Topic > Analyzing Walter Dean Myers' Image of the 145th Street Neighborhood

Response to "Monkey Man" and "Angela's Eyes" From both "Monkey Man" and "Angela's Eyes," Walter Dean Myers portrays the 145th Street neighborhood Street as a character, with strengths, weaknesses and values. By telling these stories on 145th Street itself, he manages to describe the neighborhood with human values ​​and characteristics throughout 145th Street. In the stories, the events that happen give an overall sense of the values ​​that generally dominate in the neighborhood. That said, "Monkey Man" provides an overall positive example of the neighborhood's values, while "Angela's Eyes" provides a more negative representation. In "Monkey Man", the main character, Monkey Man, is wanted by the local gang for interfering in a member's excision of an innocent person. That person, Peaches, rallies the neighborhood to try to find a way to save Monkey Man. Although she doesn't seem to succeed, he comes up with a plan of his own, ultimately relying on the neighborhood's moral values ​​to overcome the gang's evil intentions. He provides the reasoning “I just thought some people would be shown to be wrong and some would be shown to be right. No matter what happened to me, everyone would know the difference” (Myers 85). Through the events of this tale, we see the family bond of 145th Street, the care they have for each other, and the courage to do what is right when it needs to be done. “Angela's Eyes,” on the other hand, depicts a little girl named Angela who lives with her mother and whose father recently died in a workplace accident. Angela starts having dreams, the first of which sees her father and Poli. Angela divulges the details of her dream and Poli dies shortly after. This in itself worries the neighborhood enough, but Angela then has another dream in which she sees Eddie Robinson, who also dies shortly after. As a result, the neighborhood is terrified of Angela and her apparent ability to see future deaths. Angela is treated badly and no longer likes going out in public. Mr. Rodriguez says of the neighborhood, "Today they talk about Angela and tomorrow they will talk about me, if the people in this neighborhood don't have jobs, all they have to entertain themselves is what they can make up" (Myers 47). This portrays the neighborhood as superficial and ignorant, believing everything it hears and accelerating the spread of rumors that denigrate people. Through the actions of the neighborhood and the events of “Angela's Eyes,” we see the mob mentality that led to the poor treatment of a young girl for nothing she could have influenced. From Walter Dean Myers' “Monkey Man” and “Angela's Eyes,” I learned to show and describe a place as a character. By telling these various stories about the neighborhood, we learn what the values ​​or morals of the neighborhood are. It's almost as if the book 145th Street itself is a biography of a character, that character is 145th Street. The stories of street events are like events in a person's life, shaping the portrayal of the character, 145th Street. Walter Dean Myers manages to do this in both “Monkey Man” and “Angela's Eyes.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay