Adam Adam is a student at Lake Windsor Middle School. He seems close to Kerri at the carnival. Tommy Acoso A native of the Philippines, Tommy is a student at Lake Windsor Middle School and one of the best players on its soccer team. Ms. Alvarez Ms. Alvarez is Paul’s homeroom teacher at Lake Windsor…
The Street by Ann Petry: Analysis
While often treated as a realist novel about the interior lives of its characters and their internal experiences of oppression, Ann Petry’s The Street may also be read as a powerful protest novel—one with the potential to provoke specific political and social changes for the benefit of African Americans and women. Like the other black…
The Street by Ann Petry: Setting
Rise of the Harlem Renaissance After the abolition of slavery in 1865, the racial climate in the South became increasingly hostile toward African Americans. Lynch mobs and widespread violence posed a constant threat to the physical safety and well-being of these individuals and, as a result, many African Americans chose to migrate to northern states….
The Street by Ann Petry: Themes
Pursuit of the American Dream While working for the Chandlers, a white family of considerable wealth, Lutie is exposed to the idea that success and financial freedom are the guaranteed outcomes of hard work and perseverance—the American Dream. Determined to transcend her impoverished circumstances in Harlem, Lutie adopts this mentality and worries about money constantly….
The Street by Ann Petry: Characters
Jonathan Chandler Jonathan Chandler, also referred to as Mr. Chandler, commits suicide on Christmas Eve in front of the whole Chandler family, including live-in maid Lutie and Little Henry Chandler. Afterward, the Chandlers pay off a number of officials to make sure the incident is recorded as an accident in the public records. This episode…
The Street by Ann Petry: Summary
Chapter 1 The Street opens with the story’s main character, Lutie Johnson, braving a bitter, cold wind as she walks through Harlem in New York City. The wind Lutie faces is personified as a hostile character, mirroring the aggressive attitude of many white Americans toward African Americans during the pre-civil rights era. More generally, the…
Sense and Sensibility: Analysis
AustenBlog declares that ‘‘She’s everywhere.’’ Laurie Brown’s time-travel novel published in 2009 is titled after the question the heroine constantly asks herself: ‘‘What Would Jane Austen Do?’’ More than a decade ago, Austen scholars and readers started their own Republic of Pemberley online (named after Darcy’s estate in Pride and Prejudice) as a clearinghouse of…
Sense and Sensibility: Setting
Jane Austen was born a year before the start of the American Revolution, became a teenager at the beginning of the French Revolution, and grew up during the Napoleonic Wars, the height of the English Empire, and a time of rapid industrial development. Yet global politics do not dramatically affect the narratives of her original…
Sense and Sensibility: Themes
‘‘Sense’’ and ‘‘Sensibility’’ The title of Jane Austen’s novel and the Lee-Thompson film adaptation identifies one key theme of the story: the contrast between good sense and untrustworthy emotions. The moral of Sense and Sensibility is that rational thought, not strong emotions, should guide one’s actions and decisions. Those who get carried away by strong…
Sense and Sensibility: Cast and Characters
Colonel Christopher Brandon A retired army officer and a friend of Sir John Middleton, the kind and honest Colonel Brandon falls in love with Marianne Dashwood and marries her at the end of the film. In the novel, the Colonel is thirty-seven-years old. Alan Rickman, best known for his role as Professor Severus Snape in…