The Street

116th Street in Harlem is both the literal setting of The Street and a figurative state of mind. A street is supposed to provide transit from one location to another, and also serve as a home to those who live there. This particular street, however, provides no way in or out, and the people like Lutie, who are stuck living there, find themselves with no opportunities to leave.

This street creates the boundaries of a prison, trapping Lutie in a squalid apartment and facing deception at every turn. Like most other residents, she cannot afford to live on a street that does not have “dirt and dust and grime on the sidewalk” (2) and so must make do with her surroundings. She feels “neatly caged” (324) by the street in both its boundaries and the lack of opportunities. But she has not found herself there by accident. Lutie acknowledges that streets like hers are “The North’s lynch mobs […] the method the big cities used to keep Negroes in their place” (323). Black people get stuck on these streets, trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty created by “eager white hands” (324) that prevent her from seeking more.