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Corrigan is the most unique character in Let the Great World Spin. His selflessness sticks out like a sore thumb in a city obsessed with success and “making it”. The other characters in the novel are absorbed in trying to improve themselves. Corrigan doesn’t have that same agenda. He is content with being used by the people around him. He gives and doesn’t expect anything in return.
The first place to look at when analyzing a person’s personality is their childhood. Not having a father around to be there for Corrigan could have made him want to be there for others. The psychological effect of a fatherless home on Corrigan is demonstrated in two parts of the book. The first sign is Corrigan’s unbridled fury when he meets his father for the first time. The second sign is Corrigan only using his last name because he hates he was named after his father. Another pattern in Corrigan’s childhood that is seen until his death is his selflessness. This selflessness can be divided into two traits. The first trait is generosity. From volunteering at a nursing home, to hiring a prostitute for Albee, and letting prostitutes use his apartment, Corrigan is an abnormally giving spirit. Another facet of Corrigan’s selflessness is his desire to feel other’s pain. He is a unique empath because he isn’t overtly emotional or talkative. He needs to feel other people’s pain firsthand. The connection can be seen in Corrigan’s childhood when he would end up drunk. He wouldn’t drink because he had a personal interest in getting drunk, but because he saw the pain in the local drunkards and needed that pain. Additionally, Corrigan was terribly beaten by the pimps because he needed to feel the pain he saw the prostitutes go through.
Fundamentally, what makes Corrigan fascinating isn’t just his unique personality. What truly makes him different than everyone else is the context of being Corrigan in 1970s New York. New York is the epitome of cosmopolitanism and capitalism. Everyone else in the city besides him is trying to move upward. Corrigan’s Christlike story – Growing up with only his mother, living amongst the lowest in society, and dying an early death due to those in power (the wealthy couple) – speaks to the depth of Let the Great World Spin.
I like how you described Corrigan as almost like one person against everyone else in the city. It’s almost a direct contrast to the tightrope walker, who brings all the people of the city together in a way. I agree that the need to feel people’s pain is part of his unique and somewhat strange approach towards helping people. It’s interesting that you described Corrigan’s story as Christlike. I didn’t look at it that way before, but now that you’ve mentioned it, it does seem to make sense.
I didn’t at all think about the Christ allegory until I already analyzed his character progression through his age. It was interesting that I stumbled upon that after hearing the similar stories “reverse engineered”. It goes to show what effect our culture has on our own interpretation of culture itself and how the medium of novels are written.
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