48 pages 1 hour read

Tracy Kidder

Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2023

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“I’m an old lady. I have no place to go. Don’t you think if I had some place to go, I wouldn’t be here?”


(Part 1, Page 16)

This quote ends the first part of Kidder’s book. It depicts the complexity of houselessness and the regulations that try and police, or support, unhoused people, who are often in situations outside of their control. Kidder explores the complexities of houselessness through Dr. Jim and the Health Care for the Homeless Program; oftentimes, circumstances and solutions aren’t at all straightforward.

Quotation Mark Icon

“You didn’t have to believe God sent you. You were on hand just because a man fell off his motorcycle and got a compound fracture.”


(Part 2, Chapter 1, Page 20)

Jim describes the moment he decides to become a doctor. He implies the difference between being present to support people who are ill or injured and assuming responsibility for curing or changing the totality of their circumstances. Kidder consistently cites moments where Jim must be reminded that he is not God and can therefore not take on the responsibilities better left to powers greater than him.

Quotation Mark Icon

“It was one thing to treat the excluded and despised inside the great hospital, another to imagine treating them in dreary clinics elsewhere.”


(Part 2, Chapter 1, Page 23)

This quote demonstrates how class systems impact both patients and the medical profession. Kidder analyzes the necessity of overcoming class distinctions to better treat people and the stigma that makes treating unhoused people less desirable than treating “typical” patients. Internal and external biases inform the quality of care that patients receive at hospitals, as Kidder shows throughout the narrative.

Related Titles

By Tracy Kidder

Study Guide

logo

Among School Children

Tracy Kidder

Among School Children

Tracy Kidder

Study Guide

logo

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Tracy Kidder

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

Tracy Kidder

Study Guide

logo

Strength in What Remains

Tracy Kidder

Strength in What Remains

Tracy Kidder

Plot Summary

logo

The Soul of a New Machine

Tracy Kidder

The Soul of a New Machine

Tracy Kidder