English 1B Reader Response #3 “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids” by Anna Quindlen

Anna Quindlen’s article “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids” references the difficulties of having a low income, being single with raising children. She compares the differences between the difficulties of life for a middle-class family and a low income family. Low income families struggle with living arrangements, rehabilitation from addictions, finding well-paying work, and raising a family.

I was confused by this article because of its lack of organization. The article began as a story of a woman with five children then slowly changed and started to combine with statistics and other information pertaining to low income families. The transition from dialogue to data was abrupt and unexpected. I could not tell whether the story and the data were supposed to be combined together or if Quindlen was attempting to blend one idea in with another. She does this multiple times throughout the article. It seems like she wanted to have a section of story with a follow up paragraph that explains the point she was trying to make through the story. Even though this format is a well thought out idea, her execution of her idea did not turn out as smoothly as she hoped.

In the fourth paragraph, Quindlen begins by talking about the three women in the discussion group then talks about the difficulties of waiting in the Emergency Assistance Unit with your family. The transition between these topics was smooth, but changing the subject from waiting in the Emergency Assistance Unit to what middle-class families are like, paragraphs four to five, was slightly confusing.

Anna Quindlen is very knowledgeable on this subject, but, if someone did not read the excerpt on her at the beginning of the article, she does not appear to be very credible. Other than the statistics used Quindlen is not someone I would be comfortable trusting with the information she has given to the reader. The story she tells is helpful in explaining what she wants the reader to understand, but she does not try to build her credibility throughout the article.

Overall this article was not well thought out and is lacking in its organization of arguments. The stories are interesting and engaging, but the fluidity of the article was weak and lacking.