West Side Story

The leader of the Jets, Riff is described as “glowing, driving, intelligent, slightly whacky” (1). He and Tony started the gang, and Riff mentors the younger members. In the Prologue, when the Sharks threaten A-Rab, “Riff goes at once to A-Rab like a protective father” (1). While Tony has grown out of the gang life, Riff remains all in. Riff asserts in the song “When You’re a Jet” that “When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way from your first cigarette to your last dyin’ day” (9). Riff and Tony are like brothers, and Riff convinces Tony that he has an obligation to the Jets even though Tony has stepped back from the gang. Riff’s world is small, focused on the Jets as family, the Sharks as enemies, and turf as everything. He attempts to impose rules and order on the gang war by organizing a War Council, and tries to shake Bernardo’s hand at the start of the rumble as a sign of civility and decorum. These actions suggest that Riff’s understanding of the feud is naïve. The rules should protect both gangs from serious injury, but that isn’t how street wars function. However, Riff is not so naïve that he trusts the Sharks to play by the rules, as evidenced by the fact that he brings a switchblade to fight that is supposed to be weaponless.