"Here is New York" by E.B. White + "The Colossus of New York"

What does he mean by the “reader’s duty” on page 6?

  • Within the Foreward, White says that it is the reader’s duty to explore New York to fully experience what it has to offer. This is especially important since the book is so outdated, which White mentions in this portion by saying that “To bring New York down to date, a man would have to be published with the speed of light…”

What does White refer to when he continually evokes the image of planes above the City?

  • White refers to the constant change and innovation going on in the city, being represented by planes above the city. The planes provide the reader with a vision of New York from above, giving a way to capture the details in a unique fashion you couldn’t see from the ground.

Historical Context:

  • Great Depression

  • World War II

Three New Yorks:

  1. The New York of the man or woman who was born here (takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable)

  2. The New York of the commuter (the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night)

  3. The New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in question of something (the best city)

    1. This is the version I fall into

    2. This is the version Colson Whitehead falls into with his observations and discovery covered