Read this sentence. he has fished in manhattan’s wallet and dug out coins, but has never listened to manhattan’s breathing, never awakened to its morning, never dropped off to sleep in its night. how does the personification in the words “manhattan’s breathing” affect the passage?

It shows that the subject has been in Manhattan, but hasn't really lived there. The personification shows Manahattan as a living, breathing "person" of its own, and the fact that someone has not done enough to really connect with that cycle makes the reader feel like the subject is not as much a part of the city as they might think.