tutorial, critical commentary, plot, and study resources
Manhattan Transfer was first published in 1925. It was the sixth literary work by John Dos Passos. Although he belonged to the same ‘lost generation’ as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, he established a reputation as a literary modernist who incorporated documentary material into his fictions. He presented a vision of American society which was rich in sociological and political significance, and he was also radically expressive in delivering narratives that were dense with literary experimentation.
Manhattan Transfer – critical commentary
The novel has as its principal focus the city of New York and its development in the early years of the twentieth century, running from the period pre-1910 to the early 1920s (the ‘jazz age’) with its flappers and prohibition. Its characters are what D.H.Lawrence described as “the vast loose gang of strivers and winners and losers which seems to be the very pep of New York.”
New York is an American state (like Texas, California, or Nebraska) whose capital city is Albany – hence the term New York City, which distinguishes the city from the state. New York City is also located on Manhattan Island in the Hudson River, and has always been the gateway for immigration to the United States. Manhattan Transfer reflects the rich cultural and linguistic mix of this population influx, and Dos Passos reproduces speech, patois, and accents from French, Italian, Yiddish, English, and Irish to reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the city and its culture.
The radical novelist
John Dos Passos was a novelist, a painter, and a political activist. As a young man he was a social revolutionary, with sympathies for both anarchist and communist points of view. It is quite clear in Manhattan Transfer that the radicalism expressed by characters such as Emile and Congo Jack has his sympathy; that the shady dealings in local government are being exposed as political corruption; and that his presentation of American capitalism is as a viciously competitive system that has a dehumanising effect on its citizens.
Joe Harland is a former ‘Wizard of Wall Street’ who has lost everything in one of the many stock market crashes. It’s significant that he is related by family to the relatively secure Jimmy Hersh. But he is now out of money and out of work. And work is not easy to find – partly because times are hard, and partly because of protectionism amongst trade unions (which in America were notoriously associated with organised crime).
Dos Passos’s achievement in this novel (as in U.S.A.) is to incorporate these political elements without sliding into propaganda or overt bias. He sees good qualities in his rich and successful characters, and weaknesses in his down-and-out failures. He presents a wide perspective on American society and its immigrant composition, but neither its working Joe Does or its rich playboys are neglected, and neither are its marginal characters – such as the foreign barmen, occasional sailors and building workers, and even hobos, dropouts, and tragic victims of poverty level existence.
The modern city
It is interesting to note that Manhattan Transfer was written and published in a period within two decades at the beginning of the twentieth century which saw the production of a number of novels that featured the capital city as the symbol of modern industrial and commercial life. Andrei Biely’s Petersburg had appeared in 1916, set in what was then the capital of pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1922 James Joyce’s Ulysses featured the Irish capital Dublin as it was in 1904. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, published in 1925 is set exclusively in London, and Alfred Doblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) is a portrait of the capital of the Wiemar republic of the 1920s.
All of these novels feature a fragmented literary style, varying points of view, and the use of montage effects which were probably influenced by the cinema, which had become a popular entertainment medium around the same time. In the cases of Joyce, Doblin, and Dos Passos there was also the inclusion of advertising, newspaper reports, and documentary material related to the events of their narratives.
The dominant strain in American fiction during the period preceding Dos Passos was naturalism. This was an approach which took its subjects from the lower orders of society and put emphasis on the Darwinian struggle for survival. Influenced by French writers such as Zola and Maupassant, the naturalist school of novelists took a sociological approach to their rendering of social reality, and included topics which had hitherto been largely excluded from serious fiction (with the exception of Dickens) – topics such as crime, poverty, alcoholism, prostitution, disease, racism, violence, and political corruption.
Stephen Crane, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, and Theodore Dreiser had been the popular exponents of this tendency in the period 1890-1920, and there are many elements of literary naturalism in Manhattan Transfer. Many of the characters are unemployed, there is no shortage of drunkenness, sexual promiscuity is rife, corruption exists in local politics, and there are deaths by fire, suicide, and motor accident.
But unlike the naturalist school, Dos Passos uses a huge variety of literary styles to create the sense of social multiplicity, cosmopolitanism, and urban development that pervades the world of Manhattan Transfer. This means that there is more emphasis on the novel as a work of art, rather than simply as a social manifesto.
Each chapter is prefaced by a paragraph of what can only be described as a prose poem, which signals the theme of the chapter. The sections and chapters that follow are delivered using a combination of conventional third person narrative mode, interior monologues, shifting points of view, fragments of newspaper reports, snatches of song, encyclopaedia entries, unattributed conversation, and sometimes an absence of conventional punctuation:
She stopped a second to look at the Plaza that gleamed white as motherofpearl … Yes this is Elaine Oglethorpe’s apartment … She climbed up onto a Washington Square bus. Sunday afternoon Fifth Avenue filed by rosily dustily jerkily. On the shady side there was an occasional man in a top hat and frock coat. Sunshades, summer dresses, straw hats were bright in the sun that glinted in squares on the upper windows of houses, lay in bright slivers on the hard paint of limousines and taxicabs.
The most radical and striking feature of Dos Passos’s literary style is his use of montage – cutting very rapidly from one character or scene to another. No sooner has one mini-drama got under way than the reader is whisked along to a different location and a different set of participants. This technique has a disorienting effect which emphasises the simulteneity of actions in various strata of society and the vibrancy of life in a modern cosmopolitan city.
This disorientation settles down as the text gradually reveals subtle connections between characters and events. But it has to be said that there is a price to be paid for the use of montage. Many of the characters are established as examples of individuals grappling with the problems of modern city life – but they simply do not reappear, so we are not given any account of their destinies.
There is only one character who is present from the beginning to the end of the narrative. That is Jimmy Herf – the artistic and visionary young boy who loses his mother, becomes a newspaper reporter, marries unsuccessfully, and ends by giving up his family and job to become a drifter.
Manhattan Transfer is the forerunner to what is widely regarded as Dos Passos’s masterpiece, the trilogy U.S.A.. This comprises three separate but interlocking works – The 42nd Parallel published in 1930, Nineteen Nineteen which appeared in 1932, and The Big Money which completed the tryptich in 1936. This later work was even broader in scope, and took in American society at every level – from railroad hobos to Wall Street financiers and politicians.
Dos Passos is a neglected but important figure in the development of American modernism, and U.S.A. is a powerfully insightful representation of western capitalism. The novel also includes a rare depiction of those ideologies – socialism, communism, and anarchism – that offered an alternative to the dehumanising effects of naked market competition.
Manhattan Transfer – study resources
Manhattan Transfer – chapter summaries
1. Ferryslip – Young farm worker Bud Korpenning arrives in New York City, a virtual hobo, hoping to find employment. Ed Tatcher is an accountant who dotes on his young daughter Ellie. His wife Susie however is a self-pitying invalid.
2. Metropolis – Emile is a French waiter who serves a group of rich, drunk, and vulgar business people late into the night. In the early morning he discusses social injustices with Mario, an Italian anarchist sympathiser. Bud gets a job washing dishes. Susie leaves Ellie on her own all night. Irish milkman Gus McNeil wants to travel out West for a better life, but is run over in a street accident.
3. Dollars – Lawyer George Baldwin pursues Nellie McNeil regarding her husband’s accident and is struck by her good looks. They begin an affair whilst Gus is still in hospital. Emile is courting widowed shopkeeper Mme Rigaud. Jimmy Herf and his mother arrive by boat on the fourth of July. Baldwin wins Gus McNeil’s compensation claim, but tires of Nellie.
4. Tracks – Jimmy Herf and his invalid mother have dinner in their hotel rooms. She complains of her ailments: he lives in a teenage dreamworld of fantasies. Emile continues his unsuccessful courtship of Mme Rigaud. Nellie ends the affair with George Baldwin. Bud is in the Sailor’s Mission. Jimmy’s mother has a stroke. He visits his well-to-do aunt’s house where casual racism is the norm. Ed Thatcher resists the temptation of an allegedly surefire investment.
5. Steamroller – Jimmy’s mother dies, whereupon his uncle suggests that he start work in the family business, but Jimmy is not keen on the idea. Bud reveals to a fellow hobo that he has killed his stepfather, who was beating him. He feels he is being pursued and has nowhere to go – so he commits suicide by jumping off Brooklyn Bridge.
1. Great Lady on a White Horse – Jimmy collects his girlfriend Ruth Prynne for Sunday lunch. He is now a cub reporter, she is an aspiring theatrical. Ellen meets George Baldwin for afternoon tea and flirts with Stan Emery and even her own husband Jojo.
2. Longlegged Jack of the Isthmus – Joe Harland is out of work, but he spends his last money on drinks whilst bragging about his previous success and his ‘bad luck’. Nicky Schatz is caught in a burglary by Stan and Ellie, but he has only stolen stage money. Ellen is in love with Stan but married to Jojo. Meanwhile Joe Harland is pursued by his landlady for unpaid rent. He cadges money from an old colleague. Casie is courted by Maurice McAvoy who is broke. Ellen leaves Jojo early one morning and takes a taxi to a hotel.
3. Nine Day’s Wonder – Paul Sandbourne looks at a girl on Fifth Avenue and gets run over by a passing truck. Jimmy Herf drinks away the afternoon with his rich college friends. They meet Ellen and her husband Jojo. Meanwhile Joe Harland spends his time in low bars. Ellen is a momentary theatrical success. It is 1914 and George Baldwin’s marriage is on the rocks because of his adultery with Ellen and others. Ellen is decorating her new flat when Casie arrives to announce that she is pregnant. Joe Harland is working as a night watchman on a building site. The workforce is threatened with a lockout. Stan brings Ellen to Jimmy’s flat on a secret date, but they are confronted by her husband in a farcical scene. Ellen Thatcher announces to her father that she and Joe Oglethorpe are divorcing.
