Luis Batista
9/28/04
ENG 11000
Essay Assignment #1 Textual Analysis Essay
“The Way We Live Now” by Colson Whitehead
The essay “The Way We Live Now” by Colson Whitehead talks about New York and its people, and goes in-depth to describe what residing in new york feels like to the average New Yorker. He describes what’s unique about his own New York and why everyone else has a different New York in mind. Most of the essay consists of Colson going into detail about what makes a real New Yorker and how New York City evolves and changes with and without us. Still, because of that, we all seem to retain a slightly different image of what New York is and means to us. Unlike most other states and cities, which are known to have a lot of similarities with one another, no one is able to understand what it’s like living in “the city that never sleeps” without spending a lengthy amount of time in it. There are a few things in life that you’re simply unable to understand without experiencing them and living in the city of New York is one of them. While the main theme consists of New York being a different city for each individual, one of Colson’s sub-themes conveys the fact that you’re never able to say goodbye to things in New York, because of the sudden change in everything.
The essay revolves around the theme that New York is constantly changing with or without you, and that every new yorker has their own view of what New York is to them. The author did an excellent job at speaking to the reader and giving examples of what he was trying to convey. A great example of where Colson explained his clear indication of being a real New Yorker states “No matter how long you have been here, you are a New Yorker the first time you say, ‘That used to be Munsey’s or ‘That used to be the Tic Toc Lounge… You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now”. This quote states one of the most repeated themes in the essay, that you’re not a New Yorker until you see a place that defines your own “New York” change and leave, even though it changed to something else, when thinking about New York you will always involve that “place” in your head regardless of it not existing anymore. This supports the main theme of the essay conveying the meaning that despite New York only being one place, it holds millions and millions of different views of itself carried by each resident, everyone seems to have a different memory of New York because of the variety of this city and places constantly evolving to something new.
To add evidence to my previous statements, Colson gives an excellent explanation by stating “Five different neighborhoods coming and going between then and now, other people’s other cities. Or 15, 25, 100 neighborhoods. Thousands of people pass that storefront every day, each one haunting the streets of his or her own New York, not one of them seeing the same thing.”. In this quote, Colson shows the enormous amount of different possible points of views New York can produce, everyone will at minimum have a slightly different view than their closest neighbor, and it only gets more and more varied the farther those individuals are away from you, to the point where your New York and someone else’s New York can look black and white when put next to each other. Previously, I had mentioned Colson showing the reader a sub-theme relating to never being able to say goodbye to the things you’ve grown to acknowledge as a part of your new york. Things like a Deli, a store, a building, a park, etc, that when removed goes away and never come back, you never get to say goodbye or have one last moment with that thing because no one ever warned you it was leaving. All that is left is your memory of it being in New York and it being a relevant part of your past. The author describes these things as places that never leave your own version of New York, but things that New York itself leaves behind considering New York doesn’t move with the people, but the people move with New York. An example of this is when the author states “I never got a chance to say goodbye to the twin towers. And they never got a chance to say goodbye to me. I think they would have liked to… The twin towers still stand because we saw them, moved in and out of their long shadows, and were lucky enough to know them for a time. They are a part of the city we carry around. It is hard to imagine that something will take their place”. This quote by Colson is very significant to the essay because it’s one of the few times where Colson goes out of his way to state his feelings about something that he himself lost as a New Yorker, and it becomes even more significant in context to how tragic the 9/11 event was. Of course, someone very young, or someone that had just moved to New York recently would never understand the feeling of seeing the 9/11 event happen right in front of their eyes. Although, the people who were used to seeing the twin towers at the time, probably think about New York with the twin towers being present today. This is because it meant such significance to the individuals who had the twin towers be part of their life in the city, and without it, New York is not what it once was to them.
Throughout the essay, Colson effectively used his own New York experience to explain what being a New Yorker truly meant to him. He wrote the essay as simple and straightforward as he could to be able to reach all audiences, whether it was non-New Yorkers or young children. A person who does not know about New Yorkers is able to read Colson’s essay and leave with a semi-understanding of the fast and unique life of a New York resident.
