I. When reading the monologue, the only thing I could think of is “The Bronx is Burning” since that time in New York’s history was when the crime rates were at a very high point. When comparing the crimes of Petit and the crimes that other New Yorkers have committed, it is almost like a spectrum where Petit’s crime could be seen as very minimal and the extremes are the ones that occur every day in NYC. This part shows that crime seems to have two different sources of inspiration; one caused by a deep desire to inspire and create, and another from selfishness and desire to take.
II. I found it interesting that Judge Soderberg was very excited to receive the tightrope walker because he described his ‘crime’ more as a work of art than anything. He went as far as to say that New York City only has a perpetual care for the present and ignoring history and that Petit was able to make and immortalize that one small moment a monument for himself. When faced with Jazzlyn and Tillie’s crimes, he was definitely less excited, but to an extent, it still warmed him to see the relationship that Jazzlyn and Tillie have. Their case was more like a break from his typical experience with cases and in a way it also made itself a small moment that would last in him for a long time.
III. Had Petit not walked across the tightrope on that day, I think that perhaps some of the relationships between characters, or at least the interactions that they had, would have been completely different. In Claire’s house, there would not have been a topic that the ladies talked about before addressing the task at hand and they would all have been bored faster and the atmosphere would have been more awkward, as was seen in Gloria’s side of the event. Claire’s last quote is a call to the massiveness of the city, while at the same time being a call to how we live in a “small world” since everyone could be connected to each other in some way or another. The thought of the “world spinning” to me is like saying that no matter how many lifetimes pass, or how many people’s lives are negatively or positively impacted, the world will keep going and in the broader scope, they will seem almost meaningless. I don’t mean this in a nihilistic way where nothing matters, but more in the sense that follows the definition of “sonder”, in which everyone has their own lives and their own set of relationships and that when these are drawn out, it is almost like a web connecting everyone to each other in some way, whether it’s between mutual friend, partners or even strangers as the connections go farther and farther from you. There is no end to this web of connections and there is no beginning either, but rather than focusing on that, it seems to just keep going and going.
One of the bridges that unsettled me, well not really unsettled, more like got me by surprise, was the fact that Ciaran ended up marrying Lara because although they did have a connection, in the beginning, I didn’t expect it to last or even grow. It seemed a bit weird knowing that Lara is responsible for his brother’s death, yet they still decided to stick together, but in a strange way, that is expected from Ciaran since his character is very tolerant and forgiving, as was seen with his interactions with Corrigan.
A bridge that made my heart sing was the fact that Gloria stuck with the girls for so long and went as far as raising them almost as her own. Thinking about it made me connect back to how Gloria must have felt when she found out her 3 boys fell in war. That pain and great loss must have created a sort of emptiness within her that I like to think was filled at least partially filled when she introduced Jaslyn and Janice into her life to raise as her own. It also made me happy that after a lifetime of adventure, Gloria’s final resting place was back in her hometown Missouri. The power that people have to help is greatly shown throughout this novel, and I feel that Gloria’s decision to raise them, as well as Claire’s to accept them into her home, are some of the most powerful because not only did they help Jaslyn and Janice grow into strong and confident women, but in a way it alsoallowed for the legacy of the previous characters to live on with them.