4. Fire Engine – Impressario Harry Goldweiser is trying to seduce Elaine. Baldwin and Gus McNeil discuss some shady political doings, and Joe O’Keefe encounters Joe Harland again. Elaine puts a drunk Stanwood in her bath at the theatre. She then smuggles him out and takes him back to her flat in a taxi.
5. Went to the Animals’ Fair – George Baldwin takes Ellen out to a night club and tries to persuade her to take him on as her ‘protector’. Jimmy Herf and friends at a nearby table talk about a recent murder and the war. Jimmy and Ellen then discuss politics and the war with the anarchist barman Congo Jack. A drunken Baldwin threatens her with a gun. Jimmy walks home with Tony Hunter, who reveals that he is a homosexual who wants to kill himself.
6. Five Statutory Questions – Joe Harland and Joe O’Keef discuss the war and politics over drinks. Ellen is getting divorced and is pursued by Harry Goldweiser. She meets Stan, who reveals that he has married a young girl. Jimmy Herf meets his family relation Joe Harland, who wants to go to fight in the war.
7. Rollercoaster – Stan attends a political event. He is completely drunk, and when he gets home the apartment is on fire. He is overcome by smoke and killed in the fire.
8. One More River to Jordan – George Baldwin and Phil Sandbourne compare political notes. Ellen is still waiting for her divorce, and is besieged by oppressive well-wishers. She is pregnant with Stan’s baby. When Jimmy Herf walks her home she claims she is going to give up the stage and raise the child, but in fact she goes for an abortion.
1. Rejoicing City That Dwelt Carelessly – James Merrivale arrives back in New York City after the war. Jimmy Herf is married to Ellen who he has met serving in the Red Cross overseas. They arrive back with a baby into the prohibition era. Joe O’Keefe helps to organise workers for a union wage claim, then visits the doctor for treatment for syphilis. George Baldwin is being groomed for a political position..
2. Nickleodeon – Ruth Prynne has possible throat cancer. She is down on her luck and meets an old suitor. Dutch Robertson is out of work and money, and so is his girlfriend Francie. Jimmy and Ellie are also out of work, but drown their sorrows in cocktails with Congo Jack, who is now a bootlegger.
3. Revolving Doors – Jake Silverman and his girl Rosie are posing as rich business people in a fraudulent deal. The Merrivales have breakfast before leaving for the bank. Nevada Jones is dancing with Tony Hunter, who has been to a psychiatrist. She is visited by Baldwin and McNeil. Anna Cohen gets fired from the sandwich bar. Gus McNeil curries political favours ahead of local elections. Jimmy visits Congo Jack doing bootleg business, but there is an attempted hijacking of the consignment of Champagne. James Merrivale discovers that his daughter Masie is about to marry John Cunningham, who is already married. Businessmen are approached for donations towards the local elections. Jimmy is living in cramped conditions with Ellie and their baby Martin. George Baldwin calls on Nevada Jones but catches her with Tony Hunter and ditches her. Ellen is at a bohemian party that is raided by detectives, but a phone call to the district attorney calls off the raid. Jimmy is living separately from Ellen. Jake Silverman is arrested for fraud.
4. Skyscraper – Jimmy gives up his job as a reporter and wanders around in a delirium of jumbled thoughts. Anna Cohen is involved in a strike at the sewing factory, and her mother reproaches her. Jimmy gets drunk with his out of work friends. Dutch Robertson holds up a cigar store. Mr Densch’s business is hit by the slump. A reporter takes the cigar store holdup story, and a few days later Jimmy reads an account of Dutch’s arrest.
5. The Burthen of Nineveh – Baldwin’s divorce is due to come through. He proposes to Ellen, but she delays making a decision. Buck squeezes money out of Alice, who cashes a cheque in her husband’s name. Jimmy meets Congo Jack who is now Armand Duval and rich (but might go to jail) and has married Nevada Jones. Mr Densch escapes from the USA, ten million dollars in debt. Jack Cunningham gets an Illegal divorce and marries Masie Merrivale. Dutch Robertson and Francie get twenty years for their crimes. Ellen collects a new dress from Mme Soubrine, where Anna is scabbing as a seamstress. There is a fire in the workshop and a girl is badly burned. Jimmy leaves friends at a party and sets off with no money and no objective.
