Analyse af 'The Baddest Dog in Harlem'

The story ‘’The baddest dog in Harlem’’ takes place in the northern part of New York in a neighborhood called Harlem. Harlem is a rather tough neighborhood, and it has only gotten worse since 1980. The city is known for its extremely high crime rates - we’re talking theft, murders, drugs, prostitution, and violence. The number of crimes is growing every year and the police don’t seem to be able to target the problem. The fact that the story plays out next to the Bronx further indicates that it’s a deprived neighborhood - there is no doubt that the people who live here didn’t choose to do so.

However, it is in this very neighborhood the story takes place. My guess is that the story takes place in the present or at least shortly after Mohammed Ali’s time of glory, as they are talking a lot about him. All these males are most likely black, as all the boxers they are mentioning are black people, even though there have been many good white boxers. Also the common citizen in Harlem is either black or Hispanic American.

The story is told by the nameless main character, who is talking in an informal tone with his group, as they use slang now and then. Slang is very common in these kinds of societies. When the police pulls over and talks to they boys the main character says, “if he the cop had his way, he would have had us sitting out in there in that police car”. The boy used everyday slang as he said ‘’cop’’ instead of ‘’police officer’’. We can conclude that the members of the group are in the lower social class, as they don’t work. In the text the main character mentioned that most of the males in Harlem is jobless. That means that they’ve got nothing to do. That’s why the gang is sitting on the street corner.