Universal Indifference and Introspective Appreciation

How impassioned and vibrant is one’s character that it is so often marked by bold displays of triumph and fulfillment? How rigid is it that it is so often tied to items of physical worth? How pronounced is it that it is so often discerned by outward impressions? In what has become an utterly genre-shattering contemporary collage, Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin seamlessly embraces these realities, transcending the conventional modes of storytelling and exemplifying individually modest stories at the heart of New York City, 1974. At the lowest canopy of this metropolitan jungle dwells Fernando Yunqué Marcano, armed with a Minolta SR-T102 and shielded by universal indifference. Here is a character who pursues art in its most detested and unnoticed guise. What strikes me about Fernando is his diffidence and introspective approach to capturing graffiti signatures in the subway tunnel; he does not do this out of expectation by others or conformity to a larger ideal, but simply due to his genuine fascination with the spectrum of artwork buried under the streets, inaccessible to the public. Although confronted with challenges in his life aboveground, including his resentment towards his stepfather Irwin and the monotony of a barbershop job, he uses his passion to fuel him and foster an unfounded sense of optimism. Fernando’s altruism and self-consciousness distinguishes him from the other characters. Challenged with snapping the shutter at the precise moment as not to waste his limited camera roll in the world before the recklessness of digital photography, Fernando refrains from morbid self-attention and rather allows a great moment to capture itself. He kindles his own visions, and contemplates immersing himself into the scene by becoming a graffiti artist himself. Yet at the end of the day, he is truly cognizant of his own limitations and the scope of his endeavors. Even when he seeks publication for a photograph of his in a magazine, it is not out of a distinction of attention or out of arrogance that he wishes to publicize his work, but out of his understanding of his individual potential to convey art to society. Emerging from the depths of the subway, Fernando captures the sleek figure lingering between the World Trade Center Towers. This moment instigates the increasingly stark and deceptive social landscape which resides at the novel’s core; so easily are people perturbed and dejected by an unknown phenomenon that they fail to grasp its beauty; this is precisely why Fernando is so taken by the depths of society’s ignorance, wherein lies a lack of understanding but a flame of appreciation.
(Word Count: 427)