She gives up her job as a maid and attends night school in order to pass the civil service examination because “she had made up her mind that she wasn’t going to wash dishes or work in a laundry in order to earn a living for herself and Bub.” Lutie’s purpose-driven life is to fulfill the promise of the American Dream which essentially boils down to those who work hard enough will be monetarily rewarded enough to enjoy a better life. Upward mobility becomes instilled into her ideology as she begins to make important life decisions. Working as a maid for an upscale white family exposes Lutie to the idea that money solves problems. What does the story have to say about “the American Dream” relative to racial differences? It is a chilling-pardon the pun-portrait of oppression in symbolic form. Ultimately, it is practically impossible to ignore, avoid or misinterpret the imagery as a metaphor for the control and authority exerted over black Americans by white society. A “cold November wind” blows in the opening line and from there proceeds to become an unstoppable intrusive force culminating (thematically) in the image of it lifting “Lutie Johnson’s hair away from the back of her neck so that she felt suddenly naked.” This particular passage goes on to implicate Lutie’s interaction with the wind almost as a sexual assault. that is essential here as what is occurring there. Many books will begin with a description of the setting, especially focusing on how a character is reacting to it, but it is not so much the setting of 116th St. The opening pages are really a textbook example of how to commence a novel with imagery and metaphor. What kind of all-inclusive thematic metaphor is being created here? The novel opens with several paragraphs of imagery-laden personification of wind blowing through the streets of Harlem.

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