New York serves as a geographic reference for relocation, family history, and artistic ambition rather than as a continuously depicted setting. Syracuse is the clearest named point: Jensen Brick McCall identifies it as his former home, while another recollection describes a trip to New York to encounter art associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

Syracuse and Relocation

When asked about his driver’s license, Jensen confirms that he is from Syracuse, New York, and explains that he relocated the previous day to live with family. The exchange makes the city a marker of recent movement and a change in his immediate circumstances. It establishes his connection to New York without specifying how long he had lived in Syracuse or detailing the route of his move.

New York and Artistic Ambition

In Janae Morrison’s account of her relationship with Robert Walters, New York appears as a destination he took her to so she could see works by artists she admired from the Harlem Renaissance. The trip belongs to a wider history in which her art is taken seriously: Walters had approached her while she was showing and selling her work, supported her art classes, and acquired supplies for her. The account names New York but does not specify the precise venue or establish whether the trip was to the city or another place in the state.

Family History and Geographic Limits

Other important memories involving Jensen’s family concern a school visit when he was ten and a painful confrontation about his birth mother’s earlier failure to remain in his life. These passages establish the weight of family separation and reunion, but the cited memories do not explicitly identify their locations as New York. The book therefore anchors the state most securely through Jensen’s stated connection to Syracuse, while its other New York reference links place to Janae’s artistic experience rather than supplying a fuller geographical portrait.