The City We Became

When Manny and Bel encounter the white tendrils in Inwood Hill Park, Manny makes an intuitive connection between his innate city power and money. Throwing cash and a credit card in the path of the encroaching enemy slows it down just long enough for Brooklyn to arrive and finish the job. Each avatar draws their power from some quality innate to their borough, and for Manny, that quality is commerce. Jemisin makes a clear statement about the power and the pitfalls of money. Wall Street, located in Manhattan’s downtown financial district, has long symbolized unbridled capitalism. People have gotten rich or been driven to the poorhouse by its indifference and capriciousness. Capitalism, of course, is a double-edged sword—it can spur innovation and upward mobility, but it can also lead to income inequality and corruption. Manny’s dichotomy, between his dark past and his pursuit of redemption, is also Manhattan’s, and his use of money as a weapon perfectly captures the power, often misapplied, of the financial capital of the world.

The first victim of the Enemy’s assault on New York City is the Williamsburg Bridge which connects Manhattan’s Lower East side to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While it may seem an arbitrary target given the more famous Brooklyn Bridge, it can be read as a deliberate comment on gentrification and displacement. Once a neighborhood of old warehouses and ethnic Italian and Jewish communities, Williamsburg saw an influx in investment as developers saw abandoned warehouses as ripe for loft conversion. Their foresight paid handsomely. Williamsburg, conveniently located only a single subway stop from Manhattan, became one of the first neighborhoods to undergo widespread gentrification. It is now home to high-end restaurants, craft cocktail bars, and artisanal coffee shops. By destroying the bridge that connects Manhattan to this hipster neighborhood, Jemisin metaphorically severs its main artery. Without the means for Manhattan to supply Williamsburg with a steady flow of young, affluent, and White interlopers, Jemisin can imagine a Brooklyn of the past: a borough of clustered immigrants, living, working, and dreaming of a better future together.