The Young Landlords

“When I found out I was the oldest, I just about cried. I was fifteen and everybody else was fifteen, except for Jeannie, but I had been born in March and everybody else had either been born in the summer or the fall. That was a low blow. So I gave him my name and address, although I knew I didn’t want to. But as soon as everybody else found out that I was the oldest, they jumped right on my case.”

Paul is only months older than the others, but this arbitrary distinction forces him into a position of leadership for which he feels unprepared. Though he is the narrator, Paul has lingered in the background of the story up to this point, his name unidentified until a lawyer asks, “Who’s Paul Williams” in Chapter 2 (28). This allows the author to follow the emergence of Paul over the course of the narrative as the true proprietor of The Joint and the leader of the Action Group.

“Later, when I had finally escaped to my room, I figured out two things that annoyed me about my father. The first was that he was just plain annoying, and the second was that he wasn’t annoying in a way that you could really jump on. If he hit me or drank a lot I could really get on that. But when he got on my case about picking up garbage, it was hard. I guess it’s easier to take a person being a pain in the neck when they’re wrong than it is them being a pain in the neck when they’re right.”

Paul, portrayed as a typical teenager, has a conflicted relationship with his father, who often criticizes him for what he perceives as irresponsible behavior. This criticism has created an emotional distance between the two, and learning to understand and appreciate his father is an important part of Paul’s coming-of-age story.

“Now, that’s how I got to be a landlord. […] The second lawyer that looked over the papers worked for the Legal Aid Society, and he said that he would be my attorney, free of charge, if I decided to accept. My father said it was okay and I was in business. That is, me and the Action Group. I decided we would all be landlords because that’s how we got into it in the first place. […] I called a meeting of the Action Group to decide how we were going to fix up our building.”

After showing the legal papers Paul received to his parents and then two attorneys, Paul learns he has purchased the Stratford Arms for $1. This is unlike anything he has experienced before in his life, and it leaves him excited and jubilant until he learns that the building is rapidly losing money and has no clear path to solvency. Abandoning his dreams of quick wealth and turning instead to the hard work of making the building a livable community, Paul learns about The Virtues of Patience and Compromise.

“While me and Dean was getting ourselves handcuffed, Gloria was screaming about us being the landlords, except the cops didn’t get it that way and they were talking about us being Spanish Lords or something. A minute later the three of us were in a police car. And guess who sticks his face in the window asking what we did? Bubba!

‘You must have done something or they wouldn’t have you in the police car,’ he said.”

A recurring theme of the novel is the uncaring, authoritarian attitude of virtually all the police officers depicted. In this case, one tenant decides the young landlords—who have done nothing but introduce themselves—are hooligans. The police arrest Paul, Dean, and Gloria, having arbitrarily accused them of being muggers and gang members. Bubba, an Action Group member, voices the opinion of many lay people throughout the narrative: The police would not detain a person if that person had not committed a crime.

“‘Son, when you reach my age life is precious,’ Mr. Darden said. ‘You don’t go around telling no crazy people they got to move. In fact, you don’t go around telling crazy people they got to do anything. […] What I suggest that you do is to get you an eviction notice form and give that to him by sliding it under his door when he is not around.’

‘That’ll get him out?’ I asked.

‘No,’ Mr. Darden said. ‘Not as long as he pays his rent it won’t. But it might make you feel better.’”

Pete Darden, the live-in custodian of the Stratford Arms, is the go-to person Paul consults when trying to figure out how to deal with new situations. Here, he points out that Paul cannot simply evict a problematic tenant. This is another lesson in The Virtues of Patience and Compromise, as Paul learns that his problems do not always have easy solutions.

“There are things people are supposed to look like. Even if people go around saying you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and things like that, you still expect people to look a certain way. […] We figured that the reason we were having trouble with the joint was that we were really young, and older people don’t know how to deal with young people. They always feel like they have to tell us to do something.”

