Down These Mean Streets begins in Spanish Harlem in the 1940s; the community is still suffering from the effects of the Great Depression and will soon feel the nationwide pressure of the Pearl Harbor bombing. Along with racial tensions and poverty, there is something that lies much deeper in Spanish Harlem than the world’s troubles, and that’s the world of street code.

From page one, Piri understands this code and wants to be “an hombre.” He wants to be seen, respected, and treated as a man. This need bubbling up from his heart is a reflection of his home life, as he lives with a father who barely pays attention to him because he is forced to work multiple jobs. Even though his father works day and night to provide for the family, Piri doesn’t see this work as love. He’s looking for more, and the struggle becomes deeper when he begins to see the harsh reality of racism and prejudice all over the world.

Piri struggles with his identity. He identifies as Puerto Rican and speaks Spanish, but his dark skin creates a complexity that Piri struggles to define and understand throughout his teenage years. This conflict, coupled with a longing for acceptance and love from his father, creates internal chaos that takes Piri on a journey into the streets and results in a six-year prison sentence.

From the start, the reader watches a young boy look for love and respect in all the wrong places. Piri opens his narrative by running away from home, but he becomes scared and returns to a father who doesn’t know he had left. This burns Piri’s heart and adds to the insecurity he already feels surrounding his father. Piri spends his young teen years wondering if his father actually does love him, looking for meaning in quick conversations and brief interactions.

Unfortunately, Piri and his father never fully reconcile, even after their brief conversation about race in the Long Island house. It could be that Piri’s father does give into the concept of “being” or “acting” white, as Piri would suggest, but it could also be true that his father simply wants to provide a good life for his children. What Piri doesn’t realize is that Poppa wants to remove the burden of street code from Piri’s shoulders, but Piri can only see this move as trying to be white or showing disloyalty to their culture. Because Piri and his father struggle to communicate and both need more time to work through these deep traumas, the conflict is never resolved, even though it’s mentioned that Piri does start spending time on Long Island again when he is released from prison.

The combination of Piri’s issues with his father and his need to be respected play out on the streets of Harlem as Piri seeks approval, acceptance, and what could be conceived as a replacement family. Even though Piri is terrified of the life he begins to embark on, he never stops. He tells himself to “have heart” and fights through his fear as he goes up against gang violence and the police. Even though he still has anxieties, Piri feels comfortable on the streets because he knows where he stands—something he never finds in the relationship with his father. Through all the uncertainty of the streets, Piri finds stability in instability, something he could never find within his father’s heart. He never knows what his father thinks or feels, but he knows what he has to do to maintain a reputation and stay alive in Spanish Harlem.

It’s almost as if...