Alice Goffman On The Run Sparknotes

Goffman Exam The news often reports on crime within Black, urban neighborhoods, but seldom does that same viewing public get to see what is truly happening in these communities, and their thoughts and views are shaped just from what they perceive of TV. In Alice Goffman’s book On the Run, Goffman takes a deeper look into urban, Black men’s relationship with the police, and lets the reader see the situation from a side not commonly shown on the news. It is important to first understand how Goffman went about crafting On the Run. Goffman writes her book in a very narrative style, one with distinct characters and reoccurring settings. This makes sense because she is documenting people’s lives and one’s life is a narrative, but this also seems

This constantly appears throughout the book. She will state how many times she saw a certain event, but then fails to evaluate what she has just said. It does not let the reader understand if what she is saying is supposed to be a lot or a few. Some might say that this is in an effort to help the reader come to their own conclusions. But if this was the case, why would she then opinionate other observations that she made. Goffman fails to give the reader the proper context to understand her standard observations, but then uses rhetoric that helps lead the reader’s thoughts in a certain direction during other parts of the

As an outsider—and as a white woman—her experience on 6th Street is far different than that of the residents. Throughout the books she talks about the different ways that she is treated compared to that of the tenants. But she also experienced some of the same treatment. Like on page sixty-one, the police are raiding the house, and she is given the same forceful treatment as the others in the house. The benefit that this provides is that Goffman is able to experience more closely what these residents go through throughout in their lives, and it helps bring emotion into her writing. But this is not necessarily a good thing. Yes, Goffman is able to give an in-depth description of what it is like to experience a forceful police raid, but the emotion that can come from this has the potential to sway her writing from an objective