New York City

Part I of the book takes place in New York City, where Walker has recently arrived after finishing his tour of duty in World War II. Being from Broad Cove, Nova Scotia, Walker is somewhat bewildered by the sights and sounds of the city, and the loud noises and crowds frequently invoke symptoms of his PTSD: "So loud. And bright. No place to ease the eyes. To hide" (5). The author captures the bustle of the city beautifully in poetic lines, "The clutter and color: everything moving on the street, and across it, straight lines and diagonals. Drug-stores, grocery stores, snack joints, diners. Missions. Bars" (4). He also uses metaphor, describing the subways as "rivers, underground, flash-flooding every five minutes in a pulse of people" (7). Walker gets a job on the docks, and then at a fish market, and lives in a cockroach-infested rooming house, and eventually determines...