The Mole People

//Comments

Nicholas H

Tony G

Patrick S

The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City by Jennifer Toth is an ethnographic look at the homeless inhabitants that dwell in the tunnels that snake underneath New York City. Jennifer writes the book in from an outsiders perspective looking in on the people. She visits several camps and gathering places and interviews lots of different people from each location. She also writes sometimes from her point of view and her understanding of what is going on. Mostly though, she is only retelling the stories that she is told and essentially a play-by-play of different situations that she found herself in. Overall, the book is a nice read and is not technical at all. The problem I thought though is that she seems very removed from everything. I understand that is what an ethnography is about, but even her descriptions of her encounters with various people are told as if she is not even part of the conversation that they are having with her.

I did learn a lot from the book as well. I knew of people living in tunnels beneath the city, but I was not aware as to the extent. I thought it was very interesting of the size of the groups of people in the tunnels. Even to go as far as having a mayor, police, and a school all for people with no houses or jobs. The way that these groups of people can band together and accomplish this stuff is certainly something to think about. If all these people can organize like this, what is really stopping them from leading a successful life on the surface? She does state that lots of people are in the tunnels because they choose to be. From her descriptions and tales of others, the tunnel life does not seem as bad as surface dwellers would make it out to be, but it is not for everyone. Even with having such a tight knit community, there are still lots of dangers in the tunnels. Many people are there on their own trying to get by and searching for ways to get drugs. If you seem weaker than they are, or even only slightly stronger, they will not hesitate to kill you.

The tunnels are excellent places for crime. People can go on killing sprees without anyone finding out. Police are always hesitant to go into the tunnels when called and track workers who have to frequently enter the tunnels know the rules. If you don't try to mess with them, then will mostly leave you alone. The city has tried and failed countless times to clean up the underworld but no method has made any kind of major improvement on the situation. At this point, as long as they are not upsetting the status-quo, then it should be fine to leave things as is.