Making false, snap judgments about characters is a recurrent motif. Chapter 5 begins with members of the Action Group reacting to the jarring appearance of their new, odd-duck accountant, Pender. Their snap judgments about him immediately follow the chapter in which the police make multiple false assumptions about Paul, Gloria, and Dean, after which Bubba also wrongly assumes there was a legitimate reason for their arrests. In the same opening paragraph in which he prepares readers for his misjudgment of Pender, Paul complains that adults make improper snap judgments about the Action Group because they are teenagers.

“Now, I don’t mean to say that I have a cross to bear or anything of the sort. But I’ve had to learn to accommodate to life, while you, as a young man, are still trying to get life to accommodate to you. […] I have chosen a compromise which I can tolerate without completely giving up my illusions. Some will find it silly, others amusing, or perhaps deceitful. Still others will find it simply distinctive of me. What more can a man ask for?”

Pender, the accountant who undertakes setting up the books and payment systems for the Action Group, here converses with Paul. His comments reveal a depth of understanding about Paul’s experiences, implying that he too struggled with idealism in his youth—later the young people find he intended to be a poet—and that his current lifestyle is a compromise that allows him to retain his underlying principles.

“I didn’t want to be the boss or anything, but I thought I did have more of an interest in The Joint than the others. It didn’t even matter to me that it was my dollar that bought the place or that the building was actually in my name, although the members of the Action Group had all signed a paper saying that we all owned The Joint. Maybe I did want to be the boss—I don’t know. I did know that I was changing the way I felt about owning the place.”

As Paul’s self-awareness grows, he wrestles with internal conflicts over his identity as a leader. Initially reluctant, he now feels a real sense of responsibility for The Joint, recognizing that he has an obligation to its tenants. This is an important step in his coming-of-age process.

“[W]hat determines the rent of a building is not simply what you decide to charge. There are a lot of empty places on this block. […] If you raise the rent by the amount you mentioned here, people will simply not live here. […] If Mr. Harley could have simply charged more, he would have. Your one advantage is that none of you are looking on this place as the sole means of income. You can afford to see what you can do with the building. If you were a really good businessman you would give it up.”

In response to a written proposal from Dean to double the rent paid by existing tenants, Pender gives the Action Group a reality check. Paul had previously explained the type of rent control contract held by the tenants prevented arbitrary rent raises. Pender expands upon that by explaining what the residents would do if the landlords attempted to buy their way out of their financial problems by raising the rent. This is another moment in which the teens learn that their problems do not have easy solutions and will instead require patience and compromise.

“The more I thought of what happened, the more I thought that the Captain had set it up. The Captain was really okay, or at least he was as far as I could tell. What he was doing with Bubba was showing him that the whole idea of being a numbers runner was not so cool after all. One of the things that Captain could have done was to play big man and try to impress us, but he didn’t. Instead he just went about the business of what he was about and letting us know that we weren’t going to be runners just because we liked the idea.”

These are Paul’s reflections after he and Dean accompany Bubba to the Captain’s office so Bubba can take a test to determine his qualifications to become one of the Captain’s number runners. Paul realizes that the sudden appearance of the police, coupled with the extreme difficulty of the math problems forced on Bubba, as intended by the Captain, demonstrates the sort of harsh conditions a runner faces. In this way, Walter Dean Myers again portrays the Captain as a compassionate leader in the neighborhood who ultimately has community welfare as a priority.

“‘You have to admit it’s hard to know what’s right and what’s wrong,’ I said […] ‘On the one hand you have a business to run, which could help people, and on the other hand you feel for people. I mean, even if nothing is clear one way or the other, you have to draw a line somewhere or you’ll probably go wrong both places.’

‘Maybe I shouldn’t be in business then,’ Gloria said, her eyes misting over. […] ‘if I’m going to be wrong, then I’m going to be wrong where the people are, not with where the business is!’”

Paul acknowledges the moral ambiguity of his role as a landlord, and in response Gloria stakes out a clear moral position. She would rather take the side of the tenants, even if it means losing money. This moment of moral clarity establishes the parameters of the teens’ work: They must find a way to keep the building financially afloat without negatively impacting tenants.

