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Chapter 7
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The City We Became, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Cities and Gentrification
Community, Diversity, and Prejudice
Ethics and Nature
Beliefs, Concepts, and Stereotypes
Art
Abuse
Summary
Analysis
Paolo exits a cab, sees an apartment building that is “more Queens” than those around it, and feels the Enemy. He hops a fence to examine the backyard pool and concludes that someone did a good job “excising the infection.” Paolo buzzes the top apartment and says he's looking for someone who understands what happened to the neighbor’s pool. Over the intercom, Paolo hears someone say something about ICE. Paolo denies working for ICE, and someone buzzes him in.
That Paolo conceives of Padmini’s destruction of the tendrils as someone “excising the infection” shows he thinks of the Enemy’s presence in terms of disease. This conception of the conflict between cities and the Enemy casts it as a merely natural, almost mindless struggle, not a battle between intelligent entities with ethical considerations and responsibilities. ICE—as mentioned earlier—is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The apartment-dweller’s worries about ICE emphasizes that Queens is an immigrant community.
Themes
When Paolo reaches the top apartment, a 40ish woman (Aishwarya) opens the door. When he says he’s São Paolo—not anticipating an American will recognize the name—Aishwarya expresses surprise that he’s real. She tells him about Manny and Brooklyn’s visit and says they claimed her relative Padmini had become Queens. Paolo, glad the boroughs have begun to locate one another, asks where they’ve gone. Aishwarya, now suspicious, tells him they said a woman was “hunting” them.
Paolo’s gladness that the boroughs’ avatars have started to find each other suggest that Manny was right—the boroughs do need to band together in order to find New York City’s avatar and defeat the Woman in White.
Themes
Paolo is shocked that the “Enemy ha[s] reactualized harbingers already.” He asks about the woman. Aishwarya asks why she should tell him anything. When he says he wants to help, she points out that he hasn’t so far. He acknowledges the criticism but claims that “any knowledge” he can give Padmini, Manny, and Brooklyn will help. Aishwarya says, mournfully, that she can’t help Padmini. Paolo tells him that the other boroughs will help—as will he. At last, Aishwarya tells him they went to Brooklyn.
The last time Paolo warned someone of the Enemy’s “harbingers,” it was New York City’s avatar—and the avatar was subsequently attacked by monstrous policemen. The boroughs’ avatars have not been experiencing similar attacks. Rather, they’ve been encountering the Enemy itself, in the form of the Woman in White. Paolo’s shock thus suggests he has an inaccurate or out-of-date concept of the Enemy’s capabilities—and he may not have as much “knowledge” to share with the boroughs as he thinks he does.
Themes
Paolo is glad three boroughs are protecting each other but notes that that leaves two unprotected. Aishwarya tells him that Padmini, Manny, and Brooklyn were planning to find the Bronx in the morning. Paolo asks about Staten Island. Aishwarya, “skeptical,” says they didn’t know how to find Staten Island. Paolo decides, in that case, to start with Staten Island.
Aishwarya’s “skeptical” attitude toward Staten Island again demonstrates that New Yorkers from other boroughs don’t see Staten Island as a real part of the New York City community. Yet Paolo’s decision to find the one unprotected borough, rather than joining up with the largest group of boroughs, suggests he thinks every part of the city will be important in fighting the Enemy.
Themes
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Paolo gives Aishwarya a business card, asks her to give his number to Padmini the next time they’re in contact, and tells her the country code is 55. Aishwarya tells him to get a U.S. phone and save Padmini the cost of an international call. Paolo replies that when he makes other people “acknowledge” where he’s from, it gives him power. In addition, has asks Aishwarya to please tell Padmini to text him the location of the Bronx once he’s found Staten Island. Aishwarya asks when this madness will be over for Padmini. Paolo says it’ll be over when the boroughs find New York City’s avatar. Yet, given how strangely the city’s birth is going, he worries that may not be true. With that, he leaves to find Staten Island.
Paolo’s desire to make people symbolically “acknowledge” his origins by dialing his country code underscores the power symbols and concepts possess in the world of the novel. His confusion at how the city’s birth went and his worry that finding the avatar won’t solve the problem, meanwhile, reveal that Paolo is in over his head.
Themes
