When I Was the Greatest

“Be good to your family, y’all, no matter where your families are ’cause everybody needs family, y’all…”

It is no coincidence that Reynolds chooses a song by Bed-Stuy born and raised musician Mos Def to set the stage for a story based in a fictional version of that neighborhood. The quoted lyrics foreshadow that this is a story about the importance of family. Other lines from the song—like “To all the real soldiers, black people, We family y’all”—reinforce the message that family can go beyond biological ties.

“People say it’s bad, and sometimes it is, but I like to focus on the positives. We got bodegas on both ends, which is cool…”

Talking about his area of Bed-Stuy, Ali’s optimistic personality shines through. Rather than focusing on the more unsavory aspects of the neighborhood, he finds something, anything positive to talk about instead. Like any good New Yorker, he knows that having not one but two bodegas on his block is a definite highlight.

“I guess he didn’t hear me open the door, because he flinched, big-time, when I said, ‘Yo, man.’”

Noodles’s response to Ali’s innocuous greeting suggests that all is not well with him. Reflexively flinching like this can be considered an indicator of abuse and suggests that Noodles is constantly on edge. This makes sense considering the rough conditions of his apartment building, but it could also suggest that his upbringing and home life make feel unsafe.