![]() ![]() Hedges, enjoys her role as the madam of a small brothel she runs out of her apartment with the consent of the owner of the building, Junto, a white man Mrs. ![]() Lutie knows the Super is being creepy in his way, trying to get her to go up the stairs first, for example. Largely, The Street is about sexual harassment and coercion. ![]() While I thought, based on the synopsis, that The Street by Ann Petry would be a novel about poverty, race discrimination that prevents folks from getting jobs, and how white people would filter into Harlem after dark during this time period, I was surprised to learn my assumptions were wrong. The Superintendent, often simply called “Super” in black neighborhoods, sets off red flags, and Lutie becomes alert to his every breath as she inspects each room of the apartment. When Lutie looked at the apartment for rent to see if it would fit her needs, she noticed how small and dirty it was, how the whole building reeked of poverty. Being absent from home for so long pushed the husband to move in a new woman, much to Lutie’s surprised when she returned home for a weekend visit. Lutie earned employment as a live-in maid and nanny to a white family with a small boy. She’s only “separated” from her husband because they can’t afford a divorce things went bad after the husband couldn’t find a job for years. It’s 1944 in Harlem and Lutie Johnson is looking to move into a new apartment with her eight-year-old son, Bub. ![]()
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