On the Sidewalk Bleeding – class notes
Main Character – Andy
Andy is a 16-year old cigarette smoker, a tragic figure, dying after having been stabbed by a rival gang.
“He was filled with sadness that his life would be over at 16.” He was a newly formed member of the Royals, was stabbed by rival gang the Guardians. He realises he wants to be himself – he could only think “I want to be Andy”. He wanted a future with Laura. “He was thinking someday he’d marry Laura”. He loves rain and is symbolised by it – “Rain is sweet; I’m Andy”. His life’s blood is flowing out of him as the rain is falling. He triumphs by taking off his jacket. He’s treated without compassion by the cop and is seen only as “a Royal”, a gang member.
Minor Characters – their role is to highlight what Andy cannot have; the contrast is a structural device used to tug our heartstrings.
1. Laura – Andy’s girlfriend, has “brown eyes and jet-black hair”; she’s waiting at the dance for him, then finds him dead. She loves Andy; is courageous in finding the cop. Tries to ensure he is seen as ‘Andy’ on his death, not a ‘Royal’.
2. Drunk Man – Similarities and contrasts with Andy – eg, both are alone and wet in the alley. Both are suffering mental restrictions – drunk and in Andy’s case dying (loss of blood). He seems unloved and unwanted, contrasting with Andy (Laura). He’s an individual, old, cannot help.
3. Old Woman – homeless, old and alone, like the drunk man provides contrast to Andy who is young and loved. Searching rubbish bins, carrying an umbrella with broken ribs “like a queen”. She’s quick and efficient in her searching, slightly deaf so doesn’t hear/help Andy.
4. Freddie and Angela – they contrast to the previous 2 minor characters. They are happy and loving and provide a poignant reminder of what Andy and Laura are like/could be/will miss out on. Angela is fearful of becoming involved so persuades Freddie to leave Andy. They don’t want to get involved with the gangs.
5. Cop – does his job but doesn’t care. Is judgemental. In spite of Laura’s reminder that he is “Andy”, the cop ruins Andy’s efforts with removing the jacket. He is used to make the reader more sympathetic towards Andy because he is so indifferent, making a dramatic ending. “A Royal”.
Setting
Time at night. Story covers about 40 minutes. He’s stabbed at 11.20pm. Story picks up from 11.30pm. At 12.01am Laura finds him dead. Flashbacks are used to cover the past and a flash-forwards for the future he’d hoped for in the Bronx or Staten Island.
Place – set in an alley in the Bronx, New York
Theme
Main idea of becoming an individual instead of wanting to conform to a group. It’s about loss of identity. In donning the purple jacket, Andy is seen only as a Royal gang member, not as himself. Yearning for acceptance in the group becomes irrelevant as Andy realises, too late, that he can be himself and have a happy life with Laura. He progressed from wanting and becoming a Royal to… “He was a Royal. There had been meaning to the title.” “Now….he wondered about the meaning. If he died he was Andy. He was not a Royal. He was simply Andy and he was dead.”
Love of Laura enables Andy to withdraw from the gang, TO BE HIMSELF. The jacket doesn’t help him as he lies dying, nor when he is dead. His last heroic act of taking off the jacket kills him, but allows him to assert his individuality. Opportunity for self-fulfilment is destroyed just when it is within Andy’s grasp.
LANGUAGE
1. Point of view – the writer starts with direct description, then uses Third Person Interior Monologue with Andy’s conscious and subconscious thoughts and feelings, then ends with Laura’s point of view. This draws the reader into the character and sympathy for Andy, eg,
2. Imagery – senses used – sight of the ‘neon splash’, sound of ‘automobile tyres’;
3. Symbols of (1) rain – rain symbolises sadness and cleansing. The life blood is flowing out of him. “Rain is sweet. I am Andy.” and
(2) the purple jacket – symbolises the gang that he wants to distance himself from in the end.
4. Deliberate emphasis on straightforward physical description, with emotions held in check, eg, “He thought of her face, the brown eyes and the jet-black hair …” creates a more dramatic effect
5. Direct speech is used to develop the individuality of the drunk (slurring, short sentences, eg, “I gotta bottle. Here”); conversation of the lovers (very short sentences, ellipsis, questions, eg, “You shouldn’t”, “Why not?”; “Do you like it?”) and indifference of the cop: “A Royal, huh?”
6. Description shows lively verbs as with Andy’s pain, eg, “tearing a wide gap”; “He lay on the sidewalk with the March rain drilling his jacket and drilling his body and washing away the blood that poured from his open wound…”; “fallen to the sidewalk, clutching his stomach…”. “…soft, hissing bubble of blood on his mouth”
7. Sense of specific detail given to objects such as with the jacket, eg, “…and he wore a bright purple silk jacket, and the lettering across the back of the jacket read THE ROYALS. The boy’s name was Andy and the name was written in black thread on the front of the jacket, just over the heart.”
8. Visual picture described is almost the same at beginning and end, eg, people standing over fallen body, but with significant differences
9. Repetition is quite often used for emphasis, eg, “Laura, Laura, Laura”, “I think I’m dying, I think I’m dying”.
10. Emotion is depicted through his senses: “He could hear the sound of automobile tyres hushed on the rainswept streets….: “He could see the splash of neon…”