"El Barrio Within New York City"" presents an emotional structure, reflecting Piri Thomas's inner struggle and passions, his flows of feelings and energy, his spiritual highs and lows. This makes the reader participate and share both his strengths and weaknesses, his force and courage, but also the deep restlessness of a young man in search of his identity. The essay considers the entire range of Piri Thomas's experiences, where questions on the deepest issues of life are constatly dealt with, until the final answer, that is the acceptance of his in-between status: no matter where he goes,...