I) Unlike most people who thought of the famous scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when reading the title of the chapter, my mind went straight to the Shrek movies where Lord Farquaad says “Mirror mirror on the wall, is this not the most perfect kingdom of them all?” Funnily enough, in the Snow White movie the Queen says “magic mirror” instead of “mirror mirror” meaning that the McCann could have possibly been referencing the Shrek movies ;). Okay now onto the actual assignment.
When Claire mentions a Miró painting, she is referencing the Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miró. After revealing her wistful memories of her son, Joshua, she asks the painting “Miró, Miró, on the wall, who’s the deadest of them all? (112). In this quote, Claire is referring to both herself and her son since she suffers mass amounts of grief and depression since his passing.
II) There were many collisions throughout this section that included many minor characters; however, focusing on the main characters of the novel I counted about 15 interactions.
- Corrigan
- Ciaran
- The Tightrope Walker
- Tillie
- Jazzlyn
- Lara
- Claire
- Gloria
- Bereaved Mothers
- Adelita
- Blaine
- Fernando
- Sam
- Soloman
Although Corrigan is now dead, the interaction between him and Ciaran is what sparked my interest. Throughout a majority of Ciaran’s life, he could never obtain a true grasp on the meaning behind Corrigan’s work. Whether it was Corrigan giving his blankets away as a kid or joining the Order and moving to the Bronx to help prostitutes, Ciaran could not comprehend his brother’s motives. It was not until his interaction with Corrigan’s death where we see true development in his character based on his collisions with others. When Tillie slaps Ciaran for ever thinking of himself as better than her, instead showing anger he reveals that he is actually grateful for it. Humility. When Lara tells Ciaran that she was the one to kill Corrigan in the car crash, he only says one thing, “You should have stopped” (151). Forgiveness. One of the hardest things to do is to forgive—especially when it comes to someone killing your brother. As a result of his brother’s death, Ciaran was humbled and realized that he has to show the same compassion for others just as his brother did for all of the unfortunate people of society.
I, at first, didn’t see Ciaran’s remark to Lara as forgiveness, but as an absent-minded mechanical response devoid of emotion because of the immortal rift created between himself and Corrigan. Still from a place of numbness and shock, an attempt at forgiveness through common speech is much more plausible, as in death Ciaran finally takes on the characteristics of his brother.
I really thought that your vision of the mirror from Shrek is so incredibly unique because I know many of us had related it to Snow White. Also, I think that it’s great you see the many positive aspects Ciaran has found following his brother’s death, including humility and forgiveness.
Funny how you mentioned that about Shrek. Although it does have a connection to Snow White with the mirror etc., my initial memory was with the movie Shrek, since it is something I remember watching more recently than Snow White. Good work on pointing out something I am sure others thought about, but still went with the traditional Snow White reference.