Here Is New York

“To a New Yorker the city is both changeless and changing.”

This quote exemplifies one of the key themes of the essay, The Passage of Time. White explores how individuals experience the passing of time and the inevitable change that it brings. White’s seemingly contradictory assertion that the city does and does not change hints at how vestiges of the past remain visible and are brought to life by the memories of the people who lived through previous iterations of the city.

“The city is always full of young worshipful beginners—young actors, young aspiring poets, ballerinas, painters, reporters, singers—each depending on his own brand of tonic to stay alive, each with his own stable of giants.”

White’s description of the young people that move to New York City to pursue their dreams is key to his claims that the city offers a unique environment for those seeking out the city’s cultural and artistic opportunities. His reference to the “stable of giants” calls back to White’s description of his own excitement as a young man in New York, thrilled to be in the same place where his literary heroes worked and lived.

“No one should come to New York unless he is willing to be lucky.”

White’s references to luck throughout the text are closely connected to the theme of Vulnerability. Specifically, White’s assertion that luck defines a person’s experience in New York City suggests that everyone is vulnerable to misfortune, tragedy, and simple mundanity—but likewise, it is equally possible to succeed.

“Although New York often imparts a feeling of great forlornness or forsakenness, it seldom seems dead or unresourceful; and you always feel that either by shifting your location ten blocks or by reducing your fortune by five dollars you can experience rejuvenation.”

White describes the enduring sense of possibility that pervades New York City. White offers two specific actions—walking a few blocks or spending money—that could create a shift and signify a new beginning. This exemplifies how White weaves humor into his imagery, using the phrase “reducing your fortune” to inject a sense of drama into the mundane.

“Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidarity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.”

This quote summarizes White’s claim about the three types of New Yorkers: those who come simply for work but live somewhere else, those who were born and raised in the city, and those who come to live in the city seeking something. This quote ties to The Individual and the Community, which White explores from a number of angles throughout “Here Is New York.” When a person comes to the city, their upbringing and expectations of the city shape their sense of belonging and experience.

“But sometimes in New York you run across the disillusioned—a young couple who are obviously visitors, newlyweds perhaps, for whom the bright dream has vanished. The place has been too much for them; they sit languishing in a cheap restaurant over a speechless meal.”

This quote illustrates White’s use of descriptive language, as well as his ongoing interest in exploring how New York City can engender vulnerability among those who live there as well as visitors. By describing New York City as “too much” for this imagined couple, White underscores the intensity of the city for those who are not accustomed to its pace or who are unlucky.

“So complete is each neighborhood, and so strong the sense of neighborhood, that many a New Yorker spends a lifetime within the confines of an area smaller than a country village.”

In his description of neighborhood life in New York City, White expands on his theme of The Individual and the Community. Specifically, he outlines his argument that New York City is made up of small, self-sufficient neighborhood units that offer a community that is not unlike living in a small town.

“New York is the city of opportunity, they say. Even the mounted cop, clumping along on his nag a few minutes later, scans the gutter carefully for dropped silver, like a bird watching for spilt grain.”

White’s use of simile—comparing the scanning cop to “a bird watching for spilt grain”—is an example of how White uses figurative language to paint a portrait of life in New York City. In this instance, he explores how city life creates conditions in which people are always looking for more resources.

“The café is a sanctuary. The waiters are ageless and they change not. Nothing has been modernized.”

White’s description of a particular café as unchanging deepens his exploration of The Passage of Time. White notes that in some places, such as this café, New York City appears not to change or modernize. This is one of the paradoxes that White explores: the city undergoes significant changes over time, but it also retains elements of past versions of itself.

“The collision and the intermingling of these millions of foreign-born people representing so many races and creeds make New York a permanent exhibit of the phenomenon of one world.”

White suggests that New York City is a uniquely cosmopolitan city of people from around the world. The presence of so many immigrants creates an atmosphere that requires people to tolerate one another’s customs and cultures. White himself is entranced by the diversity of cultures in the city. He also reveals his distance from these cultures, similar to the distance between an observer and a museum exhibit.

“By comparison with other less hectic days, the city is uncomfortable and inconvenient; but New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenient—if they did, they would live elsewhere.”

White suggests that changes have occurred in New York City that make it more inhospitable than in the past, furthering his argument about how inhabitants experience and weather changes in the city. Despite the city being less pleasant, White notes that New Yorkers are accustomed to the rhythm of economic and cultural ebbs and flows over time.

“The island of Manhattan is without any doubt the greatest human concentrate on earth, the poem whose magic is comprehensible to millions of permanent residents but whose full meaning will always remain elusive.”

White uses a metaphor, where something is compared to something else without using “like” or “as”—in this case, White compares the city to a poem. White is interested in a “magic” that is similar to a poem, something mysterious and open to interpretation.

“In the trees the night wind stirs, bringing the leaves to life, endowing them with speech; the electric lights illuminate the green branches from the under side, translating them into a new language.”

Here, White’s use of descriptive imagery exemplifies his interest in conveying the presence of the natural world inside an urban environment. He suggests the complicated union between the constructed environment of a city and its flora and fauna. White illustrates how the lights of the city merge with a tree to give it a “language” that makes it legible to humans at night, when it might otherwise not be visible to the naked eye.