The Street By Ann Petry Essay

The urban environment of the city is often criticized by environmentalists due to the city inhabitant’s carelessness and apathy for the environment in which they live in. The people in the city often tarnish the purity of their environment by littering, and disrespecting it by disregarding the terrible effects that they themselves source to it. In an excerpt from The Street, author Ann Petry creates a picture of the relationship between the urban environment and the people, a relationship of hostility and resentment, by using imagery and personification. These devices shed light on the external and internal conflicts that exist in the passage, and ultimately give the reader an accurate portrayal of the human perception of the city environment and the subsequent response by the environment itself.

The author personifies the wind, a representation of the environment, in order to create the impression of two battling forces, the urban environment and the people within it. This external conflict is further demonstrated as the wind is assaulting the hurried pedestrians who reside in the city. “It did everything to discourage the people walking along …show more content…
According to Thomas Foster, the significance of each idea was intended by the author, whether subconsciously or consciously, and so, as readers, we are able to interpret Petry’s writing in such a way (Foster 90-93). These ideas reflect the thoughts and concerns of the author towards the people living in the city along with her displeasure towards them and how they act. The portrayal of the city confirms her discontent through her use of personification and imagery in order to show the relationship between the environment and the city people. She also validated the disconcern of the citizens by showing how they morphed the city into a pile of trash, which caused the environment to

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