This assignment had a “putting a face to the name” kind of effect for me. It enabled me to visualize historical landmarks as well as poignant moments in the novel that depicted urban space. There are certain places, such as The Metropolitan Museum Museum of Art and Brownsville, that stand out to me because they are either significant locations in David’s life or well known places that most people have heard of. However, I found it quite intriguing that smaller urban spaces, like the traife butcher, were highlighted in certain posts. Although it may not be a place that has directly impacted David’s life, it is notable in that it gives us a portrayal of what urbanized life in NYC.

Places like Ellis Island, on the other hand, are treasured trademarks of New York City. I particularly love the line, “The small white steamer, Peter Stuyvesant, that delivered the immigrants from the stench and throb of the steerage to the stench and throb of New York tenements” (9). This accentuates the idea that even though New York was a considered the city of dreams for most immigrants, the struggles of urban life were equally as arduous as having to stay in the poorest part of a ship.

When reading a book, the reader does not truly recognize the space and locations that the author includes. The reader simply tracks where the characters travels and is not aware of how the author puts the characters on a specific path. What’s unique about the “Mapping the City” assignment is that as students in NYC, we not only can pin the locations on an interactive google map, but we are also able to go and physically visualize the locations, if we wish to travel to the Lower East side. This assignment allowed me to see that as a little boy, David did not travel much outside of his home on the Lower East Side. He also did not ever travel anywhere alone; going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his aunt and visiting his father’s first job in Brooklyn with his father. At the same time, Genia and Albert travels far from their home in Europe, through Ellis Island to two different apartments in the Lower East Side. Albert travels even more to his first job in Brooklyn working with the printing press then as a delivery man, traveling all over Manhattan.

Specifically relating to the google map, I want to comment on Natalie’s pin regarding David’s visit to Albert’s job. It’s interesting because the quote provided is most likely said to David outside of the factory. But the conversation that Albert is foreshadowing for David is going to take place inside the factory, with David talking to Albert’s boss. So then, what should the picture be for this quote?  Understandable the picture provided is outside of a factory, but should there be another picture suggesting that another conversation is going to be held inside the factory?

The experience of using this map to illustrate the Schearl family’s navigation of New York City was frustrating and in fact, left me feeling constrained by the spaces of the city. Many of the physical descriptions in Call It Sleep come from David’s perspective; because it is from the view of a child, the places and experiences within them feel much more vast. When describing his journey to the docks, encountering the boys, and then seeing the electricity in the tracks of the railroad, I imagined the space David occupied to be far removed from home due to his descriptions. But seeing on the map that the tracks are just a few blocks away from 9th St and Avenue D, I was able to focus and explore the natural exaggeration and juxtaposition of a child in an adult-sized world.

Despite my frustrations, I do appreciate how the map is mostly interpretation. While some specific streets and landmarks are mentioned, like the Statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a cross street is often not given, causing one to guess where exactly the action of the novel is occurring. For me, selecting where to place the push-pin was the hardest part to decipher (after learning how to edit the map). While reading, placing push-pins in my mind’s eye of where David was running to was simple. But with this map also came modernity. Buildings that existed in David’s childhood no longer exist and others have taken their place. The railroad tracks pushpin is located among apartment buildings; obviously these tracks are no longer there and architectural projects were developed in it’s place. We must not only decipher from the novel where David and his family’s life took place, but also how to imagine what New York City looked like to them. This exercise in extracting modernity led me to appreciate the frustration of navigating the map, for this frustration was experienced by all members of the Schearl family in navigating New York City.

I felt as though the “Mapping the City” exercise was a novel and unique way to explore the setting of this book.  Often times a reader can get lost in the various places a novel may take him or her, but this exercise allowed me to visualize the journey of young David.   The exercise made me realize that although the “new world” of New York seemed large and frightful to David and his family, they really did not leave their neighborhood.  The push-pins showed that besides the entrance to the city and the visit to the Metropolitan Museum, David did not leave his original home in Brownsville and his neighborhood in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Rather, the push-pins had to essentially be placed upon each other to show the close physical proximity of the events in David’s narration.

A few push-pins specifically stand out to me and in turn reflect major points in the novel.  First, the pin at the Statue of Liberty reveals the entrance of the immigrant family into the city.  The detailed description of the Statue foreshadows the immigrant life ahead of the family.  Additionally, the image of the railway explosion posted by Maya does a great job of showing what the experience would have felt like to David.  It helps illuminate the experience in the eyes of a child.  The pins overall, however, show each other’s distance from one another.  They show the overlapping experiences of David’s large, but physically small, world.

I found that our exploration of urban space in Henry Roth’s “Call It Sleep” really helped me to connect to the novel in a new and different way. Having to find locations in the novel and place them on a map forced me to think about the novel in terms of space, movement, and location, something I had not done before –at least not as in depth. Once we had all completed this activity, I could, suddenly, visualize the entire novel. The visual element allowed me to better comprehend the novel. It was especially interesting for me to see how clustered many of the locations were. In the novel, it seemed as though David did a lot of wandering and exploring, however, he never actually ventured very far from his home.

One pushpin that I found particularly interesting was Daniela’s “Bertha’s expectations of a candy store.” I found it intriguing that she placed the pushpin somewhere in New Jersey. The quote used for this pushpin makes no mention of location, it merely describes Bertha’s expectations. Furthermore, I do not remember there being any mention of New Jersey. I am curious as to why Daniela decided to place this pushpin there.

I found looking at the progression of the map, and seeing where push-pins were placed to be really interesting. While reading the book it’s obvious that David and the Schearls remained pretty much in the same area through Roth’s constant mentioning of Avenue D. They didn’t have the money or the means to really explore the city. Bertha was really the only one that had the charisma and drive to explore more than just Avenue D. I find it interesting that despite David going out into the street frequently, and spending time with his friends outside, it still is constrained to or around this one place.

One really interesting push-pin that I would like to comment on is the Statue of Liberty. The text doesn’t really fit the picture. In the text, the Statue is swallowed in shadows and appears to be very overbearing and overwhelming. It’s written that she’s “rising on her high pedestal,” which gives the feeling of immense authority and intimidation (14). The Statue in the novel is representative of looming difficulties and hardships. It expresses the fear and strains of immigration; it embodies the unknown in leaving everything behind in their homeland. The picture is bright and beautiful, and gives the sense of hope and power for all. I think in a way this picture does relate to the last line of the text, but in a different sense than what Roth was going for. It’s written, “The child and his mother stared again at the massive figure in wonder” (14). This picture incites wonder, but I feel that in this picture it’s a hopeful wonder, a wonder of the opportunities to come, and the wonder felt in the novel is a fearful wonder, a curious, cautious wonder.

Call It Sleep, Henry Roth, 14, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1991

Looking back at this rather frustrating experience, I discovered some interesting notes about the book. The book has few really specific places, described- the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan, and perhaps one or two more. The rest are in random neighborhoods in Manhattan, but don’t specify real streets or even more of the famous attractions in this great city. This showed me that A) the book is more relatable by making it of a general area as opposed to a specific spot, and B) the family in the book does not get out enough to even explore past the necessary tourist spots. In any other book on coming to New York, we see explorations of Times Square, other museums, China Town, other boroughs, but not in “Call it Sleep.” The family is so isolated, it doesn’t even know where they really are in the city- especially Genya who makes no effort to acculturate.

I found the “Railroad Electrocution” post particularly interesting, because the picture does not exactly match up with the description in the book, but gives a very nice visual as to what David might have pictured by the track.