Even the children that the author interviews in a cursory manner (against her research protocol, as she acknowledges, but it can be difficult to resist the demands of a nine-year-old niece) regard security and a fear of intruders as the primary reason fro living in a gated community; one boy even discusses the fact that the walls around his house are too low to be truly effective, and dreams of living in a place with much higher walls and a real guard with a gun at the entrance. Contrary to the author's assertion that the people are looking for community, this seems to be a desire for isolation. It is, admittedly, a collective isolation, and the sense of community draws many people to gated communities, but a fear of the outside world is stronger in their consciousness.
It is...
In identifying the various ethnic communities that live in East Harlem, Sharman labels each Chapter with a street name, evidencing the separation that the various communities still enforce, consciously and unconsciously, in their sector of the giant New York metropolis. The arrival of people from a different culture is noted by residents as the biggest cause of change, and therefore the largest trend to react to in their community. There is no precise fear, here, but there is a definite drawing-together of the various ethnic communities that seems to mimic the drive behind moving to gated communities. people are essentially searching for solidarity and protection from the "other."
