New arrivals in a city often learn things and visit places that long-term residents don’t know about. In this humorous story from Thomas Wolfe, a stranger demonstrates this to the annoyance of the well-meaning but increasingly agitated narrator. The highly opinionated men differ over the narrator’s warnings about the dangers of the “nice sounding” Brooklyn neighborhoods the stranger has chosen for his nightly walks. To make matters worse, the stranger insists that all one needs to feel safe and get to “know” the city is a good map. Themes: connection, pride, perception, fear, curiosity.
The story is notable for its use of dialect to reflect the 1930s Brooklyn setting. One aspect that doesn’t quite work for me is the discussion about swimming. This is clearly intended as a metaphor for either survival in or finding one’s way around the city, but doesn’t seem to fit seamlessly into the story-line.
Original Text / PDF / Audio (1,993 words)