V rabote issleduetsya reprezentatsiya ulichnykh mal'chikov i podrostkov, v chastnosti, prodavtsov gazet, a takzhe gorodskoy molodezhi srednego klassa v n'yu-yorkskoy bytovoy zhivopisi 1840-1850-kh gg. Rassmatrivaetsya ponimanie problem pokoleniy, istoricheskoy pamyati, svyazi mezhdu molodost'yu i revolyutsiey v tvorchestve Richarda Katona Vudvilla, ryada drugikh khudozhnikov. V tselom mozhno soglasit'sya s amerikanskoy issledovatel'nitsey Elizabet Dzhons v tom, chto proizvedeniya n'yu-yorkskikh zhanristov serediny XIX v. vryad li mozhno schitat' realisticheskim otobrazheniem deystvitel'nosti. Na vizualizatsiyu molodykh amerikantsev v opredelennoy stepeni nakladyvala pechat' ideologiya, sotsiokul'turnye, politicheskie i ekonomicheskie izmeneniya, proiskhodivshie v SShA. Konstruirovavshiysya obraz gorodskogo paren'ka, torgovtsa pressoy, - simvola "Molodoy Ameriki", svoego roda "amerikanskogo Gavrosha", dlya mnogikh zhiteley strany stanovilsya voploshcheniem dukha amerikanskoy natsii, natsional'nogo kharaktera, samoy amerikanskoy mechty.