ipl-logo

The Street Ann Petry Analysis

742 Words3 Pages

In the passage from The Street, Ann Petry describes the cold november wind discouraging people from walking outside in the city. The wind blows throughout the city and teases the people it finds. Petry later introduces Lutie Johnson, a new comer in the city. She fights the wind to find a suitable place with three room. The harsh nature of city life is represented through the teasing wind and Lutie Johnson’s fight against it. In the beginning of the passage, the wind on 116th street goes through “[rattling] the tops of garbage cans” and flapping window shades. The wind does seemingly meaningless actions to disturb the people in the city. The wind also drives “most of the people off the street” with its “violent assault”. The wind’s assaults …show more content…

The sign’s “original coat of white paint” is streaked with rust from the rain and snow. The image of corrosion from the city conditions indicates that the city life corrodes people’s will. The image also displays how Lutie Johnson might end up in the city as her confidence and comfort is taken away by the wind and the city. The sign also has a “dark red stain like blood”. The vivid color of red indicates the severe effects that the city has on people. In earlier parts of the passage, there are “chicken bones and pork-chop bones” that are left along the curb. The image of bones combined with blood indicates that the city can both physically and mentally kill a person with its harsh conditions. The wind strengthens the chaotic image of the city by blowing old envelopes and newspapers so the papers dance in the air. The papers and bones left on the street creates an empty and dark image of the city. Although the city is a deadly and dark place that discourages people from entering it, Lutie Johnson manages to read the sign at the end. After reading the sign she concludes that the rooms are “reasonable”. After the fight against the cruel wind, Lutie Johnson only achieves a small victory that is “reasonable”, not “great”. The small reward that does not match the effort that Lutie Johnson used illustrates that despite how hard a person works, the city can only offer small

Show More
Related

How Does Truman Capote Use Metaphors In Chapter 1

485 Words | 2 Pages

Although Truman Capote presents the reader with an ordinary, rural town filled with joyous elation and faith, He converts it into a melancholy town lacking any kind of faith residing in it; therefore, Capote reveals that even with the most splendid places, corrupt thoughts and people can taint it to the very core. Fresh in the beginning of the chapter Capote uses a metaphor to present the horrors of what happened in the previous chapters and how it affects those around the. Capote starts out with explaining Herb Clutter 's close friends then he tells of something unusual to the norm, stating, “Today this quartet of old hunting companions had once again gathered to make the familiar journey, but in an unfamiliar spirit and armed with odd, non-sportive equipment - mops and pails, scrubbing brushes , and a hamper heaped with rags and strong detergents. ”(Capote 77) They came with different equipment because they came for a different reason.

Read More

Rhetorical Devices In Cold Blood

1136 Words | 5 Pages

Primarily, copious instances of symbolism are apparent across the passage. Capote manipulates these metaphoric emblems to represent the perpetual tragedy and how it still evokes significant somber today surrounding the subject of death. A notable symbol in the book is the ambulance’s reckless blemishing of the dead family’s front lawn following the slaughter and the tire tracks still subsisting long after, “When the Sheriff summoned ambulances… the ambulances had driven across the grass straight to the front door, and the tire tracks were still visible” (Capote 206). The unheeding destruction of the grass by the ambulance symbolizes the initial collapse of the Clutter family, and the late existence of the lingering tracks is an endless reminder of the sorrow that the town of Holcomb experienced after losing one of their own. The intuitive rhetorical decision to allow the tire tracks to persist thereafter amplifies the negative connotation on death; implying that further death, in the proposed form of the

Read More

Conventional Boundaries In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

450 Words | 2 Pages

Passage 2: Page 28-30 Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood challenges the conventional boundaries of the true crime genre and plumbs the psychological and emotional depths of the Clutter family murders. Capote’s masterpiece incorporates diction to create a sympathetic tone and juxtapose the brutality of the murders in which he foreshadows. The included descriptions of Bonnie Clutter evokes sadness or pity from the reader.

Read More

Lutie Johnson Quotes

775 Words | 4 Pages

At the start of the novel, Lutie Johnson is portrayed as a hard working women who is looking to turn her life around to improve her current situation. She buys this house on the street as a step in an upward movement for a place for her and her son Bub to live. From there she has a bright plan to find a job and earn enough money to eventually find a nicer and more permanent house. At this point she has the ambition and will, but unfortunately from here on out the racism and sexism gets to her head and we only see a downward trend. Throughout Luties experiences on the street we see her initial motivation begin to deteriorate; the incidents with Jones and Bub quickly build up and eventually force her to make poor decisions.

Read More

Hardships In Lyddie's Life

685 Words | 3 Pages

In this essay, I will be talking about all the hardships that Lyddie had to push through and how bad their lives were back then. Many young girls, working as young as ten, had many harsh conditions already. Starting in chapter 3, which was the cutler's tavern, Lyddie got her first job. Even in the beginning, you could tell it was going to be a harsh time for the rude comments given by the owner. For example, “ “Go along” the woman was saying.

