Tally's Corner - excerpts

I just really liked the eloquence of these various excerpts from Tally's Corner by Elliot Liebow. Resonates with me.

"But the streetcorner man lives in a sea of want. He does not, as a rule, have a surplus of resources, either economic or psychological. Gratification of hunger and the desire for simple creature comforts cannot be long deferred. Neither can support for one's flagging self-esteem. Living on the edge of both economic and psychological subsistence, the streetcorner man is obliged to expend all his resources on maintaining himself from moment to moment."


"It is a future in which everything is uncertain except the ultimate destruction of his hopes and the eventual realization of his fears."


"Convinced of their inadequacies, not only do they not seek out those few better-paying jobs which test their resources, but they actively avoid them, gravitating in a mass to the menial, routine jobs which offer no challenge-- and therefore pose no threat-- to the already diminished images they have of themselves"