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Ciaran is one of the protagonists in Let the Great World Spin who struck out to me the most due to his lack of understanding. Ciaran is the complete antithesis to his brother. Corrigan accepts people for who they are and tries to sympathize with their pain, never questioning their choices, and even going as far as to experience their suffering himself. Ciaran’s character contradicts himself at several points throughout the novel, but, eventually, by the book’s completion, he undergoes a transformation that was heavily impacted by his brother’s lifestyle, allowing him to find clarity after looking at life through a prejudiced lens.
Ciaran never understood why his brother did the things he did as a child. Corrigan often prayed fervently and rhythmically at night, hung around alcoholics, and befriended the marginalized in Ireland. As proven by his lifelong devotion to giving back to others, this was simply Corrigan’s personality, but Ciaran couldn’t come to terms with this. For the reader, it’s easy to understand that Corrigan took on the pain of others to escape his own; however, in Ciaran’s eyes, Corrigan sabotaged his prior golden child status by sustaining this lifestyle.
After escaping strife in his home country, Ciaran moves to NYC to be with his brother. You would expect him to have respect towards the diversity that characterizes the city he has moved to being an immigrant himself, but the first time he sees a black woman in his life, his first and only thought is a slur.
Even in the Bronx, he begged his brother to keep his apartment door locked so prostitutes could not enter and leave as they pleased between clients. Ciaran questions why of all people to befriend Corrigan chooses hookers. However, again, Ciaran contradicts himself. Though Tillie, a friend of Corrigan’s, is a prostitute, Ciaran sleeps with her anyways. However, he doesn’t do so until he connects with her and sees intelligence in her. In that moment, through their shared admiration for Persian poetry, I believe Ciaran began to appreciate the diversity of NYC and recognize his prejudiced outlook on life.
After Corrigan passes away and Ciaran discovers it was Lara who indirectly killed his brother, he ultimately accepts this and ends up marrying her. The pre-New York Ciaran would never have it in him to muster up the courage to forgive something as horrible as this, but I believe that it’s Corrigan’s impact that influences Ciaran to become more accepting and forgiving. Ciaran tells Lara that his brother made people become what they didn’t think they could become. He is referring to himself; once we try and understand the things we couldn’t accept before, we see new perspectives and become more open-minded. Upon completion of the novel, it was evident to me that Ciaran had a new perception of life, void of judgments and prejudices, and, instead, filled with love and acceptance.
I really liked your point of how polar opposites Corrigan and Ciaran are. Ciaran is a huge mystery to us as the reader. Corrigan and Ciarans’ whole storyline begins with the mystery of Ciarans’ name. His whole identity isn’t revealed for a while and gives that interesting yet mysterious aspect to his character. Although Ciaran is very different from his brother, completing the novel the reader observes how Ciaran undergoes this character development where he kinda changes his mindset due to his brothers presence in his life. Without knowing it Ciaran subconsciously has changed from being in the city and from the experiences with his brother.
Yeah, your point is definitely true. I agree that Corrigan and Ciaran are literary foils in the novel. Ciaran often didn’t understand why Corrigan did certain things. Their values, morals, stories are different, but as you implied, I think foils such as Ciaran and Corrigan often complement each other and as you said by the end of the novel, Ciaran is transformed by his brother’s lifestyle and he’s able to see life through different lens.
I thought your reflection on the differences between Corrigan and Ciaran was very insightful and I also really liked how you emphasized the contradictions within Ciaran as an extension of the contrast between him and Corrigan. I never really thought about the contradictions in Ciaran’s actions; however, after reading your response, I realized that some of his actions and words contradict and seem similar to the internal struggle that Corrigan faced. Likewise, Ciaran resembles his brother because he remains a mystery to us as Leondra said. Although we read through his perspective for a part of the novel, he primarily discusses Corrigan. We begin to see him become more accepting, but we aren’t able to see through his changed perspective by the end of the novel. However, based on the information we do get, NYC and the people he meets like Tillie seem to be the main reasons for his change as he begins to appreciate and recognize the individual value and dreams that everyone has.
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