“‘The revolution needs leaders and that’s what I am!’ he shouted from the middle of the street. ‘The REV-O-LU-TION needs leaders who can take the fight to the street. I ain’t tied to no one place! No one building! I go where the revolution calls because I do not follow—I lead!’

By that time he was on a stoop across the street and they were setting up the cameras over there. I stayed around long enough to find out that he was taking over that building, not mine. I wondered how much history was made that way.”

Myers offers examples of hypocrisy and self-deception in abundance throughout the narrative. In this case, a total stranger proclaims himself the leader of a revolution in which local residents will no longer take the abuse of slum lords who own the Harlem tenements. As Paul watches, he hears locals he knows take up the rhetoric of this stranger, whom Myers never identifies. The self-proclaimed revolutionary leader moves twice to accommodate the lighting needs of attending TV film crews. The speaker, encouraged by area residents, condemns the wealthy lifestyles of the tenement owners, while impoverished, teenaged Paul—wearing only shoe—is in fact the landlord the speaker condemns. Myers implies that such charlatans prey on the unmet needs of area residents.

“‘It’s going to cost the state of New York thousands of dollars to bring this case to trial,’ my father said. ‘And it’s not that important a case.’

‘The guy’s whole life can be ruined, but it’s not that important a trial,’ I said, trying to get as much sarcasm in my voice as possible.”

Periodically, Paul’s father, who believes Chris is guilty, engages Paul in conversations about the case. Paul expresses revulsion at his father’s attitude, here pointing out that no trial that could dramatically, negatively affect an individual’s life is unimportant. Underlying the father’s attitude, as Myers eventually reveals, is his concern about Paul possibly ending up in legal trouble or giving up on a productive life, as his brother—Paul’s uncle Jerry—did as a young man.

“So when I steal, I’m just looking at things from the way the man in the store looks at it and the way the law looks at it. Which is, there ain’t nothing wrong with stealing, just don’t get caught breaking no laws when you do it. […] There ain’t no law that says you can’t steal from a man if he’s just stupider than you.”

This dialogue is part of a self-serving proclamation from A.B., a well-known Harlem procurer (a “fence” or person who can produce stolen goods for area residents at low prices). When Gloria expresses disgust at his profession, A.B. offers an extended justification for his actions, comparing himself to an unscrupulous salesman and vouchsafing the principle that not getting caught is the same as not being guilty. Myers contrasts A.B. with the Captain. Both are criminals, though the Captain offers no hypocritical justification for his actions.

“[M]y father was getting ready to go to West Virginia where his brother had lived. Mom asked me if I would go with him. I didn’t know my uncle, but how could I say no? If somebody dies you’re supposed to feel sorry for them even if you don’t like them, or at least if you didn’t like them when they were living, you were supposed to say it was okay now that they were dead. So I went with my father.”

Though feeling no real kinship with his father, Paul agrees to travel with him to the funeral of his Uncle Jerry, understanding that it is the principled thing to do. The trip ends up providing multiple benefits for Paul: He meets his father’s side of the family for the first time, learns about his father’s difficult background, and comes to understand the underlying reasons his father hounds him to be perfect.

“I wondered, as I lay in bed kind of sorting things out, if he thought I might not make a go of it, like his brother, and that he might lose me, too. Losing people like that, the way my father put it, was scary. […] Gloria could lose people easier than me, I thought because she got closer to people than I did. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, and I really didn’t want to think about it too much, because I didn’t have any real answers.”

Paul’s trip with his father opens a door for him to understand why his father treats him as he does. He also grasps the importance of close relationships, recognizing that forming them is a gift Gloria possesses. Just as buying The Joint has awakened Paul to the human realities faced by his tenants and by other landlords, so his trip with his dad to West Virginia opens his eyes to the complexities of relationships. That he thinks of Gloria during his reflection is an indication of his growing affection for her.

“You know who got in trouble after all that? Not Mr. Darden, because he said he didn’t have a still in the basement. He said he was sleeping and he heard a loud noise. Me. I got a summons for having a building violation. I didn’t even believe it. But that’s what happened. The cops and the bomb squad left, and people started gathering around and asking Mr. Darden if you really had a still in the basement, and he just looked like he was being too modest to say anything about it. A couple of people said that if he ever got it going again they would order from him.”

