City Limits Summary

The First chapter of the novel The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead called “City Limits” is about the perception of how people see New York whether they aren’t from here either they moved here or just visiting and comparing them to how people would see New York if they are from here born and raised. He calls it being a true new Yorker. ” You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now.” Basically he says that you’re a true New Yorker when you start to notice change in the Neighborhoods and not when what’s there now is all you know about. When you go to these places and you feel nostalgic and you have those memories, that’s when you know you’re a true New Yorker. Whitehead also states that everyone that visits New York makes their own sense or their own interpretation of what New York was like or how it looks like as soon as they take their first step in New York.