Part III: Dropsie Avenue Summary and Analysis

Part III, Dropsie Avenue - Among the earliest settlers of the Bronx are the Dutch, including the Von Dropsie family, who own a farm there through the 1870s. The English begin moving into the area, building small towns, which enrages Dirk. He sets fire to English crops in a drunken rage, and kills his niece, Helda, in the process. The girl's father buries her, and then kills Dirk and buries him. A neighborhood grows up around the Dropsie place. The house later burns down, killing both Dropsie and his wife. The lot is the last open lot in the neighborhood, which is itself a good neighborhood. The neighborhood becomes exclusively English in ancestry, until the Irish O'Brien family moves in. The neighbors are unhappy about it, and few ever attend O'Brien parties. The next door...