Tension in urban neighborhoods
Because of chronic disenfranchisement, the neighborhoods in this story are forced into modes of desperation. People's lives are falling apart, and on the bottom, there is no limit as to the damage that can be done in a person's life when they run out of money and opportunities. That makes for a tense neighborhood, and when the community is divided as clearly as Brooklyn into various sections, the tension can often lead to demonizing the innocent "other."
Race and ethnicity
The imagery that shapes the characters' experience most in this season is the imagery of race and ethnic identity. The Jews are not like the African Americans in color, in religion, in culture, or in economic strategies, so when their struggle becomes one of desperate measures, the two communities can easily discriminate "Us" from "Them." Instead of celebrating their cultures, they end up demonizing those different than them, and full-blown hell erupts as a consequence.
Justice and injustice
Another experience of imagery that defines the narrative is the fight for justice. Although to their own perceptions, the characters in this story are automatically governed by justice, the truth is plain to the audience. When innocent people are executed in cold blood in the name of vengeful justice, there is clearly cognitive dissonance. Although in their opinion, they are being arbiters of justice against injustice, in reality, they are resorting to ancient mentalities of tribal warfare.
Unstoppable chain reactions of violence
One the violence has begun, it is nearly impossible to stop. The story shows that violence is a difficult issue, because when someone dies, the community wants justice. Even in cases where violence isn't involved, death prompts a sense of injustice, like, "How could this happen to them?" This tendency, mixed with the serious issue of labeling "Us and Them," and demonizing the other make violence into a chain reaction of cause and unlimited effects—especially violence in the form of a race war.
