Charming as a Verb

Content Warning: The following sections summarize and analyze topics relating to race, racism, privilege, and identity.

As high school senior Henri Haltiwanger walks his clients’ dogs, he is sure to smile a lot. As a tall, young Black man in New York City, he learned a long time ago that smiles go a long way in disarming people from their prejudice towards him. Henri is a busy student who attends FATE (the Fine Arts Technical Education Academy), but it is important to him to make time for his job walking dogs on the Upper West Side because he will need all the money possible for college.

Henri runs into another dog walker, Gigi, who works for another company. She does not know that Henri’s dog walking company is actually not a company–it is just Henri’s own brand creation. Henri plans to walk his dogs, then go back to FATE for evening extracurricular activities. Henri subscribes to what his father calls “The Great Hunger” because America is all about “How much gusto and hustle you can muster in pursuit of your goals and for that better life for your children” (7). Henri’s father is a building manager, which allows Henri’s family to live in a small apartment in an opulent building they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.