© Roy Johnson 2016
Manhattan Transfer – principal characters
|a 23 year old farmhand
|an ambitious accountant
|his wife, an invalid
|radical hotel worker
|an Italian anarchist
|bartender, later a bootlegger
|an Irish milkman
|his pretty wife
|an attorney, later a politician
|his friend, an anarchist
|Mme Ernestine Rigaud
|a widowed shopkeeper
|a romantic dreamer, later a journalist
|Mrs Lily Herf
|his mother, an invalid who dies
|Mrs Emily Merrivale
|Lily’s sister, Jimmy’s aunt
|Jimmy’s uncle, who becomes his guardian
|unemployed dancer, Jimmy’s girlfriend
|a gay theatrical mountebank
|Elaine Thatcher Oglethorpe
|rich friend of George Baldwin
|former bond trader, down on his luck
|lecherous theatrical impressario
|a young gay actor friend of Ruth
|Tony’s admirer, later married to Congo Jack
|an out-of-work who turns to crime
"Kama ""Mashabiki wa Mafunzo ya Kihistoria, Maelezo ya Kihistoria, na Rasilimali za Utafiti,"" Manhattan Transfer ilichapishwa kwa mara ya kwanza mnamo 1925." Ilikuwa kazi ya sita ya fasihi ya John Dos Passos. Ingawa alikuwa wa "kizazi kilichopotea" sawa na Ernest Hemingway na F. Scott Fitzgerald, alianzisha sifa kama kisasa cha fasihi ambaye aliingiza nyenzo za maandishi katika hadithi zake. Aliwasilisha maono ya jamii ya Marekani ambayo ilikuwa na maana ya kijamii na kisiasa, na pia alikuwa na ufasaha mkubwa katika kutoa hadithi ambazo zilikuwa na majaribio ya fasihi. "Kama ""Mwanzoni mwa karne ya ishirini"" (Jazz Age) na ""Flapper"" (Ule wa Jazz) na ""Ukaguzi wa Jazz"" (Ule wa Jazz) na ""Ukaguzi wa Jazz"" (Ukaguzi wa Jazz) na ""Ukaguzi wa Jazz"" (Ukaguzi wa Jazz) na ""Ukaguzi wa Jazz"" (Ukaguzi wa Jazz)." "D.H. Lawrence alielezea New York kama ""kikundi kikubwa cha watu wanaojitahidi na washindi na washindwa ambao wanaonekana kuwa kiungo cha New York"" na ""Jimbo la New York ni jimbo la Marekani (kama Texas, California, au Nebraska) ambalo mji mkuu wake ni Albany.""" New York City pia iko kwenye kisiwa cha Manhattan katika Mto Hudson, na daima imekuwa lango la uhamiaji kwenda Marekani. Manhattan inawakilisha mchanganyiko tajiri wa kitamaduni na lugha ya watu hawa, na Dos Passos inazalisha hotuba, patois, na lafudhi kutoka Kifaransa, Kiitaliano, Kiyidishi, Kiingereza, na Ireland ili kutafakari asili ya ulimwengu wa jiji na utamaduni wake. Mwandishi wa riwaya mkali John Dos Passos alikuwa mwandishi wa riwaya, mchoraji, na mwanaharakati wa kisiasa. Alipokuwa kijana alikuwa mwanaharakati wa kijamii, akiwa na hisia-mwenzi kwa maoni ya anarchist na ya kikomunisti. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika ""Manhattan Transfer,"" ni wazi kwamba yeye ana hisia za huruma kwa watu kama vile Emile na Congo Jack, kwamba shughuli za kibiashara katika serikali za mitaa zinafunuliwa kuwa ufisadi wa kisiasa, na kwamba yeye anaelezea mfumo wa ubinafsi wa Marekani kama mfumo wa ushindani ambao una athari mbaya kwa raia wake." Joe Harland ni zamani "Mchawi wa Wall Street" ambaye amepoteza kila kitu katika moja ya ajali nyingi za soko la hisa. Ni muhimu kwamba yeye ni kuhusiana na familia kwa Jimmy Hersh kiasi salama. Lakini sasa hana pesa na hana kazi. Na kazi si rahisi kupata <unk> kwa sehemu kwa sababu nyakati ni ngumu, na kwa sehemu kwa sababu ya ulinzi kati ya vyama vya wafanyakazi (ambayo katika Marekani walikuwa notoriously kuhusishwa na uhalifu uliopangwa). Ufanisi wa Dos Passos katika riwaya hii (kama ilivyo nchini Marekani) ni kuingiza mambo haya ya kisiasa bila kuanguka katika propaganda au upendeleo wazi. Anaona sifa nzuri katika wahusika wake matajiri na wenye mafanikio, na udhaifu katika kushindwa kwake. Yeye anawasilisha mtazamo pana juu ya jamii ya Marekani na muundo wake wa wahamiaji, lakini wala Joe Does yake ya kazi au playboys zake tajiri hazipuuzwa, na wala wahusika wake