Blog Post 7 and 8

Part 2:

The judge gets both Tillie and Jazzlyn, and the tightrope guy on the same day. By doubling up on these two central events, the tension in the novel is greater than ever and more connections are seen between all of the characters. This gives for great storytelling and understanding of why certain events have happened. The judge, who happens to be Claire’s husband, has to sentence Tillie and Jazzlyn, which shows how they’re connected and then the tightrope guy which further connects him to the rest of the characters. Everyone affects one another in some way, and that is clarified through the doubling up of these two events.

Part 3:

Claire is dying while Jaslyn watches her. She notes that the although she is dying, the world will keep spinning. Jaslyn and Claire represent a major bridge from Claire to Jaslyn to Gloria to Tillie to Jazzlyn and to Corrigan. In the prologue, we are being introduced to New Yorkers finding a man atop a wire in between the twin towers. Some people are interested and watching him to see if he would fall or not, and some are ignoring him as if nothing cool was happening. In the ending, we find all these characters brought together through the events that occurred on that very day. Their connections have been bridged, and the effect each character has on another has been clearly bridged. We see how Claire and Jaslyn’s relationship was created and how significant that day was to have brought these characters together. Everything had to happen for a reason and this day clarified that.

The bridge that unsettled me in some way was definitely between Ciaran and Lara. I never understood why either character would be interested in the other. Lara was responsible for Ciaran’s brother’s death and Ciaran knew the details about this occurrence. He still, nonetheless, pursued Lara as a romantic interested and that always unsettled me. This was not a rational or logical bridge for these characters to build.

A bridge that really made my heart sing was that of Ciaran and Corrigan. There was something about their relationship that kept me wanting to see more of them. They were brothers who cared about each other and who wanted the ultimate best for each other, even if they never admitted this directly. Corrigan wanted to help everyone he could and Ciaran wanted to help Corrigan before he hurt himself. Their intentions and actions are purely made out of love which is why I like this bridge.

Part 1 is not here because I was absent during this class.