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The world has recently become trapped inside of amber. A raging pandemic has locked away hopes and dreams(and most people) for another day. Being inside this fossilized resin, a reader of the novel “Let the Great World Spin” by Colum McCann, especially a student reader, would feel great attraction to one particular character, Sam Peters.
One of Sam’s intriguing points is his location in the story. Residing in California, Sam is separated from the main plot of the novel happening in New York. His only connection is through a computer connected to a payphone near the World Trade Center. This feels eerily similar to the world’s current situation, with everyone mainly only able to communicate using the internet. Also, Sam is calling the payphone with his co-workers to try to get a description of a tightrope walker between the twin towers. The entire conversation is a struggle, as both the first one to pick up, Jose, and the second, Sable are often too simple-minded or engrossed in the tightrope walker to describe what is happening. The irritation that Sam and his friends feel from the conversations is very relatable, especially in the present climate. This is very endearing to many college students as they are feeling very similar frustrations from their online classes.
Being that Sam is 18, he is a character with many similarities to our own class as he is dealing with the same problems in work, love, and aspirations. Sam took an interest in Sable, but got shot down when he asked for her number. Being in a pivotal moment of their life, students are constantly looking for new opportunities, in work and love, and are rejected quite frequently in the same way as Sam. He is both a kid and an adult, as he is doing work for the Pentagon and yet can’t get a date.
However, what attracts readers most to Sam is his scrappiness and passion. He was always doing the most, building home-made radios out of toilet paper rolls and building full stereo systems out of trash. Never having much, Sam learned to work with what he has, which feels like a very New York mentality—even with him being in California. Also, coding is like breathing to Sam; the world around him shrinks and he is free. He has found his life’s calling, anyone would be jealous of that. Yet, he stays relatable in the fact that he is self-conscious.
In that, the beauty of Sam is revealed. He is stuck in the same social amber, trapped behind a screen. His life has purpose from his programs, but no romance. So, like many others, Sam is forced to only socialize online, repeating his truth; “I’m not a weirdo.”
I appreciate your connection of the novel to current issues like the implications of the Coronavirus pandemic; these similarities never occurred to me while reading the book, but I’m glad to recognize this perspective now, as it helps us to relate to the characters as readers. I especially love your comparison of the world being forced into isolation to being frozen in time in amber; it reminds me of how the dinosaur DNA was fossilized in amber for millions of years in Jurassic Park. In each situation of being “stuck in amber”, a piece of history is being preserved. It also never occurred to me how similar we are as students to Sam. I perceived Sam as one of the lesser important characters, serving only as a link to the story of the tightrope walker. I can definitely say that after reading your analysis of Sam, I feel more of a connection to him than to other characters. Though he wasn’t directly essential to the plot, he allowed the readers to gain more insight on what was happening on that day through another perspective outside of NYC. His struggle, as you called it, to figure out what was happening through technology alone is similar to students trying to learn an entire semester of school solely through a screen; it is indeed a struggle, but we persist, as Sam did, and find new opportunities along the way.
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