Crossing The Boulevard: Points of View

Crossing the Boulevard is a very
unique book. It gathers many people’s stories about how they came to Queens
from all over the world. This essay will be focusing on two certain people and
their opinions on several subjects. These two people are Ali and Moustafa, both
brothers from Egypt. They came to Astoria in Queens in order to start a new
life. They both have a restaurant in Astoria. However, Moustafa decorates his
restaurant much more than Ali does. Besides this, the two brothers are both
very similar.

            This
essay will be focusing on the point of view of the characters on several
topics. Ali preferably has opinions about people of all sorts- those from
Egypt, his customers, himself. Moustafa focuses on objects. He likes to find
meaning in everything, and create various things.

            Like
mentioned before, Ali focuses mostly on the people and their personalities. The
one thing Ali values most is that the person tries to pay as much as he can at
the restaurant, even if he or she can’t completely pay the check.  Ali pays attention to the effort of the
person. In the book, he says, “I give them food and drinks, at least $100
worth. When you come from the background we come from, money isn’t everything…
But when you are rich, filthy rich, and you are cheap, and you are rude, then
you really don’t deserve to be in my place” (page 182). This shows me that Ali
is extremely giving and generous, and that all he wants to do is feed people.
He cares more about the person's personality and ability to try than the actual
results yielded, such as paying a check.

            Moustafa
focuses on objects and finding meaning in everything, like said before.  He often finds “trash” and he
reorganizes it and creates art out of it. Then, he decorates his shop with this
art. He says, “You can make anything from anything else. I made chandeliers out
of blue bottles. Hung the bottles upside down from a round metal pipe. Then I
hung crystal so it dropped like tears coming down from the center” (page 189).
Moustafa really likes to decorate his shop with things he has created himself.
He does this solely for his customers. He also has an opinion on people. He wants
to make the environment comfortable and welcoming in his restaurant for all of
his customers. 

            So
in the end, both Moustafa and Ali are very generous and giving people that care
more for others than for themselves.