The Street Pt. I- Minori Wisti

The way this book opens up is interesting, in the author describing the wind. I thought that maybe the wind was set up to be like a metaphorical foreshadowing of what Lutie (and probably many others) would have to face. The wind is described as violent; "It did everything it could to discourage the people walking along the street." As the first three chapters go on Lutie's situation is revealed and it seems almost helpless, impossible to succeed with the conditions she's been given. The wind to me was like everything that was working against Lutie- poverty, lack of education and resources, discrimination, bills to pay, no one to watch Bub while she's working....At the end of the chapter the wind returns and Lutie "flung herself into the wind, welcoming its attack, aware as she walked along that the woman's hard flat eyes were measuring her progress up the street."

The Street Part One- Parzyck

I found this reading to be very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. I found one particlular passage very interesting and it came up 2 more times during the reading, "It's best that the man do the work when the babies are young. And when the man is young. Not good for the woman to work when she's young. Not good for the man," (Petry, pg. 33) and it reappears on pages 53 and 65 as well. Mrs. Pizzini seems to find this very important but it also frustrated me. Lutie was only trying to support her family and since her husband could not get a job she had too, and he didn't even thank her for doing so. I was so mad when I read that he had a new girlfriend and she was using the money that Lutie sent for food. I was also very shocked by her husband's reaction when she returned home, it seemed like a typical response from a man that you see in movies, it was like a "well what do you expect," type of response and he took no credit for his mistake. I found this to be a very surprising role for Lutie, we have discussed a lot about women having a hard time finding jobs outside of being a maid and a nanny but Lutie was able too but her husband was not. Did this have something to do with the fact they were black? Was the stigma for black women and finding jobs different than white women at this time?

Beyond the Gibson Girl: Chapter 2- Kate Ferraro

The reading of "The New Negro Woman" in Chapter 2 was very interesting to read because after extensively studying the concept of the "new woman"throughout the semester, there were several similarities and differences between the "new woman" and "new negro woman"described. It is important to notice that the new negro woman had "the unique role of symbolic leader in uplift missions" (51). The chapter focused especially on Murry Washington and Pauline Hopkins. The chapter also described how the concept of "new negro crime"that was constantly fueled by whites when race was discussed. While reading, I had two passages that stuck out to me: 1. When Washington stated that the new negro woman is a woman whose primary concern is racial uplift within the home and the struggle for money, power, etc, may only begin after they have homes for themselves (58), and 2. When Williams said "the real new woman" has succeeded "as if by magic" in "lifting" herself from the legacy of painful struggle endured by previous generations" (61).

The Street - Chelsea Estes

Before I even started reading this novel, the picture on the front cover struck me to be very interesting. Based on cover, we can see that it is a woman and a young boy, but we do not know anything more. However, when you flip the book over, we can see the same picture, but instead of only half, we can see the whole thing, and based on the text, it can be assumed that it is Lutie and her son Bub possibly standing in front of their new apartment. As the story unfolds and we learn the struggle Lutie is facing, I can't help but relate it back to the Patterson passage, and the hardships and the fight for equality Negro women had to face as being a New Woman. We can see that Lutie faces the struggle as being a single mother and being Negro in this novel. The love she has for her son and what she will do to protect him is admirable. I am interested to see how Lutie will overcome obstacles that she will face later on.

The Street- Part One

In the first section of The Street, I noticed the repetition of one particular passage. This quote first appears on page 33 when Mrs. Pizzini states, “It’s best that the man do the work when the babies are young. And when the man is young. Not good for the woman to work when she’s young. Not good for the man.” Lutie restates this quote after she hears of Jim’s affair on page 53, and again when she watches women walking home from work on page 65. Obviously Mrs. Pizzini’s words made an impression on Lutie. It is possible that Lutie blames herself for Jim’s affair. If she had not taken the job, she might still be married to her husband. I think that Lutie was really placed between a rock and a hard place because if she did not take the job, her family would have lost everything, but since she did take the job, she lost her husband. This situation was completely unfair to Lutie. What bothered me the most was Jim’s lack of regret or guilt when Lutie came home to find him with his girlfriend. However, I think that Lutie is better off without him and will be able to transform even further into a strong, independent woman as the novel continues.

Voyage in the Dark conclusion

There was much more depth to the reading of Voyage in the Dark than just the words on the pages. Diving into Anna's pregnancy, she had great thoughts of being judged by others. This in turn made her choose abortion for the child cause she knowing knew she could not care for it nor deal with the potential judgements surrounding it. With the excessive use of alcohol she was able to hide her emotions and fears. Her alcohol problem seemed to prove her inability to care for a child, let alone care for herself. Anna, to me, was lost and had deep inner struggles with herself. The lack of a caring man in Anna's life took a toll on her independence since she continually went to men for money, and comfort in a way.

The Street

I have to start by saying I absolutely love this book. Anne Petry novel starts off with Lutie apartment hunting. Once Lutie buy's the apartment on 116th street she is finally able to get away from her fathers apartment and able to start her new life with her son. One of the most interesting pieces to this novel so far for me was when she slammed her son for shinning shoes on the street. I was alarmed by this at first because Bub was just trying to help his mother make some extra cash so he could support his family. Lutie was thinking, "you're afraid that if he's shining shoes at eight he will be washing windows at sixteen and running an elevator at twenty-one, and go on doing that for the rest of his life. And you're afraid that this street will keep him from finishing high school; that it may do worse than that and get him into some kind of trouble that will land him in reform school because you can't be home to look out for him because you have to work" (69). This quote helped me to see how much Lutie loves her son and how she wants him to live a better life. She does not want him to get sucked up into the same cycle that everyone on 116th street is in. This part of the story made me sad because Lutie feels stuck and she wants to break free from this apartment and street. She wants to perform a job that is not expected for her to complete by the white people. I am really excited to read the rest of the book because I think the Lutie is going to break free from the traditional African American roles into the New Negro Woman.