Down These Mean Street Analysis

Throughout both Down These Mean Streets by, Piri Thomas and Looking for Work by, Gary Soto both have there similarities and differences when it comes to each one of there lives. Piri Thomas grew up in a bad neighborhood that he had to constantly watch his back just to survive. Gary Soto's issue in the story is that he wants his family to dress nice to dinner and his family does not care. Both the article and the story have personal narrators for their point of view as well as some external characters. In Down These Mean Streets, Piri had to deal with a lot from a young age which made him the way he was. He was a Puerto Rican living in a town with a bunch of people that consider him to be black because of his dark skin tone. His dad was beating him from a young age which influenced Piri have to move to the streets to try and find food and shelter. Many people wanted to beat him up or mess with him just because they way he looked. Piri had to try and find a job to try and survive but many places did not want to hire him because of his appearance. When he wanted to look for jobs no one would hire him in Long Island, so he was forced to travel farther to try and find work. His mom really wanted whats best for him and tried to support Piri with whatever decision he …show more content…
Piri does not really get along with his family and has to try and find a job outside of his community. Gary is living at home with his family and knows that he has a roof over his head and food anytime he wants. He has the capability to go to his neighbors and get a job no questions asked and make more money then Piri would on a daily basis. The external characters that are around each one of them make them who they are. They represent obstacles that different people have to face but at the end of the day, everyone wants to have a good job and a good family. We all just have different directions and turns to get to