City Limit, Colson Whitehead PDF

Preview

Summary

Describes the main point of the poem and explains the different interpretations of New York City that Whitehead refers to and why they are referred....

Description

Eng 101

The main points of Colson Whitehead’s “City Limit” are the different interpretations of New York City that everyone has-- and no matter how much it changes or alters itself, the city will always be what you have made it to be. Whitehead asserts that “you start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it.” The image that you create when you first experience New York City is the image that is engraved in one’s self and stays there, regardless of how many drastic changes it goes through and regardless of others interpretation of the city you created and know like the back of your hand. City Limit cannot stress it enough that New York is such a raw place that holds its history, its present, and its future-- all in one time period. Whitehead proceeds to explain how this is possible by stating that “thousands of people pass [a] storefront everyday, each one haunting the streets of his or her New York, not one of them seeing the same thing.” New York has altered itself so many times since its discovery that it is nearly impossible for everyone to interpret the city as the same thing. Older citizens might see a vintage coffee shop at one specific street, while today’s youth sees an arcade-- and although the older citizens are well aware of what is front of them, it is not the New York they created. Everyone has their own image of the city, and that image will forever stay with them through all the changes the city goes through....