The Street By Ann Petry: Summary

In the fiction novel, The Street, by Ann Petry, the main character, Lutie, moves into 116th Street in Harlem. Thinking that this will be better than living with her drunk father and his tramp girlfriend, her and her 8 year old son Bub discover that surviving the streets of Harlem is easier said than done. The ever-present, oppressive tone of the book leaves the reader grieving for Lutie and the cast of characters she meets on the street that have been defeated by the racism and poverty looming in Harlem for every black person. These characters includes Mrs. Hedges, who is only surviving due to her connections around Harlem and the prostitutes she hosts in her appartment. Another includes Jones, the super, who has lived in basements so long

Before renting her apartment on 116th street, Lutie finds herself struggling to read an advertisement for an apartment because it is so windy. Other people on the street are shivering in their flimsy coats trying to offer the "least possible exposed surface to its violent assault" (1). If the pronoun "its" refers to the howling wind, then the words "violent assault" invoke the trait of fear and relentlessness to the wind. Also, personifying the wind as assaulting makes the wind seem violating and unwanted. On the other hand, if "it's" pertains to the street, or in general Harlem, then those on the street want the least amount of exposure to the harshness that it instills in the people living there. The author feels that the street makes people violent; for example, the character Jones is shown to have turned violent after he works in cellars of buildings without human contact. Petry continues to reference “it” throughout this scene, mentioning that “it did everything it could do to discourage the people walking along the street” (2). The wind is now pushing people back, and hindering them from moving forward, or symbolically from moving up in life and gaining a better class or higher wage. Petry feels that someone, particularly white people and those in the middle class, are preventing lower class, which is majority black people, from moving up and escaping poverty. The