Blog Post

Part I:  The crimes that the judge initially describes are the ones committed through necessity and done in order to make a living. The crime that the tight-rope walker commits however is a crime done purely out of Petit’s own desire and curiosity, rather than the an essentiality. Petit’s crime is scene as a work of art, and by the judge a kind monument that truly represents New York. A place of chaos, insanity, and beauty all mixed together.

Part II: The doubling up of the two cases furthers the contrast between two different kinds of crimes discussed in part I. Even though the judge is forced to give some sort of consequence for Petit’s actions, he still has a lot of sympathy for him from the get go. Before event facing the trial he already thinks about how bizarre this will be and he is very effected by this court case. He sees Petit’s crime in a very different light than he does of Tillie and Jazzlyn. This is why he has an internal conflict on what he has to do as a judge rather than what he actually feels about the crime committed by the tightrope walker. When it comes to Tillie and Jazzlyn, the judge is very prejudice, and he immediately sees Tillie as a representation of the lower class, and stereotypes her. Rather than thinking about the crime he thinks about looking good in front of the reporters that came for the tightrope walkers case. It is isn’t until the end when he feels some sort of empathy after realizing the mother and daughter relationship, where his real feelings start to come out. The contrast between the two cases that happen on the same day reveal how different people and crimes are viewed and how different prejudices exist.

Part III:

The prologue is the explanation of Philippe Petit’s incredible tightrope walk between the twin towers. This event is interpreted in many ways wether it is the admiration of the human will, or wether it is to find the beauty in everyday things, or whether in the case of some of the characters such as Marcia, a resurrection of her dead son, all the characters are somehow affected by this image of a man walking in the air. It literally stops the chaotic New York, and this event is not only a different symbol for each of the characters in the book but its also a symbol of interconnectedness and unity amongst them. This wasn’t apparent in the prologue but once the story ends it bridges back to this event, as connections are made between characters that are not expected and out of the blue just like the tightrope walker.

Continuing off this theme of uniting people in unfamiliar and random ways, Jaslyn and Pino two strangers ended up getting together in the last chapter. These two strangers unexpectedly got together and it formed a bridge with the earlier symbol of the tightrope walker and how different connections are constantly being made on accident or by chance.