This novel, written by Dr. Eliot Liebow, attempts to try to understand the lives of some particular urban Negro men or “Streetcorner Men” ” and how they are affected by society and the lifestyle they are forced to endure. In his second chapter "Men and Works", he talks about the issues, subjective and structural, that prevent these "street corner men" from freeing themselves from the bondage of their weakened lifestyles, this quote from reading really justifies this ideology, states Liebow “What lies behind the response of the driver of the pickup truck, then, is a complex combination of attitudes and evaluations” (Liebow, 44). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Liewbow also tries to relate his refusal to the ideological and structural factors by which these men were shaped and continue to follow the path of avoidance, rather than blaming the refusal of the job on laziness, and not making people think them to the disappointments they have created for their families. This is why in the book, “men did not accept work even if it was handed to them on a plate” (Liebow 33). Just like any job with a white man offering basic day work to men on the street corner, the pickup truck, slowly reminds them that they will continually be stuck in this vicious cycle of dissatisfaction and alienation. They still don't want to stop this ongoing cycle and accept the white man's offer, instead they see this as another chance to take the hands of failure rather than kiss success. The “Streetcorner” is all these men have that allows them to feel a modicum of comfort in their lives, seeing how the men are a little adrift. Thinking in terms of an ideological point of view, these men use the success they lack as a factor that keeps them together. You won't hear them encouraging each other to do better for themselves (like taking care of their family, getting a job, etc.), in other words these men use the street corner and all their struggles to connect with each other. They will never see pickup trucks as an opportunity, but they will see them as some kind of threat, a humiliating gesture knowing that they may not be able to take care of their families even if they take the pickup job. These "streetcar" men deprive each other and themselves, with the naked eye it is difficult to understand them but there is much more to decode about these men and their lack of success. In the book Liebow analyzes a certain mentality that the men on the street corner had adapted to, the mentality that they will always be rejected. It's not their fault, he thinks, he places the blame for this type of mentality adopted on the structures and limitations of the surrounding environment. This is a generational effect, the people they observed before them had experienced the same “prisoner” of life “on the street corner”. These men accept the unspeakable truth that there may never be a way out. It's in their DNA, it's what describes them, it's part of their characteristics and they are the only ones who can resist and try to fight them. The world sees them as failures in society and unintentionally intentionally limits their successes. Liebow states that “Work and man are equal, work fails man, and man fails work” (Liebow 39). In the chapter "Lovers and Exploiters" the book seeks and understands the relationships in the lives of these men and women in society. The men on the street corner do not seek these relationships as fruitful, but only as forms of income, a kind of resource..