E. B. White makes it seem as though the entirety of New York is devoid of emotion and its inhabitants will only work for the sake of money in his Here is New York. He expresses this through the tone in which he describes New Yorkers. However, White betrays this depiction by subtly introducing a human emotion that has the potential to bud and spread through New York and make it feel more like the New York that we are used to. White shows his respect for New York by showing the ability of the city to change no matter how empty it may seem.
White starts by highlighting the greed and lack of emotion of New Yorkers saying that “doormen grow rich blowing their whistles for cabs; and some doormen [...] merely wander about the streets, opening cabs …show more content…
He proceeds to remark on the lack of humanity in office workers and businesses in general. White describes an office as “batteries and batteries” (White 42), as if there were endless lines of identical drab cubicles. He elaborates that the office workers are puppets who work in pantomime "fumbling with their sheets of paper" (White 43) noiselessly. By emphasizing sameness, he points to the age-old stereotype that office workers are all stoic men of the same height dressed in grey shirts under the reprimanding gaze of supervisors. These New Yorkers are portrayed much like minions of a hive, conforming to the machine because they are too afraid to act differently. These office people contrast from the doormen in that they do not even have the desire for money; rather, they do not have any emotions at all, and are only trying to work as they were …show more content…
He used to walk past Sixth and Seventh street where "the block seemed to tremble under [his] feet" (White 38), due to the subways underneath. He could also be describing the vibrations of a material or the state of excitement, a human emotion. He implies that the humanity and excitement are being suppressed underground, waiting to be unleashed. This implication is especially clear when he follows the description with a statement that the city is filled with "young actors, young aspiring poets, ballerinas, painters, reporters, singers" (White 38). He sees these artists and humanity aficionados as the future because they hold new ideas and different culture that can lead New York away from what seems like a giant sweatshop to something that embraces human interaction and change.
New York is one of the business capitals of the world which makes it seem like an unwelcoming and cold place. E. B. White addresses this idea by slightly acknowledging this stereotype, but also ventures that this view is a misconception and that there is more to New York than one might assume. Rather than ruminating and conjecturing about the truth, it is better to travel to New York and experience the veracity
White starts by highlighting the greed and lack of emotion of New Yorkers saying that “doormen grow rich blowing their whistles for cabs; and some doormen [...] merely wander about the streets, opening cabs …show more content…
He proceeds to remark on the lack of humanity in office workers and businesses in general. White describes an office as “batteries and batteries” (White 42), as if there were endless lines of identical drab cubicles. He elaborates that the office workers are puppets who work in pantomime "fumbling with their sheets of paper" (White 43) noiselessly. By emphasizing sameness, he points to the age-old stereotype that office workers are all stoic men of the same height dressed in grey shirts under the reprimanding gaze of supervisors. These New Yorkers are portrayed much like minions of a hive, conforming to the machine because they are too afraid to act differently. These office people contrast from the doormen in that they do not even have the desire for money; rather, they do not have any emotions at all, and are only trying to work as they were …show more content…
He used to walk past Sixth and Seventh street where "the block seemed to tremble under [his] feet" (White 38), due to the subways underneath. He could also be describing the vibrations of a material or the state of excitement, a human emotion. He implies that the humanity and excitement are being suppressed underground, waiting to be unleashed. This implication is especially clear when he follows the description with a statement that the city is filled with "young actors, young aspiring poets, ballerinas, painters, reporters, singers" (White 38). He sees these artists and humanity aficionados as the future because they hold new ideas and different culture that can lead New York away from what seems like a giant sweatshop to something that embraces human interaction and change.
New York is one of the business capitals of the world which makes it seem like an unwelcoming and cold place. E. B. White addresses this idea by slightly acknowledging this stereotype, but also ventures that this view is a misconception and that there is more to New York than one might assume. Rather than ruminating and conjecturing about the truth, it is better to travel to New York and experience the veracity