Paul learns that being the building’s owner means that he is responsible for unsafe conditions within it even if he did not create those unsafe conditions. This is part of Paul’s maturation into leadership, as he realizes that owning a building means taking on risk as well as reward.

“I was getting a little uptight about the whole thing, too. Nobody seemed to want to know about the problems with the building, but everybody wanted a little piece of the criticism. From wanting to make a go of The Joint, I’d come around to just wanting to get people off my back. I wondered if Harley saw the article. He was probably laughing his head off if he did.”

An article about the Stratford Arms contains absurd assertions about Paul. This passage is one of several in which Paul points out the willingness of authorities and pundits to criticize and condemn without real knowledge. The irony of Paul’s statement is that the Action Group made similarly uninformed judgments about Harley before they became The Joint’s owners.

“I realized that he didn’t know what to say to me. […] He didn’t have any more answers to what I should have done or shouldn’t have done than me. I don’t know why, but when that thought came to me I felt really scared for a minute. It only lasted for a short time but it was a different feeling. I felt very close to him after I stopped being scared. I knew I was sharing something with him.”

After Paul’s trip with Dean to the police station, his father lectures him until he simply runs out of things to say. Paul grasps his father’s fears about his future for the first time.

“It’s funny about our block. Everybody does their own thing, so to speak, and leaves everybody else alone. But once when we had a street cleanup campaign everybody came and pitched in period now when we were going to have the street fair everybody wanted to help.”

Driven by the opportunity for fellowship and the support of a worthy cause, the residents of the Stratford Arms and other apartments on the block turn out in support of the Action Group’s street fair. Paul finds this a surprising development, given the emotional distance most area residents exhibit daily. The success of the fair demonstrates The Power of Community.

“You don’t know what it means to have somebody dump garbage on your street until you’re the one who has to clean it up.

‘And you know what else makes me mad?’ Bubba said. ‘Everybody’s going to come out tomorrow and not even notice that the street is clean.’

‘Right,’ I said, ‘but they would notice if it was dirty.’”

This exchange between Bubba and Paul, as they watch Dean hurl a chicken bone at a litterer, builds on Paul’s observations that people quickly criticize those things they perceive to be missing or wrong without ever noticing what is good. Paul has experienced this in multiple interactions with his father, city inspectors, and even his friends. Myers implies that the mindless propensity to complain is enervating and destructive in relationships where cooperation might lead to progress.

“And she gave me a little kiss just as the door opened. […]

That was the end of that. But that was good, because I really had to take Gloria in small doses. Not that I didn’t like her or anything, because I was crazy about her, but I felt so different when I was around her I was almost a different person. Even more so when we were alone.”

Throughout the narrative, Myers charts Paul’s growing affection for Gloria. Careful in choosing his actions and words, when Paul finds himself alone with Gloria after their nighttime warehouse excursion, he spontaneously expresses his love for her. Here, his need to experience their relationship in “small doses” is an indication that he is not a spontaneous person and struggles to handle the new emotions she creates in him.

“We’re all happy for a while, but things didn’t work out exactly the way that we thought they would. Tony, the guy that bought the stuff from Mr. Reynolds, got a six month’s suspended sentence. Willie Bobo and Mr. Reynolds we thought would go to jail for sure. But it didn’t turn out that way. What happened was that Willie Bobo stuck to the story that Chris was in on it even though everybody knew he wasn’t. […] So in order not to get Chris involved they made a deal with Willie Bobo and Mr. Reynolds to accept suspended sentences.”

As with many of Myers’s other novels, the author depicts the outcome of legal actions—particularly criminal proceedings—in realistic terms. Here, despite the other young people’s faith in him, Chris does have at least awareness of the underlying crime. Those involved in the fraudulent insurance scam receive a slap on the wrist. Rather than the boon of receiving a reward for their efforts—since they did solve the crime—the Action Group must soldier on with meager resources as they do their best to run The Joint.