American History

Study Guide

Literary Devices

Setting

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Literary Devices Setting

Paterson

The city of Paterson takes on a level of importance in the story as if it were itself a character. The characters in the story have strong relationships with the city, and the shape of the city reflects and affects their relationships with other people. Many characters in the story hate living in Paterson, a place Ortíz Cofer describes as dirty, cold, and inhospitable. Even the snow in Paterson is grey, an image that suggests the town’s shabby qualities as a city in decline in the early 1960s, a time when many American cities lost residents, businesses, and the taxes necessary to maintain infrastructure as white people left urban life for segregated suburbs.

Elena observes how the city’s architecture reflects its history, with the large apartment buildings built to house immigrants and people of color in previous decades drowning out the single-family homes that dominated the streets in more prosperous times. When Elena notes El Building and others like it overshadow the smaller houses, this observation reflects her sense that these groups have somehow invaded the city that existed before they came. In turn, the residents judge each other by where they live. Elena admires the Jewish couple and later Eugene’s family for living in the little house, while Eugene’s mother looks down on the residents of El Building.

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