Homeless by Anna Quindlen Holt Literature p 369

“Homeless” by Anna Quindlen • Holt Literature p. 369 • problem-solution essay • originally an editorial in the New York Times

Anna Quindlen • Author, journalist and opinion columnist • Her column in the New York Times, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. • She left journalism in 1995 to become a full-time novelist. • In 1999, she joined Newsweek, writing a bi-weekly column until announcing her semi-retirement in the May 18, 2009 issue of the magazine. • Quindlen is known as a critic of what she perceives to be the fastpaced and increasingly materialistic nature of modern American life. • Much of her personal writing centers on her mother who died at the age of 40 from ovarian cancer, when Quindlen was 19 years old. • She has written five best-selling novels, three of which have been made into movies (One True Thing, Black and Blue, and Blessings).

Vocabulary anonymous- adjective – having no known name or origin; lacking qualities that make one different legacy – noun – anything handed down from an ancestor or from the past enfeebled – adjective – lacking force, strength or effectiveness; weakened

Characteristics of a problem-solution essay: • • • a short work of non-fiction describes a real life problem presents one or more solutions appears in newspapers or magazines is journalistic in tone

Author’s purpose – the author’s reason for creating a particular work The purpose may be to explain, to inform, to entertain, to express an opinion, to reflect, or to persuade readers to believe or do something. Determining author’s purpose: • Sometimes the author’s purpose is directly stated. • Often, however, the reader must infer the author’s purpose from the author’s statements, words, details, and descriptions or from themes of the work. • Make a two-column chart. • Notice which parts of the topic Quindlen focuses on. • Write down the author’s direct statements about the way she thinks or feels about the topic. • Note words and details she uses to describe the topic. • Think about what these elements of her essay tell you about her purpose for writing

Writer’s direct statements, descriptions, words, and other details What these details tell me about the author’s purpose She introduces a homeless woman by name, emphasizing that this woman has a name and is a human being like any one of us. She wants people to look at homeless people as individuals. Quindlen uses the word “met” instead of saying she “saw” the woman. “I’ve never been very good at looking at the big picture, taking the global view. ”