In the poem, Cory does not live downtown, but he sometimes goes there. When he does, he doesn't go out of his way to attract attention by dressing lavishly or acting like a caricature. Yet people treat him differently than they treat one another. Their awareness of his wealth causes pulses to flutter when he wishes them a good morning, and everything about him comes across as refined, schooled, polished, and perhaps not entirely real. The fact Cory is described as being "human" when he talks indicates that the narrator finds it surprising, because it seems to the narrator to not quite be what he or she expects.