Coney Island

Kasson writes that Coney Island is a place where an individual can become so overwhelmed in all the five senses that they become oblivious. All the authors seems to agree in a way, that Coney Island is the escape. The escape is what made it so popular, relates Gorky. Kasson says that at that time people wanted something out of the ordinary to take them away from the dreary work day and dreary lives. Its where people "cut loose" says Tilyou. It was where the dreary christian world could come to not only desire the unacceptable, but embrace it. To see the sins posted up for all to see and live by there. And not fear the punishment, but again, desire it.
On another note, though it were a place to take the wife and kids, Coney Island describes American standards. It brought forth the need for compensation and over-indulgence, which is described as the American spirit.