Chapter 9 Summary

"No one cries when a street dies." It dies when the odors of hope, despair, lust and caring are wiped away by the winds when the spirit is trapped and fading in someone's memory. Brewster Place saw its last generation of children torn away by eviction notices and court orders; by no heat, frozen water pipes, crumbling plaster, vermin infested garbage. Brewster Place had given all it had to its children and could only watch as they packed up their dreams and left.

However, the women of Brewster Place, though spread over the canvas of time, still pin their dreams to the wet laundry, and a pinch of salt to a pot of soup, and their diapered babies. They ebb and flow but never disappear. Therefore, Brewster Place still waits to die.

Chapter 9 Analysis

Hope, despair, lust and caring – all factors in every...