Urban Literature

Spring 2007

Spragins

Essay on The Corner (1997) by David Simon and Edward Burns

Due Wednesday, May 16 at 3:30 pm.

How would William Julius Wilson respond to reading The Corner? Would he agree with Simon and Burns’ depiction of the drug culture that persists throughout working class neighborhoods in Baltimore?

How would Wilson’s recommendations about what should be done differ from Simon and Burns’ suggestions? Consider Glenn Loury's dissenting view.

Consider the likely fate awaiting many of the kids with whom we have worked at the Paca School. The best essays will consider the conservative points which argue against an expensive government program.

Discuss:

1.      The impact of the drug culture on individuals, families, and communities.

2.      The failure of public institutions (law enforcement, health, education and social services) to cope with the problem.

3.      The absence of adequate jobs for unskilled labor.

4.      The enormous tax payer expense of this program.

Think also about the trajectory of the American city entering the 21^st century as described by the authors whose works we have studied this semester:

Dr. David Hilfiker’s Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen (2003)

Jonathan Kozol, The Shame of the Nation (2006)

Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1891) 

Nicholas Lemann’s The Promised Land (1920-1940): Clarksdale to Chicago

Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940)

Part Two of Nicholas Lemann’s The Promised Land: Washington (1940-1970)

Elliot Liebow’s Tally’s Corner (1963)

David Simon and Edward Burns’ The Corner (1991)