After reading E.B. White’s “Here is New York,” I wanted to talk about a couple of paragraphs that I found significant. There is so much in his essay that every New Yorker can relate to and even some that we didn’t really think about before. His essay may have been long, but I didn’t have a hard time getting through it because it was very interesting.
The first paragraph that I want to focus on is the one where White describes the three different New Yorks. It is interesting, but at the same time understandable, that the people who have lived here all their lives take New York for granted. I feel like even though I haven’t been here all that long, I am already used to the crowds and the noise. Maybe everyone is so engrossed in their daily routines that don’t have time to look at the colors and patterns of the streets of New York. I guess you have to go outside of New York to realize how different life is compared to other places. You never feel bored or lonely on the streets of New York. I also thought that it was weird that White does not think a person from, for example, Brooklyn is a commuter. I wonder, what is White’s definition of commuter? The last New York, the one where people of other places have come to find their dreams, is the one that I believe is the most plentiful. This is what makes New York what it is. New York is tolerant, because it has to be, but also diverse and welcoming.
The next paragraph that is interesting to me where White describes how New York is a “composite of tens of thousands of tiny neighborhood units.” This, I believe is very true. Every block has its own grocery store, post office, laundromat, etc. People outside of New York probably think that New York is very hectic and just would never be livable, but those who reside here somehow make it work. Instead, I think that it would be harder to complete tasks in other states compared to in New York. Stores are more further apart in other states and it takes longer and more driving than here. A New Yorker usually spends “a lifetime within the confines of an area smaller than a country village.” I know that I don’t usually spend any time out of my neighborhood other than my time at Baruch.
The last thing that interested and puzzled me was the mention of “destroying planes” and a city that is “destructible.” Even though this essay was written in 1949, White describes the event very closely to reality. He had no way of knowing that 9/11 would happen, but still mentions it. I know that he wasn’t actually talking about the tragic event, but it confuses me that he came so close to the truth even so long ago. What made him choose those specific descriptive words??