wa pembeni - kama vile bartenders wa kigeni, baharia wa mara kwa mara na wafanyakazi wa ujenzi, na hata hobos, dropouts, na waathirika wa huzuni ya maisha ya umaskini. "Mji mkuu wa kisasa wa Marekani, Manhattan, ulichapishwa katika kipindi cha miaka ishirini na nusu ya karne ya ishirini na kuonekana katika vitabu kadhaa ambavyo vilionyesha mji mkuu kama ""ishara ya maisha ya kisasa ya viwanda na biashara.""" Andrei Bely aliandika kitabu chake cha Petersburg mwaka 1916 na kukiandika wakati huo akiwa katika mji mkuu wa Urusi kabla ya mapinduzi. "Katika kitabu chake cha ""Ulysses"" cha mwaka wa 1922, Joyce alielezea jinsi mji mkuu wa Ireland, Dublin, ulivyokuwa mwaka wa 1904." "Kama vile ""Mrs. Dalloway"" ya Virginia Woolf, iliyochapishwa mwaka 1925, na ""Berlin Alexanderplatz"" ya Alfred Doblin, iliyochapishwa mwaka 1929, ni picha ya mji mkuu wa Jamhuri ya Wiemar ya miaka ya 1920." Vitabu hivyo vyote vina mtindo wa fasihi uliovunjika, maoni tofauti, na matumizi ya athari za uchoraji ambazo labda ziliathiriwa na sinema, ambayo ilikuwa imekuwa njia maarufu ya burudani karibu wakati huo huo. Katika kesi za Joyce, Doblin, na Dos Passos kulikuwa pia na uingizwaji wa matangazo, ripoti za magazeti, na vifaa vya maandishi vinavyohusiana na matukio ya hadithi zao. Mwelekeo mkuu katika hadithi za uwongo za Marekani katika kipindi kilichotangulia Dos Passos ulikuwa asili. Hii ilikuwa mbinu ambayo ilichukua masomo yake kutoka kwa utaratibu wa chini wa jamii na kuweka msisitizo juu ya mapambano ya Darwin kwa ajili ya kuishi. Kwa kuathiriwa na waandishi wa Kifaransa kama vile Zola na Maupassant, shule ya asili ya waandishi wa riwaya ilichukua mbinu ya kijamii kwa uwasilishaji wao wa hali halisi ya kijamii, na ilijumuisha mada ambazo hadi sasa zilikuwa zimetengwa sana kutoka kwa hadithi mbaya (kwa tofauti na Dickens) - mada kama uhalifu, umaskini, ulevi, umasikini, ugonjwa, ubaguzi, vurugu, na ufisadi wa kisiasa. Stephen Crane, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, na Theodore Dreiser walikuwa waigizaji maarufu wa mwelekeo huu katika kipindi cha 1890 na 1920, na kuna mambo mengi ya asili ya fasihi katika Manhattan Transfer. Watu wengi wanaohusika katika hadithi hiyo hawana kazi, wanakunywa pombe, wana ngono ya anasa, wanahusika katika siasa za eneo hilo, na watu hufa kutokana na moto, kujiua, na aksidenti za magari. "Lakini tofauti na shule ya asili, Dos Passos hutumia aina kubwa ya mitindo ya fasihi kuunda hisia ya ""mengi ya kijamii, cosmopolitanism, na maendeleo ya mijini"" ambayo huenea katika ulimwengu wa Manhattan." Hii inamaanisha kwamba kuna msisitizo zaidi juu ya riwaya kama kazi ya sanaa, badala ya tu kama manifesto ya kijamii. Kila sura ina utangulizi wa kifungu cha kile kinachoweza kuelezwa tu kama shairi la mashairi, ambalo linaonyesha mandhari ya sura hiyo. Sehemu na sura zinazofuata zinatolewa kwa kutumia mchanganyiko wa hali ya hadithi ya mtu wa tatu ya kawaida, monologues za ndani, mabadiliko ya maoni, vipande vya ripoti za gazeti, vipande vya wimbo, viingilio vya encyclopedia, mazungumzo yasiyo na sifa, na wakati mwingine kutokuwepo kwa alama za kawaida: Alisimama kwa sekunde kuangalia Plaza ambayo iling'aa nyeupe kama lulu ya moth... Ndiyo hii ni nyumba ya Elaine Oglethorpe. Jumapili alasiri Fifth Avenue filed na rosily dustily jerkily. Kwenye upande wa kivuli kulikuwa na mtu wa mara kwa mara katika kofia ya juu na koti la mavazi. Vipuli vya jua, mavazi ya majira ya joto, na kofia za nyasi zilikuwa na mwangaza katika jua lililokuwa liking'aa katika pembe za juu za madirisha ya nyumba, zikiwa zimewekwa katika vipande vyenye kung'aa kwenye rangi ngumu ya limousine na teksi. Kipengele cha kimapinduzi na cha kushangaza zaidi cha mtindo wa fasihi wa Dos Passos ni matumizi yake ya usanidi - kukata