ankit's reading post group d
February 18, 2018, by Ankit
One of the most interesting elements of this reading was seeing the close proximity of Washington Square Park, Broadway and Astor Place, creating a sense of elitism, but also becoming a hub of action. The quote “Dozens of bystanders gathered to watch, children trundled their hoops in the square, and across on Broadway the fashionables turned out for their regular promenade. New York was not easily deflected from its business. Soon, though, the crowds grew larger and rowdier, and the Broadway blue bloods retired to watch from their parlor windows,” really stood out to me in the Cliff reading as it alluded to that class divide and how Broadway, in the busy street that it is, become a central location for the tensions that arose. Seeing the elite being described as “the fashionables” on Broadway, alluding to their high end statures and then depicting onlookers as “blue bloods.” Playing into this idea of class, New York was a divided city, represented by the allure, while leaving out the issues truly dwelling in a New York that truly had two sides to it. Having political ties to the occasion, much of the dismay surrounded the recent proceedings. A previous chapter in the reading indciated that an old money win, ignited tension further. “It was a busy week in New York City. On Tuesday, at five minutes to noon, the official returns of the mayoral election were read out at City Hall, after a campaign during which the gangs had toppled yet more ballot boxes. The Democrats had been bitterly split by feuding factions, and Caleb S. Woodhull, the Whig candidate, won by a large majority. The Whigs were closely associated with the city’s Silk Stockings, the old-money patrician class, and Rynders and his Tammany cohorts were mightily roiled.” The whole representation of the riots in this reading has a deep seeded tie to societal strife, creating an era of uncertainty and fear that we are currently seeing in a world dominated by the 1%. Requiring police force to clam the public, while attempting to divert attention from the issues at hand made it so that the societal structure of New York was in dismay and the once glitz and glamor of a perennial city soon became fighting ground between two classes hellbent on creating a divide.