 The characters are depicted neither as purely good or evil: for example, Rosie in "The Super" triumphs over the racist, abusive superintendent by stealing his money, having him framed for pedophilia, and driving him to suicide. Confinement is a prominent theme; Eisner chooses perspectives through which the reader views the characters framed by doorways, window frames, or sheets of rain. Frimme Hersh seeks freedom from oppressive Eastern European antisemitism; there is a feeling of elation for characters in the final story as they find their way out of the tenement's, and the city's, confinement.