haraka sana kutoka kwa mhusika mmoja au eneo hadi lingine. Mara tu drama ndogo moja inapoanza, msomaji hupelekwa mahali pengine na kikundi tofauti cha washiriki. Mbinu hii ina athari ya disorienting ambayo inasisitiza simultaneity ya vitendo katika tabaka mbalimbali za jamii na vibrantness ya maisha katika mji wa kisasa cosmopolitan. Uharibifu huo unapoisha kadiri maandishi yanavyofunua hatua kwa hatua uhusiano wa hali ya chini kati ya wahusika na matukio. Lakini ni lazima iseme kwamba kuna bei ya kulipwa kwa ajili ya matumizi ya montage. Wengi wa wahusika ni imara kama mifano ya watu binafsi grappling na matatizo ya maisha ya mji wa kisasa <unk> lakini wao tu si reappear, hivyo sisi si kupewa akaunti yoyote ya hatima yao. Kuna mhusika mmoja tu ambaye yupo kuanzia mwanzo hadi mwisho wa simulizi hilo. Hiyo ni Jimmy Herf <unk> mvulana mchanga wa kisanii na mwenye maono ambaye hupoteza mama yake, anakuwa mwandishi wa gazeti, anaoa bila mafanikio, na mwishowe huacha familia yake na kazi kuwa msafiri. Uhamisho wa Manhattan ni mtangulizi wa kile kinachochukuliwa sana kama kazi kuu ya Dos Passos, trilogy U.S.A.. "Kutoka kwa kitabu cha ""The 42nd Parallel"" cha mwaka 1930 hadi kitabu cha ""The Big Money"" cha mwaka 1936." Kazi hii ya baadaye ilikuwa hata pana katika wigo, na alichukua katika jamii ya Marekani katika kila ngazi <unk> kutoka reli hobos kwa Wall Street wafadhili na wanasiasa. Dos Passos ni mtu aliyepuuzwa lakini muhimu katika maendeleo ya kisasa cha Marekani, na Marekani ni uwakilishi wenye nguvu wa ubepari wa magharibi. Riwaya hiyo pia inajumuisha picha nadra ya itikadi hizo - ujamaa, ukomunisti, na anarchism - ambazo zilitoa mbadala kwa athari za kutokuwa na ubinadamu za ushindani wa soko la uchi. Manhattan: Uhamisho wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho wa Uhamisho Ferryslip <unk> Mfanyakazi mchanga wa shamba Bud Korpenning anawasili New York City, hobo virtual, akitumaini kupata kazi. Ed Tatcher ni mhasibu ambaye anampenda sana binti yake mchanga Ellie. Hata hivyo, mke wake Susie ni mgonjwa anayejisikitisha. 2. Uwezekano wa kupata Metropolis <unk> Emile ni mhudumu Mfaransa ambaye hutumikia kikundi cha wafanyabiashara matajiri, waliolala pombe, na wa kawaida hadi usiku wa manane. Asubuhi mapema anazungumzia ukosefu wa haki za kijamii na Mario, Mwitaliano anayeshikamana na wanaharakati wa anarchist. Bud anapata kazi ya kuosha vyombo. Susie anamwacha Ellie peke yake usiku kucha. Mtoa maziwa wa Ireland Gus McNeil anataka kusafiri kwenda Magharibi kwa maisha bora, lakini anaangamizwa katika ajali ya barabarani. 3. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Dola <unk> Mwanasheria George Baldwin anafuatilia Nellie McNeil kuhusu ajali ya mumewe na anashangazwa na sura yake nzuri. Wanaanza uhusiano wa kimapenzi huku Gus bado akiwa hospitalini. Emile anamchumbia mmiliki wa duka mjane Mme Rigaud. Jimmy Herf na mama yake wanawasili kwa mashua siku ya nne ya Julai. Baldwin anashinda madai ya fidia ya Gus McNeil, lakini anachoka na Nellie. 4. Uwe na uhakika  Jimmy Herf na mama yake mgonjwa wanakula chakula cha jioni katika vyumba vyao vya hoteli. Yeye hulalamika juu ya magonjwa yake: yeye huishi katika ulimwengu wa ndoto wa matineja wa ndoto. Emile anaendelea na uchumba wake usiofanikiwa wa Mme Rigaud. Nellie anamaliza uhusiano wake na George Baldwin. Bud ni katika Ujumbe wa Sailor. Mama ya Jimmy anapata kiharusi. Yeye hutembelea nyumba ya shangazi yake mwenye utajiri ambapo ubaguzi wa rangi ni kawaida. Ed Thatcher anapinga kishawishi cha uwekezaji unaodhaniwa kuwa wa uhakika. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. Steamroller <unk> Mama ya Jimmy anakufa, ambapo mjomba wake anapendekeza kwamba aanze kufanya kazi katika biashara ya familia, lakini Jimmy haipendezwi na wazo hilo. Bud anamfunulia mpenzi wake kwamba amemuua baba yake wa kambo, ambaye alikuwa akimpiga. Anahisi kwamba anafuatwa na hana mahali pa kwenda <unk> kwa hiyo anajiua kwa kuruka kutoka Brooklyn Bridge. 1. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Mwanamke Mkuu juu ya Farasi mweupe <unk> Jimmy hukusanya mpenzi wake Ruth Prynne kwa chakula cha mchana cha Jumapili. Yeye sasa ni mwandishi wa habari mchanga, yeye ni mwigizaji anayetaka. Ellen anakutana na George Baldwin kwa chai ya alasiri na flirt na Stan Emery na hata mumewe Jojo. 2. Uwezekano wa kupata Longlegged Jack of the Isthmus <unk> Joe Harland hana kazi, lakini anatumia pesa zake za mwisho kwenye vinywaji wakati akijigamba juu ya mafanikio yake ya awali na <unk> bahati mbaya<unk> yake. Nicky Schatz anakamatwa katika wizi na Stan na Ellie, lakini amekuwa tu kuibiwa hatua ya fedha. Ellen anapenda Stan lakini ameolewa na Jojo. Wakati huohuo Joe Harland anafuatwa na mwenye nyumba yake kwa ajili ya kodi isiyo kulipwa. Yeye huchukua pesa kutoka kwa mwenzake wa zamani. Casie anapendwa na Maurice McAvoy ambaye hana pesa. Ellen anaondoka Jojo mapema asubuhi moja na kuchukua teksi kwenda hoteli. 3. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Tisa Day's Wonder <unk> Paul Sandbourne inaonekana katika msichana juu ya Fifth Avenue na anapata kukimbia juu na lori kupita. Jimmy Herf hunywa pombe alasiri nzima pamoja na marafiki zake matajiri wa chuo kikuu. Wanakutana na Ellen na mume wake Jojo. Wakati huohuo Joe Harland hutumia wakati wake katika baa za chini. Ellen ni mafanikio ya muda mfupi ya ukumbi wa michezo. Mwaka 1914 ndoa ya George Baldwin ilivunjika kwa sababu ya uzinzi wake na Ellen. Ellen anapamba nyumba yake mpya wakati Casie anapofika kutangaza kwamba ana mimba. Joe Harland anafanya kazi ya ulinzi wa usiku kwenye eneo la ujenzi. Wafanyakazi wanakabili tisho la kufungwa. Stan anamleta Ellen kwenye ghorofa ya Jimmy kwa tarehe ya siri, lakini wanakabiliwa na mumewe katika eneo la kuchekesha. Ellen Thatcher anamjulisha baba yake kwamba yeye na Joe Oglethorpe wanatalikiana. 4. Uwe na uhakika Injini ya Moto <unk> Impressario Harry Goldweiser anajaribu kumshawishi Elaine. Baldwin na Gus McNeil kujadili baadhi ya shady shughuli za kisiasa, na Joe O'Keefe hukutana Joe Harland tena. Elaine anamweka Stanwood mlevi katika bafu yake kwenye jumba la maonyesho. Kisha anamtoa kimakusudi na kumrudisha kwenye nyumba yake kwa teksi. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. Alienda kwa Wanyama Fair <unk> George Baldwin inachukua Ellen nje ya klabu ya usiku na anajaribu kumshawishi kuchukua yake juu kama'mlinzi' wake. Jimmy Herf na marafiki kwenye meza iliyo karibu huzungumza juu ya mauaji ya hivi karibuni na vita. Jimmy na Ellen kisha kujadili siasa na vita na anarchist barman Congo Jack. Baldwin mlevi anamtisha kwa bunduki. Jimmy anatembea nyumbani na Tony Hunter, ambaye anafunua kwamba yeye ni mashoga ambaye anataka kujiua. 6. Uwe na uhakika Maswali matano ya kisheria <unk> Joe Harland na Joe O<unk>Keef kujadili vita na siasa juu ya vinywaji. Ellen anatawanyika na anafuatwa na Harry Goldweiser. Anakutana na Stan, ambaye anafunua kwamba ameolewa na msichana mchanga. Jimmy Herf anakutana na jamaa yake wa familia Joe Harland, ambaye anataka kwenda kupigana vitani. 7. Uwe na mtazamo gani? Rollercoaster <unk> Stan anahudhuria tukio la kisiasa. Amelewa kabisa, na anapofika nyumbani nyumba iko moto. Anaangamizwa na moshi na kuuawa katika moto. 8. Uwe na mtazamo gani? Mto Mmoja Zaidi hadi Yordani <unk> George Baldwin na Phil Sandbourne kulinganisha maelezo ya kisiasa. Ellen bado anasubiri talaka yake, na anashambuliwa na watu wenye kudhulumu wanaomtakia mema. Yeye ni mjamzito na mtoto wa Stan. Jimmy Herf alipomfuata nyumbani, alisema kwamba ataacha kazi ya kuigiza na kumlea mtoto huyo, lakini kwa kweli alikata mimba. 1. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Jiji lenye Furaha Lililoishi Bila Uangalifu <unk> James Merrivale anarudi New York City baada ya vita. Jimmy Herf ameolewa na Ellen ambaye alikutana naye akitumikia katika Msalaba Mwekundu nje ya nchi. Wanarudi na mtoto mchanga katika enzi ya marufuku. Joe O'Keefe husaidia kuandaa wafanyakazi kwa ajili ya madai ya mshahara wa chama cha wafanyakazi, kisha hutembelea daktari kwa matibabu ya ugonjwa wa chembechembe. George Baldwin amejitayarisha kwa nafasi ya kisiasa.. 2. Nickleodeon <unk> Ruth Prynne ana uwezekano wa kuwa na kansa ya koo. Yeye ni chini ya bahati yake na hukutana na suitor mzee. Dutch Robertson hana kazi wala pesa, na hivyo ndivyo mpenzi wake Francie. Jimmy na Ellie pia hawana kazi, lakini wanaficha huzuni zao katika vinywaji na Congo Jack, ambaye sasa ni mvumbuzi wa pombe. 3. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Milango ya kuzunguka <unk> Jake Silverman na msichana wake Rosie ni kujifanya kama watu wa biashara tajiri katika mpango wa udanganyifu. Familia ya Merrivale hula kiamsha-kinywa kabla ya kuondoka kwenda benki. Nevada Jones anacheza dansi na Tony Hunter, ambaye amekuwa kwa daktari wa magonjwa ya akili. Yeye hutembelewa na Baldwin na McNeil. Anna Cohen anafukuzwa kazi katika baa ya sandwichi. Gus McNeil anafanya kazi ya kisiasa kabla ya uchaguzi wa mitaa. Jimmy anamtembelea Congo Jack kufanya biashara ya magendo, lakini kuna jaribio la utekaji nyara wa usafirishaji wa Champagne. James Merrivale hugundua kwamba binti yake Masie yuko karibu kuolewa na John Cunningham, ambaye tayari ameolewa. Wafanyabiashara wanawasiliana kwa ajili ya michango kwa ajili ya uchaguzi wa mitaa. Jimmy anaishi katika hali ya kukosa mahali pamoja na Ellie na mtoto wao Martin. George Baldwin anaita Nevada Jones lakini anamkamata na Tony Hunter na kumfukuza. Ellen yuko kwenye sherehe ya bohemian ambayo inashambuliwa na upelelezi, lakini simu kwa mwanasheria wa wilaya inaacha uvamizi huo. Jimmy anaishi mbali na Ellen. Jake Silverman anakamatwa kwa ulaghai. 4. Uwe na uhakika Skyscraper <unk> Jimmy huacha kazi yake kama mwandishi wa habari na kutangatanga kuzunguka katika delirium ya mawazo mchanganyiko. Anna Cohen anashiriki katika mgomo katika kiwanda cha kushona, na mama yake anamkemea. Jimmy analewa na marafiki wake wasio na kazi. Dutch Robertson anaiba duka la sigareti. Biashara ya Bw. Densch inashuka sana. Mwandishi wa habari anachukua hadithi ya wizi wa duka la sigara, na siku chache baadaye Jimmy anasoma akaunti ya kukamatwa kwa Uholanzi. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. The Burthen of Nineveh <unk> Baldwin<unk> talaka ni kutokana na kuja kupitia. Anamwomba Ellen ndoa, lakini yeye huchelewesha kufanya uamuzi. Buck ananyunyizia Alice pesa, ambaye anapokea hundi kwa jina la mume wake. Jimmy hukutana na Congo Jack ambaye sasa ni Armand Duval na tajiri (lakini anaweza kwenda gerezani) na ameolewa na Nevada Jones. Denshaw aliruka kutoka Marekani na kulipa deni la dola milioni 10. Jack Cunningham anapata talaka haramu na kuolewa na Masie Merrivale. Dutch Robertson na Francie walipata miaka ishirini kwa uhalifu wao. Ellen hukusanya mavazi mapya kutoka kwa Madame Soubrine, ambapo Anna anafanya kazi ya kushona. Kuna moto katika karakana na msichana ni vibaya kuchomwa. Jimmy anawaacha marafiki kwenye karamu na kuondoka bila pesa na bila kusudi. "Mwanamke huyo mwenye umri wa miaka 23 na ambaye ni mfanyakazi wa hoteli, ni ""mwanamke wa mama"" wa Jimmy, ambaye ni mpenzi wa msichana wa zamani wa Hollywood, Emily Thatcher, ambaye ni mpenzi wa msichana wa zamani wa Hollywood, na ambaye baadaye aliolewa na mwigizaji wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki."