Prejudice In On The Sidewalk Bleeding

Prejudice and our blind eye towards prejudice within our society are evident factors in the story “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” by Evan Hunter. The main character, Andy, because of his gang membership, is pre judged based on his jacket and not for who he actually is. As a society, we do not notice the injustice within our culture. Prejudice, an underlying and unseen inequality made the difference between life and death for Andy. Andy could have been saved numerous times from after he was stabbed but the reaction he faced from the people who could have saved him was a heart breaking experience for the reader.

Firstly, Andy’s inadequacy to see his own identity disappear proved to be fatal for him. If Andy had realised that he was no longer “Andy” he may have left the gang and this would have saved his life. Andy was a suspected to prejudice because of his gang membership. “Even in his pain, there had been some sort of pride in knowing he was a Royal. Now there was no pride at all. With the rain beginning to chill him, with the blood pouring steadily between his fingers, he knew only a sort of dizziness. He could only think: I want to be Andy”(2).
“He had heard the voice saying, 'That's for you Royal! " and then the sound of footsteps hurrying into the rain, and then he had fallen to the sidewalk, clutching his stomach, trying to stop the flow of blood” (1). Andy was stabbed because of the preconception of the rival gang member. The assailant did not know whether or not he was a good or bad person, he only knew he was a Royal. Andy’s lack of judgement had not only led to his loss of individuality, but it also led to his untimely death. Andy was assaulted because of hatred. He wore a purple jacket that bore the name “The Royals”, that is what killed