Uptown+New+York

Brief Description
The characters in the play have expressed wishes to visit uptown New York, especially Rodolpho. This is also where Eddie wants to see Catherine working as it represents success and a shift in status from the lowly slums of Red Hook.

Key Quotations
**'Since I was a boy I see pictures of those lights.'** - Rodolpho p. 39
 * 'Maybe a lawyer's office some place in New York in one of them nice buildings.'** - Eddie expressing his wish for Catherine to get a good job in uptown New York. p. 19
 * 'Feeling Eddie's eyes on his back, and they dance.'** - stage direction p. 54 This indiciates the friction between the Eddie and Rodolpho as Catherine and Rodolpho move away.

Its role in the play
Uptown New York plays a significant part in the play, in the sense that many illegal immigrants, Rodolpho and Marco included travel to America to work, to pursue the 'American Dream'. Their aspiration is to end up in locations such as uptown New York; indeed, the local, American characters cherish similar hopes: Eddie talks to Catherine about his wishes for her to get out of the docks, hence his reluctance for her to start working in a company of people who were 'practically longshoremen'. The reason why this setting/theme is of importance is that this place is what prompted Marco and Rodolpho to come to America, as well as the work that they hope to find. Following the arrival of these characters and their actions, for example Rodolpho's courting of Catherine, Eddie's desires and aspects of his personality are revealed. He suspects Rodolpho of merely 'bowing to his passport' when Catherine is charmed by him, effectively illustrating that he is aware of Rodolpho's American Dream and the supposed lengths he might go to, to achieve it. Eddie's distrust of Rodolpho for this reason is compounded by the fact that Rodolpho will not 'marry [Catherine] to live in Italy.' Whether a metaphorical move to uptown New York is the motivation for Rodolpho to court Catheirne or not, this contributes significantly to Eddie's irrational behaviour, leading up to the final disastrous scene.