Discuss whether the individual is embedded in or alienated from her/his environment with reference to ‘Pushcart Man’

Guidance notes

This assignment asks you to think comparatively about the texts you have read. It differs from TMAs 01–04 in that it offers you the opportunity to select two texts (poems or prose extracts) to compare with ‘Pushcart Man’ that you think will provide you with the most effective answer to the question, this time using 2000 words.

You could start by making a list of poems/prose extracts that you have studied that represent the ideas of alienation or being embedded in the environment. Where have you found these issues treated in your reading? Are they always clearly opposed as categories?

Capture your initial responses to this question before you test out whether those texts you first identify are in fact the most productive, or whether you need to extend your search. The question asks you to select two additional texts to ‘Pushcart Man’ and so it’s sensible to make choices based in part on variety. Remember that genre is part of that variety. Perhaps prose and poetic texts will offer different ways of approaching the question, and comparing and contrasting these themes. Don’t forget that technique plays a part here too. How do your writers present ideas about the environment, and whether individuals within it seem to be ‘embedded’ in it, or alienated from it? How do imagery, point of view, or dialogue, for example, add to the picture? Which are the most effective treatments, and why? These are some of the questions that will help you to frame your response.

Don’t forget to use brief quotations to illustrate your points.

In preparation, you should read the relevant chapters in your module book, The Twentieth Century, and be thoroughly familiar with your chosen texts. If you remain unsure of key terms and techniques associated with prose and poetry, then revisit the appropriate online skills tutorial before you start to write. The film ‘Harlem voices’ may also be of help in approaching this TMA.

Sample Answer

Introduction

New York City has long been represented in literature as a place of energy, opportunity, and diversity, but also of alienation, isolation, and struggle. Writers have frequently captured the city’s contrasts through poems and prose that depict the lives of individuals negotiating their surroundings. The question of whether the individual is embedded in or alienated from their environment becomes particularly striking in New York texts because the city embodies both inclusion and exclusion at once. This essay will examine this tension with reference to Pushcart Man, Claude McKay’s poem The Harlem Dancer, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s prose piece My Lost City. By comparing these texts, I will show that while each writer portrays individuals who seem connected to their environment in some ways, they also foreground the alienating forces of the modern metropolis. Imagery, voice, and perspective are key techniques that highlight how individuals simultaneously belong to and are distanced from the environments that surround them.

Pushcart Man: Embeddedness and Alienation in Everyday Labour

Pushcart Man offers a striking portrayal of the street vendor as both an ordinary figure of the city and a symbol of its harshness. The poem situates the vendor as deeply embedded in New York’s environment: he is a familiar presence on the street, part of the city’s daily rhythm. His labour is visible, and his cart, stacked with fruit and vegetables, is integrated into the urban marketplace. He belongs to the city in the sense that he is a fixture of its economy and landscape.

Yet, at the same time, the text emphasises his alienation. The Pushcart Man is an individual reduced to a function, his existence defined by repetitive labour and survival rather than by recognition or dignity. His environment, while familiar, does not nurture him; instead, it erases his individuality. The anonymity of the city intensifies his alienation, as he becomes merely one figure among many, unacknowledged by the crowds who pass by. This duality, embedded in the sense of physical presence but alienated in terms of emotional or social connection, captures the paradox of life in New York.

The Harlem Dancer: Performance, Gaze, and Detachment

Claude McKay’s The Harlem Dancer provides another perspective on the theme of alienation. The poem describes a beautiful dancer performing in a Harlem nightclub, admired by the crowd. On the surface, she appears embedded in her environment: she is the centre of attention, her body a focal point of collective desire. She embodies the vibrancy of Harlem’s cultural life during the Harlem Renaissance, an era when Black artists, musicians, and performers were at the forefront of shaping urban culture.

However, McKay undercuts this impression by revealing the dancer’s inner detachment. Though the crowd perceives her as confident and alluring, the speaker recognises that “the smile on her face was not sincere.” She performs for survival, not for joy, and her inner self is alienated from the image she projects. The environment embraces her body but ignores her humanity. The duality echoes the Pushcart Man’s situation: both are physically embedded in the life of the city, one through labour, the other through performance, yet both remain alienated in emotional or existential terms.

McKay uses imagery and tone to highlight this alienation. The dancer is likened to a “proudly-swaying palm,” a symbol of natural beauty transplanted into the artificial context of a nightclub. The crowd consumes her image without perceiving her inner self. Thus, while the city provides her with a role, it also estranges her from her own identity.

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