The Cross and the Switchblade

Content Warning: The source material contains descriptions of drug abuse and addiction, sexual and physical violence against minors, and animal cruelty. Additionally, the source material endorses dated ideas about sex workers, sexually active women, and persons with substance use disorders. The source text also shows anti-gay bias and is prejudiced against Black and Hispanic people.

“Anyone’s natural instinct would be aversion to those boys, not sympathy. I could not understand my own reaction.”

Although Wilkerson feels called to travel to New York to help the boys on trial in the Farmer Case, he also expects readers to feel intense disgust toward the boys’ violent actions. This detail also emphasizes Wilkerson’s point that he is acting out of God’s will rather than his own, and that his reactions and actions are divinely inspired.

“Suddenly we were in Times Square. We thought of quiet evenings in Philipsburg as Miles read out words from the marquees: ‘Naked Secrets,’ ‘Loveless Love,’ ‘Teen-age Girl of the Night,’ ‘Shame.’”

In the early chapters, Wilkerson establishes a dichotomy between the quiet purity of his life in Philipsburg and what he portrays as the explicit sinfulness of New York City. Wilkerson is disturbed by the overt references to sex in Times Square and longs for home. However, he perseveres with his work in New York City despite this, which establishes his willingness to endure personal discomfort for his mission.

“Maria had expressed the opinion of the experts: there was virtually no hope for the ‘mainline’ addict, the one who injects heroin directly into the blood-stream.”

Wilkerson’s ideas about drug use reflect common notions of the time (namely, the late fifties and early sixties), and they can seem dated to 21st-century readers. In this case, he suggests that even experts believe that intravenous heroin users are essentially beyond hope; this argument is not supported by research conducted since the book’s publication. Wilkerson uses this detail while describing