Only The Dead Know Brookn Analysis

When I read “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn” I was a bit confused with the choice of words the narrator used to write this story. It made it hard to understand the point of the story. To me the narrator was trying to make the readers read with an accent. I laugh when I tried to read this story out loud because some words I could not pronounce, such as “Bensonhoist” (29), so I looked online to see if there was an audio version for this story. To my surprise there was. The person reading it read the story with an accent. As I read along with the story I notice some of the words were shorten as though Wolfe was writing notes or texting someone. For instance he spelled “there's” “dere's” (4), or “that” “dat” (24). What kept me thinking was what did
the guy with map meant when he said people drowning in Brooklyn. Could he have meant people are drowning in their own life instead of living life?
I think the message of this story is that not a lot of people are exploring there home town because they are busy living there lives. Some people, like me, have a job, go to school, or take care of their kids and don’t have time to explore their hometown. We see how the big guy wants to know all of Brooklyn while the guys he asked for directions are questioning why he wants to explore Brooklyn.
What I learned from this story is that in 1900’s they use maps to locate a place or asked random people for directions. We read how the big guy has a map of Brooklyn that will help him get to the places he wants to see and he also asks for directions. Although stores still sell maps, we don’t use them anymore, instead we use GPS. I think I would get lost if I ever try to use a map.