Read More

Urban Setting In Ann Petry's The Street

479 Words | 2 Pages

In this passage from, "The Street", by Ann Petry, Lutie Johnson's relationship with her urban setting is expressed thoroughly. The author creates a vision of the surroundings and expresses Lutie's relationship with her urban setting through the use of selection of detail, personification,imagery and figurative language. Petry begins the passage utilizing the selection of detail. She stated, "It rattled the tops of garbage cans, sucked windows shades out through the top of the opened windows and set them flapping back against the windows"(Paragraph 1). She uses details to describe how forceful the wind that was blowing was and the strength of it.

Read More

The Street Ann Petry Analysis

439 Words | 2 Pages

In the excerpt, The Street by Ann Petry, there is a 3rd person omniscient narrator to explain the hatefulness of the cold along with the keen determination of Lutie Johnson. The narrator completely conveys the true parts of the cold to better show Lutie Johnson’s experiences by employing descriptive personifications and vivid imagery of the central antagonist as the wind. Imagery is undeniably the most used literary device in this excerpt, as it gives the reader an accurate sense of the horrible temperate weather that the protagonist is forced to endure in her search for a home. The presence of the “Cold November wind” is shown in the sense of disorder and chaos that is at 110th street. “Scraps of paper “are sent “…into the faces of the people

Read More

Chicago City Metaphors

135 Words | 1 Pages

Erik Larson uses this simile and strong words that place a vivid image to further emphasize how the city continues to get dirtier as time goes by and more people move to Chicago. Larson wrote how as the city grew in population and in size the more dangerous and filthy the city became. The simile “like pus from a wound” paints a vivid image in the reader 's mind on how dirty the streets of Chicago are by using a simile that the readers would understand. Furthermore, Larson also uses strong words such as “oozed,” “muck,” and “swelled” to further paint an imagery of the contaminated streets and to show the continued growth of the filth in Chicago. This simile further helps Larson create a better image of how the city of Chicago has become contaminated.

Read More

Mrs. Hedges In The Novel The Street

803 Words | 4 Pages

Mrs. Hedges’ character understands the power that “the street” have over people, and their success, or failure in Harlem. She embraced the reality of “the street.” She actually named ‘the street,” and “separated it from any other street in the city, giving it an identity, unmistakable and apart,” (252). Mr. Jones is the super of the building and is sexually obsessed with Lutie. He has little respect for women and views them as objects

Read More

Symbolism In The Street By Ann Petry

680 Words | 3 Pages

Being a black woman raised in a white world, Ann Petry was familiar with the contrast in lives of African Americans and whites (McKenzie 615). The Street, centered in 1940’s Harlem, details these differences. While Petry consistently portrays Harlem as dark and dirty, she portrays the all-white neighborhoods of Connecticut as light and clean. This contrast of dark vs light is used in the expected way to symbolize despair vs success.

Read More

The Environment In Louise Erdrich's The Beet Queen

578 Words | 3 Pages

The excerpt from Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Beet Queen, tells the story of two siblings arriving in an unfamiliar town. The excerpt depicts the different reactions of the siblings to their situation. The imagery of the excerpt conveys the state of the unfamiliar environment. The selection of detail in the excerpt reveals the impact that the environment has on the children. In the excerpt from Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Beet Queen, Erdrich uses imagery and selection of detail to depict the impact of the environment on the two children.

Read More

Lutie Johnson's Relationship With The Urban Setting In The Street

514 Words | 3 Pages

This embodies not only the wind but also the urban setting as a location that will make you feel very vulnerable and unsafe. By the end of this selection the author finally speaks of Lutie directly and explains her specific thoughts towards the city. For instance, “cold fingers of the wind” personifies this city as very overwhelming and as if Lutie would much rather be anywhere

Read More

Symbolism In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

855 Words | 4 Pages

The has done a good job of using many relevant symbols to portray the author in negative and positive way. She uses the winter and the dying tree as negativity, the spring and the beautiful tree as positivity along with the art room. The art room was positive enough Melinda tells Mr. Freeman about the rape “You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?” The tears dissolve the last block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor.

Read More

The Symbolism Of The Wind In Ann Petry's The Street

730 Words | 3 Pages

Ann Petry pens a stimulating expositional read in her 1946 novel, The Street. Running with the over-arching anticipated universal theme of vulnerability, Petry establishes Lutie Johnson’s relationship with the urban setting quite succinctly. Through her use of well-placed literary conventions, Ann Petry delivers a piece that will withstand the test of time. Petry establishes the wind as a symbol of an attacker to foreshadow Lutie Johnson’s violent future. From the very first paragraph, the wind is written ripping through the street, doubling over the pedestrians against its force.

Read More

Prose Analysis Of Ann Petry's The Street

634 Words | 3 Pages

Prose Analysis Essay In Ann Petry’s The Street, the urban setting is portrayed as harsh and unforgiving to most. Lutie Johnson, however, finds the setting agreeable and rises to challenges posed by the city in order to achieve her goals. Petry portrays this relationship through personification, extended metaphor, and imagery.

Read More

More about The Street Ann Petry Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document