The Street Ann Petry Analysis

In the excerpt, The Street by Ann Petry, there is a 3rd person omniscient narrator to explain the hatefulness of the cold along with the keen determination of Lutie Johnson. The narrator completely conveys the true parts of the cold to better show Lutie Johnson’s experiences by employing descriptive personifications and vivid imagery of the central antagonist as the wind.

Imagery is undeniably the most used literary device in this excerpt, as it gives the reader an accurate sense of the horrible temperate weather that the protagonist is forced to endure in her search for a home. The presence of the “Cold November wind” is shown in the sense of disorder and chaos that is at 110th street. “Scraps of paper “are sent “…into the faces of the people

The first example within the passage that lends a significant amount of evidence to the assertion that occurs in line 9, when the wind’s relentless assault is portrayed by the narrator as a ‘violent assault’. Petry takes her exaggerated description of the wind a step further in lines 31-34. The wind is portrayed as thoughtless, selfless, as it “grabbed their hats, pried their scarves from around their neck, stuck its fingers inside their coat collars, blew their coats away from their bodies”. The wind violates Lutie Johnson without even a modicum of respect; as its icy, death-like fingers “touched the back of her neck, explored…” (Lines 39-41). At this point in the excerpt, the wind is technically a sexual predator; preying on innocent victims within its path. Despite the wind’s relentless blows, Lutie Johnson continues on in search of a three-room establishment despite the chilling attacks of the cold November winds relentlessness. Lutie rests only when she finds an apartment suitable to her liking, and the sense of relief she gets after her successful completion at the end of this excerpt is highlighted by the author’s masterful use of imagery of and vivid