In Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, the reader follows an unnamed protagonist through his tumultuous daily life living in New York City. The use of second person narrative, specifically through the word “you” distances our protagonist from himself, making him seem alienated and alone despite being surrounded by the huge bustling city and it’s inhabitants. His lack of name throughout the novel makes it seem impersonal, despite his intimacy in revealing all thoughts and emotions felt to the reader, and infers a lack or loss of identity; he could easily fade away into the crowded streets, just another New Yorker, making the city itself appear uncaring and swallowing.
The difference between how the city is represented in terms of day and night is significant in McInerney’s novel. His protagonist appears to crave darkness, and night becomes an almost veil over reality which he seems terrified of facing. In chapter one, for example, his description of the morning is filled with negativity, “It is worse even than you expected. The glare is like a mother’s reproach. The sidewalk sparkles cruelly.” He is more than unwilling to face the approaching dawn/sobriety throughout the opening chapter, seemingly only able to cope with the city when drunk or with cocaine.
In the daylight, our protagonist always prefers to be wearing sunglasses, hiding behind them from the unyieldingly bright city. His days seem slow and long, he is always thinking about their end, as apposed to the busy nightlife lead by extravagant Tad. The parallels between the representation of the city and of his cocaine habit are common, both portrayed as manic, fast-paced, he uses the latter to escape the former, “all might become clear if you could just slip into the bathroom and do a little more bolivian marching powder,” there is irony in his belief that the hard drugs will provide him with a sort of clarity. New York is reflected in both the author’s written style and in his protagonist’s lifestyle; everything is very fast-paced and in the moment, often leading to confused circumstances where there is an unaccounted for gap in narration, when he awakes unaware of what has happened the night before.
It is interesting how unexcited our protagonist seems by the huge city in which he lives. The novel is filled with out of the ordinary experiences, the incident with the ferret in Clara’s office, for example, yet they are all described in matter of fact tones by the narrator, as if living in New York has made him immune to feelings of surprise or enthusiasm. The novel is set in New York City, which influences the entire book, as we follow the daily life of our protagonist. He works in a busy Manhattan high rise, his social life is filled with the Manhattan elite, artists, models and fellow writers, yet he is in no way enthralled by the city, as one may expect, or by those who surround him. Through his eyes city life is portrayed as shallow and cool, unperturbed by the suffering of it’s inhabitants, and an unwholesome underside is shown of the excitement and bright lights which appear on the surface.
The city is also represented as an unrewarding place to live in Bright Lights, Big City, as opposed to a place of opportunity, as it is often recognised. Our protagonist has little motivation, and is eventually fired from a job he clearly does not enjoy. Although this may be a result of his lack of commitment and hard work, he speaks of earlier times when he would attempt to submit short stories to the magazines fiction department, as an aspiring novelist. It seems continual rejection has killed any motivation, and now he wanders the sidewalks listlessly, unfazed by his life of surroundings. His drinking companion and possible best friend, Tad, although on the surface seems far more content, is described as distracted and flaky. His constant need for fun and excitement means he is never satisfied, "Tad's mission in life is to have more fun than anyone else in New York City, and this involves a lot of moving around, since there is always the likelihood that where you aren't is more fun than where you are.” Even he can not be fulfilled by the bright lights of the city.
Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks portrays an all-nighter diner in the heart of New York City, where three lone customers and a man behind the counter are the only figures. Although populated, the painting feels impersonal and distant, the figures seem lost in their own thoughts. We are also physically distant from them, separated by the large glass window through which we view them, as they sit in a diner which has no sign of entrance or escape. The lack of narrative to the painting removes them further from the observer, as they remain anonymous and uncommunicative both with the viewer and each other. A strange sense of isolation is portrayed despite their physical solidarity in the diner on an empty street in the heart of a city night. The city is here represented as lonely and isolating, Hopper himself stated, “Unconciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city,” through the apparent remoteness of the four figures.
It is a different take on portrayals of city life, especially New York, known for it’s manic crowds and constant buzz. We witness a darker, quieter side to the city, it feels empty and desolate, and the idea of big-city loneliness is apparent; being surrounded by others yet feeling completely alone. The emptiness of the image adds to this, as well as the darkness of Hopper’s chosen palette, as large spaces are filled with dim colours outside of the diner. The city is portrayed as bleak and empty. Feelings of loneliness and desolation are routed in this as well as the anonymous, non-communicative figures.
The diner is a beacon on the empty street corner which both invites and repels. On a dark New York street a brightly lit diner should appear welcoming and warm, but it feels artificial, and uninviting. The bright fluorescent lights are eerie and unnatural, as apposed to a sort of solace from the dark night outside, and their harshness is more intimidating than inviting. It adds to the alienation of the figures, almost dehumanizing them, making them appear even more distant from the observer. The city is represented as empty and lonesome, just like the diner, and the people within it.
In Walt Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, the reader shares the narrators journey, as he takes the Brooklyn ferry home from Manhattan at the end of a working day. Once more, the idea of big-city loneliness is rife, as he removes himself from the crowd of people surrounding him and reflects on the journey and the people who take it.
“Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious you are to me. On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose”.
Describing these people as curious separates our narrator from those he is speaking of/to, as if he views himself as different, or an outsider. As the poem progresses, however, our narrator ceases his despair at the distance he feels between himself and those who surround him, as he feels himself beginning to know them, or understand them, as we see in the fifth secion of the poem, “Closer yet I approach you.” He continues to describe his feelings on the shared separateness of his fellow man, “myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme." Inferred in this one line is the idea of collective alienation, similar to the themes present in Hopper’s Nighthawks and Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City.
The physical presence of the ever approaching city is clear throughout the poem, our narrator speaks of the skyline which would not have been seen by those who took the same journey fifty years prior to himself, showing the fast development of the busy city high rises. He states that not even the “Gods” could be as remarkable as the view he has from the boat, presenting the city as awe inspiring and positive. He has already shared with the reader his pride at being from the big bustling city, portraying the environment within New York as positive, “But I was a Manhattanese, free, friendly, and proud.” However, the poem gets darker as his approach to the shore of New York draws closer. He speaks of physically darkness, and the shadows which fall across him, “It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall, The dark threw patches down upon me also,” an apparent metaphor for his dark thoughts. The themes also darken, as his topic of choice changes to the sins he has committed in his life, “I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabbed, blushed, resented, lied, stole, grudged, Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak, Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant, The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me, The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting, Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting.”
Passages such as this seem to associate the narrator’s sins and dark thoughts with the city, as they are more apparent as he gets closer. The physical change from sunset to twilight also coincides with this section of the poem, continuing the links Whitman shows between the natural world and the man made. There is a lack of differentiation between the two opposites ideas, mainly portrayed through the water and the city skyline. Buildings and ships are described in the same way as ripples in the water and sea birds, the tide is described as rushing past the boat, to remind the reader of the tides of people and things which rush past us, both within the poem and in everyday city life.
Throughout all three of the texts I have examined in this essay, the city is represented, to varying degrees, as lonely and isolating, despite it’s bustling and busy nature. Although there are some positive aspects of living in the city shared with the reader, the overwhelming sense of a loss of identity as a result of being part of such a huge, crowded place is undeniable. Whitman, McInerney and Hopper all use their words or images to express such feelings of desolation, however it is perhaps significant that all three pieces of work are about New York City, therefore the representation of a city is very specific to their location, and the parallels between them may be due to this.
