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When writing\u00a0Lost in the City<\/em>, Edward P. Jones sought to put together fourteen short stories, encapsulating his imagination about what it feels like to live as an African American in late twentieth century Washington, DC. In the pursuit of creating both people and their actions \u2013 \u201cthe miracles of imagination,\u201d as he puts it in his introduction \u2013 the collection devotes a large portion to the daily transportation of his characters.<\/p>\n Jones remarks that he \u201cdoes not have a car, a driver\u2019s license or any mechanized means of transport, not even a bicycle,\u201d illustrating that even though he has access to such means of transportation, he willingly chooses to use public transit systems as well as city cabs in place of private transportation. It is evident that Jones prefers the intersecting nature of more public forms of transportation.<\/p>\n In that vein, we spotlight how different forms of transit construct new spaces in Jones\u2019 book. We aim to contextualize these spaces and the communities therein through keystone stories and connect to the overall themes of\u00a0Lost in the City<\/em>. The following three quotes contain links that connect you to each of our pages.<\/p>\n In \u201cYoung Lions\u201d and \u201cMarie,\u201d buses seem to be the last resort to Caesar and Marie and \u201cthere is a weird thin veil between the commuters, where\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a sense of safety exists<\/a>\u00a0while at the same time, interaction remains limited.\u201d<\/p>\n In \u201cAn Orange Line\u00a0Train to Ballston,\u201d\u00a0seeing somebody on the train\u00a0<\/a>\u201con a regular basis, at the same time, and traveling to a particular destination\u201d gave Marvella a unique intuition about the dreadlock man.<\/p>\n Historically, \u201cDC has created barriers for People of Color via urban planning\u2026 Black characters rarely have access to certain areas, and\u00a0cars act as a conduit to these spaces for the powerful.<\/a>\u00a0Furthermore, in one story, \u201cHis Mother\u2019s House\u201d, cars are utilized as a clear status symbol. \u201cHis\u00a0Mother\u2019s House\u201d also presents automobiles as a major\u00a0driver\u00a0of the plot.\u201d<\/p>\n Works Cited<\/p>\n Tucker, Neely. “The Known World of Edward P. Jones.”\u00a0The Washington Post, 15 Nov. 2009,\u00a0<\/em>http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2009\/11\/06\/AR2009110603404_2.html<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Accessed 14 Mar. 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “I found an inordinate amount of ignorance about the city where I was born and raised, about a place that even the crudest of maps could not fail to acknowledge.” -Edward P. Jones,\u00a0Lost in the… <\/p>\n
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