In The Street, by Ann Petry, Lutie Johnson, faces many obstacles within her environment and surroundings. Being a minority woman, single mother and living in Harlem, she becomes a victim of her environment in a way. She is vulnerable and at risk due to many obstacles she faces due to society and her relationship to her surroundings and the environment she lives in. Being a minority woman living in Harlem made it difficult to show and prove how intelligent and successful she can be. Other people see how beautiful Lutie is and describe the way she looks and automatically fit her in the category of prostitution due to the simple fact that she is minority and lives in Harlem. Being a minority myself and growing up in a poor neighborhood, I too myself can relate to being a victim of my environment. I have been in many situations where many other people would assume a certain role I should or do obtain. There would be obstacles I faced as a young adult, looking for a job, many would see that I would “not be able to handle the job” based on where I came from, or I should be fit doing house keeping. Like Lutie, she was told “Not good for woman to work” (Petry 33). That saying would constantly pop in Lutie’s head when she would face a difficult situation, but her relationship with her environment caused her to feel as though she does not belong there. The way she would describe 116th Street as an awful place, very dark, not pleasing to be in. She would describe her environment as an obstacle that is slowing her down from obtaining what she wants. Being in an environment where you feel inferior to others, where you are leveled low, brought me to being a victim because I felt as though I could not show my true colors. I felt unwanted, I dreaded my surroundings, was sickened by the aurora of my environment, Like how Lutie felt about her building in which she lived in. I felt trapped in my environment; any opportunity I failed in obtaining gave me less and less hope about escaping my environment. Lutie had high hopes that her singing gig would be her escape route from living on 116th street and it was put to an end when Junto had different plans for her and refused to give her salary. She did not let someone else control her outcome. She was still determined to leave and look for something better. The feeling of her not belonging and being lost, gave her enough motivation to escape. Not being comfortable with the society’s idea of how a minority woman, living in a poor neighborhood should live her life, gave me the motivation to over forward and not accept anything I do not deserve. I know I am an intelligent woman, knowing what I deserve, Like Lutie, I did not accept anything less to obtain what I wanted. Lutie was given some opportunities of escaping her environment, but would cause her to lower her own standards, her own self-respect just to obtain money to escape. Your environment can be powerful. How you see your environment can much control your outcome of who you are and will be. I took my environment as a place I do not felt I belonged to; I was not comfortable with the idea of how people lived for themselves in my environment. That gave me motivation to escape and overcome being a victim of my environment. Knowing my self worth and how much I wanted to live a better life gave me the determination to not be a victim of my environment. Although my environment did slow down and placed many obstacles in my path, but it did not stop my determination, like Lutie, I did not let my environment control me. Knowing your self worth overcame the power of becoming a victim to my environment.