Albert Bliss. Both authors focus on the subject of homelessness. Although, Kozol and Bliss have two extremely different perspectives.

To begin with, Kozol’s essay “Untouchables” makes the homeless seem like victims. However, in Bliss’s essay “Homeless man Interviews Himself” the homeless are praised and thought of as heroes. Throughout Kozol’s essay there is a pattern of stories that seem to make the reader have sympathy for the homeless people. Kozol describes “..an elderly woman who had been living in Grand Central on one of the few remaining benches was removed night after night during the weeks preceding Christmas. On Christmas Eve she became ill .No ambulance was called. At one-thirty

“Homeless man Interviews Himself” By Albert Bliss is basically praising the homeless people and making them seem like heroes. Bliss states “I remember feeling jealous of their carefree lifestyle. No one to answer to and no rules to follow seemed to me like the best kind of life.” This describes how when Bliss was a child he would feel jealous of the homeless people, thus praising the homeless. Bliss also states “Even though I was only twelve years old, I thought of these homeless riffraff as rugged individualists. I equated these men with great American pioneers I was studying in school, guys like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Jim Bowie. As I peeked at the men from behind that huge tree trunk I thought to myself, they had to be brave to camp outside, under the stars and moon every night.” Bliss literally describes the homeless people brave and compares them to famous pioneers. Overall in Bliss’s essay it is clear to see that he praises the