[The Street] follows the tradition of hard-hitting social commentary which characterized the Richard Wright school of naturalistic protest writing. The Street is perhaps the best novel to come from the followers of Wright. [Miss Petry's] last full-length adult novel, The Narrows …, depicts Negro life in a small New England city, a subject not often treated in black writing. (p. 193)
A depressing work, The Street follows the thesis implied by this type of naturalistic writing: namely, that the black poor in the ghetto do not have much of a chance to live decent and meaningful lives, to say nothing of happy lives….
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