Down These Mean Streets Essay

Submitted By Arisleny-Mejia
Words: 949
Pages: 4
Open Document
Who Is Piri? Arisleny Mejia
Literature, Block 4
Sorel Rodriguez
October 27, 2014

Down These Mean Streets, by Piri Thomas, In this memoir the author explains to the reader about his life struggles and the journey he went through to find who he truly is in the community because he dealt with racial profiling and discrimination on a daily basis. Eventually
Piri learns from his mistakes and learns what it takes to be a man. His journey made him into a stronger individual because he realizes his true identity. Piri was born Puerto Rican but in the eyes of the public he was an African American because he was a dark skinned male. It was important to Piri to find his place among his peers and the community. He had so much hatred towards the whites for their privileged status and the Blacks because deep down he knew he was one of them. Piri Thomas uses conflict and characterization to show the reader how he conducted himself with his journey to manhood and to find his true identity.
Puerto Rico is a country of people who have been mixed, ethnically, through centuries of war and Imperialism. Puerto Rico was originally home to more than 50,000 native Tainos. In
1493, the small caribbean island was discovered by the Spanish, who then seized and colonized the new land. As the numbers of native Tainos decreased due to diseases or simply because of them fleeing the island, The Spanish began to introduce African slaves, who began to pair off with the Tainos that were left. In addition to that racial mix, The Spaniards also mated with the people of the island, to make the distinct racial and ethnic mix of the Puerto Rican people’s there is today.
In his youth, Piri Thomas lived in the “Barrio” the streets of Spanish Harlem in the
1940’s to the 1950’s. Growing up Piri’s father,John Thomas, wasn’t affectionate and was distant towards his children. Piri’s thoughts on this was that out of all of his fathers children he was the one getting the most resentment from his dad : “How come when we all get hit for doing

something wrong, I feel it the hardest? Maybe cause I’m the biggest, huh? Or maybe because it’s cause I’m the darkest in this family. pops, you ain’t like Herby’s father, are you? I mean you love us all the same right” (p.22). Piri’s dubiousness and insecurities with his father is a large factor in how effortlessly he is willing to do dangerous and criminal activity during his life. Piri is affected by the environment he lives in because he has no positive support to fall back on, whether it is because his identity crisis or his later on heroin addiction.
Throughout the memoir, Piri portrayed a sense of loneliness. To make up for that, Piri is willing to do whatever it takes to fit in with the the crowd. In one passage, Piri and his gang of friends are asked to go to a house full of gay men by an older boy, Piri goes along not because he wants to but because out of fear of being labeled as a punk: “The stud snapped his fingers, as if to say motherfuckers, who’s a punk? Nobody, man. Without a word we jumped off the stoop and, grinning, shuffled towards the faggots building” (p.55). Piri’s need to belong gets the upper hand which leads to him disobeying his morals and restrictions. This action is repeated many times when Piri is faced with a situation he doesn't agree with.
Piri’s identity crisis worsens as he gets older and is unprotected by Americas discrimination. When Piri moves to Long Island with his
Show More

Related Documents: Down These Mean Streets Essay

Down These Mean Streets Analysis

Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas tells the story of his childhood, how it was growing up in the barrios and continues exploring the challenges he faced into his late twenties. In this memoir we see first hand how Latinos were treated in the city by neighbouring races. Racism and discrimination towards Latinos is a theme we have seen consistently. Another big portion of this memoir focuses on military and his experience in the Criminal Justice system, topics we have deeply discussed in class…

Words 621 - Pages 3

House On Mango Street Figurative Language

In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros’ use of figurative language highlights Esperanza’s desire for freedom. The author’s use of personification and metaphors emphasizes how Esperanza struggles to find independence from the role women take on Mango Street. First, in the vignette My Name, Esperanza uses a metaphor to describe her name. Esperanza states, “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting.” This connects to Esperanza’s…

Words 326 - Pages 2

Street Names In The House On Mango Street

her and her family leave Mango Street and never come back. “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness”-Desmond Tutu. Throughout the novel, House on Mango Street, Cisneros builds a strong motif about names which are shown through street names, family, and friends. Street names. Many people always remember their street names of their childhood homes or the first house they’ve ever lived in. Did you ever think about why the street was named that? Was it named that…

Words 647 - Pages 3

The Car Crash Creative Writing

clouds. Making the night look dale and unhappy, but the bright moon still managed to make itself known and seen. On the corner of Carr Street and Wood Drive stood a girl named Tracy York, she made no noise, if you had happen to her pass her you wouldn't even notice her. "Come on!" she yelled to the street. As cars slowly made their way down the small unpathed street. Tracy stared up at the night sky and kicked a small pebble, mad at the world but at the same moment mad at no one. But herself and…

Words 776 - Pages 4

Marl Stanfield Character Analysis

both seasons throughout the rest of the series. In season one, The Wire aims to present all of the situations and circumstances that lead people to crime and violence. In season two, violence is further looked at and is connected to the code of the streets. When his character is introduced, he is just another player in the drug and crime game. As the show progresses, we see how Marlo evolves and climbs the ranks in West Baltimore. Marlo welcomed many challenges, suppressed his emotions, and actively…

Words 1294 - Pages 6

Farewell To Manzanar

symbolism and meaning in the novels House on Mango Street and Farewell to Manzanar. Although the denotation is the same, the connotation of each word means something different to each respective narrator. Esperanza talks about her family’s house on Mango Street and what kind of house she would want. However, Jeanne in Farewell to Manzanar, realizes that Manzanar is her home for the time being while her family is incarcerated. In Cisneros’ House on Mango Street and Wakatsuki-Houston’s Farewell to Manzanar…

Words 985 - Pages 4

Running of the Bulls and Pamplona Bull Running Essay

makes them be in the way of everyone else. Another dangerous thing about the bull run is that the streets are walled so the bulls can not escape which means there is no where to go when the bull gets to close. All of the runners where white pants, white shirts, and a red handkerchief around the neck. Of course, when the bulls run down the street everyone is pushing and shoving and people are falling down in front of you which makes it harder to run and put you at a greater risk to be trampled by the…

Words 562 - Pages 3

The History Of Fire Alarm

At 2215 hrs, on November 28, 1942, Fire Alarm Headquarters from Box 1514, situated at Stuart and Carver streets, received an alarm. When the responding apparatus arrived they found a small car fire at the corner of Stuart Street and Broadway. After the fire was extinguished the firefighters were about to return to quarters when their attention was called to smoke emanating from the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub a few doors away. Upon their arrival at the entrance of the Broadway lounge on Broadway they…

Words 1478 - Pages 6

Student and Halloween Essay

Court Street just after last call-- sometimes by the professors themselves! And for every connection that began on the brick streets...well, it's safe to say that many of those were fostered just as much over a brewske than any amount of school pride.” One could argue that there is no larger chunk of history made on Court Street than on Halloween every year. Imagine 30,000 + people all dressed up in ridiculous costumes, the entire town of Athens population doubling over night, a street so crowded…

Words 1584 - Pages 7

Boo Radley Monologue

On one cold night, there were two young boys named Alex and James all alone wandering the streets of Maycomb, Alabama. In a small town where they have lived for quite a while, this wet lonely street had only one single street light flickering on and off repeatedly every night, one day it will go out just like the rest of them. these boys were standing right in front of this big scary house owned by a man named Boo Bradley. This man is no ordinary man, he is six and a half feet tall, like an image…

Words 599 - Pages 3