Lutie’s daily existence is punctuated by racism, sexism, and classism. She also happens to be beautiful: white and black men treat like a sexual object, white women regard her with open contempt, and other black women tend to be jealous or suspicious of her. Lutie is a resilient woman who has come to believe that through hard-work and self-sacrifice she can attain a level of happiness and prosperity. Set in 1940s The Street follows Lutie Johnson, a single black mother, who moves on 116th Street in Harlem. But whereas I could stand the cynicism and tragic finales of Wharton’s novels (in which usually horrible things happen to privileged, and often horrible, individuals) I had a hard time stomaching the ending in The Street.
The precise way in which she articulates the thoughts and various state of minds of her characters brought to my mind the writing of Nella Larsen and Edith Wharton. “A woman living alone didn’t stand much chance.”Īnn Petry is a terrific writer.
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