Christ in Concrete

Like Job, the building where Paul and family live—Tenement—also becomes personified with nearly human characteristics through these sights, smells, and sounds, leading to a “repulsion followed by a sympathetic human kinship” (103) among these neighbors who live in close proximity to each other. In this chapter, we get a better sense of the life in and around tenements on the Lower East Side. Tenements are apartment buildings where poor, largely immigrant families lived in New York during this time period. The narrator immerses the reader in the landscape of the Lower East Side through its sounds like “the snoring children, the cats moaning, the milk wagons over the cobblestones…” (102). As well as the smells, which the narrator describes in such a way as to link the person’s smell with their personality and occupations: “The large Farabutti family in one of the upper flats had an oily pleasing aroma—the Maestro carrying with him a mixture of barbershop and di Nobili tobacco…” (103). These wide-ranging characters illuminate New York’s diversity. But despite their differences, Paul is able to recognize their shared humanity as Christians, asking: “Does not Job claim them all?” (105). He concludes: “They, like me, are children of Christ” (105). Paul’s friendship with Louis shows that relationships that can form across religious and national divides.

As always, there are reminders of how central faith is to characters in this world. Paul talks about his neighbors as children of Christ. “The Cripple” hangs a sign stating that “Jesus Never Fails” (110) above her door. However, the hypocrisy of faith and how it can prey on vulnerable, devout believers like Annunziata is apparent. It’s unclear that the Cripple can actually communicate with the divine; it’s possible that she adjusts her spiritual communications to whatever her clients want. For example, although she initially says a dead woman is trying to communicate with them, because Paul and Annunziata are confused, the Cripple switches to a dead man, whom Annunziata immediately “recognizes” as Geremio. The Cripple’s recollection of Geremio’s last moments—that he was at peace and asked God to take him—directly contradicts Geremio’s actual last moments when he was writhing in pain and crying for God to save him. However, these tales also put Paul and Annunziata at ease, leaving the reader to wonder if it is acceptable to seek comfort in the falsehoods of religion if they can make ordinary life more bearable.

Again, the author uses dialogue to illustrate class and character differences, such as in how Florine, Missus Nichols’s daughter, speaks to her mother: “Margie’s gettin’ too Goddamned fresh in frunna the people!” (111). This also illustrates di Donato’s classic humor, where Florine criticizes her sister for being too cheeky, but then she herself is “too fresh” when she swears in front of her mother’s clients. Contrast Florine’s rough speech with Louis’s, who is first introduced as reading an advanced text on economics and politely responds to Paul’s request to come up by stating: “Yes, if you wish” (122). We understand immediately from his speech and actions that he has a higher level of knowledge and polish to his speech that comes from being part of an educated family—as opposed to Paul’s family, who lives in poverty and is comprised of parents who lack a formal education.

This vast separation between the poor and not-poor is also made clear in the scene where Annunziata sees other individuals with “meek faces of hurt and huger” like herself at the courthouse, but then she sees “casually opulent” and well-dressed men carrying briefcases who seem cruel and “not of Christ” (129). The not-poor look down upon the Italian immigrant further for their many children and their perceived ignorance, as seen in the courtroom scene when Murdin admonishes “Eyetalian laborers” (131) and patronizingly likens them to children. What di Donato is fundamentally trying to probe into in these scenes is a lack of empathy and consideration for how education and linguistic barriers can entrap the immigrant in poverty.

Once again, it’s notable how much character detail di Donato is able to convey through character descriptions. One particularly salient example is the Cripple: “It was a durable death’s head face larded over; with smallbeaked nose, popping circular eyes, and stony forehead […] her lifeless yellowish platinum hair […] she chewed her lips, sinking two rotted teeth with every chop…” (111). From this short passage, we get the sense that Missus Nichols, or “the Cripple,” is shrewd, likely poor, and somewhat old. The Native American paraphernalia on the Cripple’s walls and the music suggest that she may be have indigenous heritage, or it may suggest that she is playing upon stereotypes of Native American spirituality to trick her clients. This contrasts with Louis’s family, to which Paul feels an instant connection and which “smelled of earth, with their quiet, blunt, strong selves” (123).

Di Donato also inserts metaphor to emphasize character, such as when he likens Louis’s somber, stern voice to a “cold fire” (126), suggesting repressed rage and a personality that has been hardened by death. This chapter expands upon Paul’s growing sexuality as a teenager through his crush on Gloria. Di Donato aptly captures the awkwardness and confusion of puberty, which leads to a separation between the genders as they grow out of childhood. Paul’s faith causes him to view girls with a respectful level distance: “[F]or God made them finer and gentler and sweeter than he…” (120). But he still cannot block out the natural desires for sex, which persist in the adults around him who fornicate and look at each other with lusty eyes.

We also begin to get the sense of how perceptive Paul is in both his observations of the world and the people who inhabit it. He smartly intuits that Louis may have a different name in Russian. However, there are some things that Paul is unable to comprehend due to his differing background from Louis. Raised by Geremio—who aspired to an American life for his children—Paul thinks that America is “the best country in the world” (124) and assumes that Louis feels the same. For refugees like Louis who have been forced to leave the country they’ve known their entire lives, America may not necessarily be the shining beacon that Paul imagines it to be, especially when they experience anti-Semitism on a regular basis. Although even Paul’s positive understanding of America becomes troubled when his family experiences injustice in the courtroom. Paul finds water strange, but to Louis—who has read books on the topic—water is just made up of hydrogen and oxygen, showing the value of education in understanding the world around us. Paul also smartly responds, stating that that information may be of little use if you’re drowning, showing the limits of book smarts. Despite their friendship, there is a gulf between the two: Paul cannot comprehend Louis’s trauma of a fleeing a country undergoing a revolution, and Louis cannot comprehend the poverty that forces Paul to quit school.