Scraper of the Skies
Outside my window, directly beyond my backyard and a small field, the train rushes by every fifteen minutes. Those who visit my home on Staten Island always question how I can sleep with such a raucous nearby. My friends are always surprised to hear that the speeding train is like a lullaby that actually helps me dream. I was reminded of this episode when E.B. White explained that “the city is like poetry” (White 700). “Here is New York” by E.B. White aided me in refreshing my innate New Yorker pride. Although I enjoyed most of White’s essay, I disagreed with a few of his opinions. Initially, I do not feel like I need to be categorized in a type of New York. This city is perceived with a unique perspective by every person to walk its streets. Everybody has an individualized identity, holding the freedom to change any aspect of themselves; whether it’s their life goals, their religious viewpoint, or simply their wardrobe. New York provides us with limitless opportunities. I am a New York native as I was born and raised in Brooklyn, but I do not believe that I am solely responsible for the “solidity and continuity” of this metropolis (White 698). Just like one who migrated to the capital of the world from another state or from a completely different country, I have the right to be on a quest, and I have the ability to contribute passion to this brightly bustling city.
Otherwise, E.B. White satisfied me with his flowery language and efficient flow of contrasting ideas. The author was clever in illustrating the negative and positive aspects of the city, utilizing artistic language in his transitions between a region on the verge of deterioration and a city of movement and innovation. The narrator is able to effectively add satirical comic relief to his short story, as he describes the fear of those passing the Empire State Building and by comparing bread lines of the Great Depression to lunch lines at expensive restaurants where the prosperous dine. I was entranced when White defined New York to have a “sense of belonging to something unique, cosmopolitan, mighty, and unparalleled” (White 701). No other municipality on this earth can create the same sweet and sour tastes of life that New York provides its citizens and its visitors. No other place can provide its civilians with such an artistic and diverse environment, where people watching on a subway cart can be classified as an exhibition of its own. White reminds me why I would never move away from Broadway, away from the Met and the MoMA, away from the Staten Island Ferry and Lady Liberty who never forgets to wave “hello” to me in my travels to school and back.
“ New Yorkers do not crave comfort and convenience- if they did they would live elsewhere” (White 710). New Yorkers are not stifled by a crammed train car or by unpredictable weather. As long as “the coffee is strong and full of chiory, and good”, I see every new day as the beginning of an adventure just waiting to unfold (White 706). White is accurate in stating that the city can use some improvement as those without homes continue to line the streets, but New York escapes devastation by a much greater margin than the author perceives. If one were too mix all the pieces from a variety of puzzles together in one area, they would represent the Big Apple effectively. “New York is a permanent exhibition of the phenomenon of one world” and its multicultural environment cannot compare to any other. New York may scrape the sky and intimidate tourists with its immensity, but New York City is home to 8.337 million puzzle pieces just waiting to cross paths, intersect, and maybe even connect.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ZUXQuFcnw]
