Summary Of Growing Up Unrented On The Lower East Side By Edmund Berrigan

The two most obvious one’s are the music and drug symbols. Two that one might not catch are the light and darkness symbols. Light being the good, while dark being the bad. When the narrator found out that Sonny got busted and put in jail, he started to think to himself, “I didn’t want to believe that I’d ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out,” (Baldwin 122). He references the light to a bright and young Sonny. After hearing the news, it reminded him that there were also shadows where there was once light that shined. This vision of his younger brother makes him realize that Sonny was once like the boys he now teaches. Some of his students share and face some of the same darkness’s that Sonny does. “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone,” (Baldwin 122) The narrator explains how the boys are immersing in darkness and they don’t even know it. Darkness here represents the chances the boys don’t take advantage of and the lack of opportunity they are presented. This darkness that casts over them doesn’t give them hope to want to attempt anything positive. Fate has brought them together but because nothing will ever come their way, they are alone in suffering. This dark reality of living in Harlem leaves no light of hope for these young boys. The narrator now begins to understand the pain and suffering that his students and Sonny go through. Between prejudices towards African American’s in Harlem during the 1950’s and living in severe poverty decreases the chances of them ever escaping the dark reality of life. This setting and darkness make is easy to turn to drugs, crime, and violence

* Pride in one’s local area (para 5): “tremendous monuments we find all over New York,”contrasted with “[i]f he lives in one of those housing projects of which everyone in New York is so proud”; his appeal to pathos is sardonic in tone

This book is made up of two cycles of poems, each confronting the same subject: the characterization of a black man in white America. In this book, I plan to focus mainly on the first cycle and touch briefly on the second. The first cycle includes four different sections. In section one of cycle one, Eady writes about Susan Smith and Charles Stuart, two murderers who blamed their crimes on nonexistent black attackers. The first poem is called “How I Got Born” (Eady 5), in this poem the fictional young African American man is conjured up. In the upper right-hand corner of the page, Eady writes a note that explains who and what the speaker is: “The speaker is the young black man Susan Smith claimed kidnapped her children” (Eady 5). In the first few lines of the poem he says, “Susan Smith willed me alive/ At the moment/ Her babies sank into the lake” (l. 1-40). So right away he gives us a pretty straightforward explanation for what this poem is about and what this section will be about. In the next few poems, the narrator discusses his “existence” and reason for being created. Eady uses a lot of metaphors, similes and imagery in his poems, and he does a phenomenal job with imagery.

Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is

Upon reading the first few sentences of the paragraph, one can easily assume E. B. White has inhabited New York once before. His capability in drawing three New Yorks established his familiarity with the city and its various versions. This is implied when he states, “There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts for its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something” (White). Coming from the perspective of the author, it adds an authentic value to his words and description of the types of people who live in New York. The individuals who exist in each of the version contribute to New York’s remarkable essence

As for New York City, in the novel it is defined as the perfect place to live life to the fullest and not have a care of the world. As a reader, it is expected to envision this city full of lights as a bright, restless, and colorful place. Nick Carraway depicts New York City as a “...city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of

Tenement life was tough in New York City at the turn of the nineteenth century, as portrayed in the historical novel, City of Orphans. This portrayal depicted an immigrant family that was living hand to mouth in a tenement. This depiction is very accurate to the harsh reality that many families had to come to face. It was tough from the conditions, lifestyles, and space. Maks ' family was barely living off their earnings and was susceptible to disease and fraud. The immigrants were easy targets for poverty and sickness, and all too often fell through cracks in the floor. Their lives, as bad as they were, were not as bad as the ones they led in the countries they fled from to escape prosecution and to seek a better life.

The truth behind the poem “Poverty and Wealth” is bone-chilling, almost as if it was meant for a character like Ponyboy Curtis. On the east side of town, there lives

The unkind culture of New York was irrelevant while he was in awe of the snow and towering buildings. The pure white snow gave off a new and exciting feeling for their new home and opportunities waiting for them. As he and his

He tells us stories about what he witnessed being an African American and how he heard about Police brutality towards people because of race. How certain families had to live in poverty because of race. He also talk about his experience 94 and 95 about how a white woman pushed his son and he, like any other parent stood up for him. Then a white man comes and tells him I could have you arrested. After this he talks about Malcolm X. This incident shows the readers that he views this as an act of racism.

George could not turn his back on New York City because the city had never turned its back on him, even when he had absolutely nothing. The effects of being raised in this sometimes cruel, yet prosperous environment is evident in the life of George Andrews; he represents not only the harsh

They also tell a story and allows you to visualize the senses and story. These poems both take place in the city of Harlem. The first poem entitled “Harlem”, gives it away. The weary blues also takes place in the city.

New York City’s population is a little over 8.3 million people. 8.3 million people are spread out among five boroughs and each have their own set routine. Each one of those 8.3 million see New York in a different way becuase “You start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it” (“City Limits” 4). Some people are like Colson Whitehead who “was born here and thus ruined for anywhere else” (“City Limits” 3). Others may have “moved here a couple years ago for a job. Maybe [they] came here for school” (“City Limits” 3). Different reasons have brought these people together. They are grouped as New Yorkers, but many times, living in New York is their only bond. With on going changes and never ending commotion, it is hard to

and that he believes them. The poem also translates into how living in the city is toilsome and that the city is unrelenting. On the other hand it shows how the city can be prosperous and happy with the city’s disadvantages. in the second half of the poem it’s telling how nomatter what is wrong with the city, the people are still proud of who they are.

much is known about his past. He faced a harsh childhood, being orphaned by age 3, and