In ¨The Street¨ by Ann Petry, the use of personification, imagery, figurative language, and detail is used to establish Lutie Johnson's relationship to the urban setting. Petry uses imagery to set up the urban area. As she is explaining what the wind does, she is including what is in the area. She describes it by having scraps all around the streets. She describes how the wind manipulates the area. She also uses imagery to set up Johnson's relationship to the winds. ¨She shivered as the cold fingers of the wind touch the back of her neck.¨ Here we can see that the wind leaves an eerie feel on Johnson. Petry uses personification throughout the story to further strengthen the use of imagery. Petry personifies objects such as the wind, the dust, the rain and the snow. Petry personifies the wind by saying, ¨hurried pedestrians¨, ¨found every scrap¨, ¨fingering its way along¨, and ¨grabbed their hats¨. By all of these examples, the wind is acting like a bully on the city. This sets up the future encounter of the wind and Johnson. The dust is also personified as she wrote, ¨the dust got into their eyes and blinded them.¨ In addition to the wind, the dust is also set up as a bully-like figure. Seeing this the relationship between the urban setting and Lutie seen to be ¨ man…show more content… By personifying the area, we are able to see that the elements are bullies and manipulate its people. As Johnson is introduced, we see she is being intimidated by the wind as it affects her sight and touches her. However, going on, we see that Johnson is not affected and puts up with its behavior as she settles on the motel in the end. By this we can see that their relationship is different than those of the other in the city. Lutie is the winds victim but ceases to succumb to its manipulative nature by ignoring it and settling with her
