When I first saw the title of the chapter, the first thing I thought of the famous line from Snow White where the Evil Queen asks here mirror “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” However instead of “mirror”, McCann replaces it with Miró. Upon doing some research, I found that Miró refers to Spanish artist Joan Miró who was a part of the Surrealism and Cubism movements. The title is tied to Claire, a wealthy woman living in Manhattan with her husband Solomon, who is a part of a group of women that have lost sons in the Vietnam War. The line refers to her insecurities being the wealthiest woman in the group and thinking what the other women will think of her once they see how she lives and her socio-economic status. The way I interpreted the use of Miró in the title is that it reflects the almost surreal feel of the time that the women spent in Claire’s home. This is because she was constantly distracted by her own worries and the women were also distracted by the tightrope walker, so it all seemed like a blur, as if there were some aspects that were real but didn’t feel real, similar to the ideas of Surrealism, in which aspects of reality and aspects of the mind or imagination are merged into one.
Primary Characters:
- Ciaran and Corrigan (John A. Corrigan)
- Tillie, Jazzlyn, Angie
- Adelita
- Claire and Solomon Soderberg, and their son Joshua Soderberg
- Gloria and the women (Marcia, Janet, Jacqueline)
- Lara and Blaine
- Birdhouse the pimp
- Sam the hacker
- Fernando
- Phillipe Petit and his crew.
Overall there have been at least 50 interactions between the characters of the book. In doing this, McCann creates a very vivid and interconnected world, which is an aspect that New York City actually has; in including all these interactions, he manages to capture the lively spirit of the city, as well as making the world seem vast, yet so small at the same time.
A very interesting intersection of characters that I saw was the one between Lara and Corrigan and Jazzlyn on the FDR. When I first read Chapter 1, I was shocked by the ending and it left me with so many questions about how and why Corrigan and Jazzlyn met the tragic fate they did. In “A Fear of Love”, we got to see Blaine hit Corrigan and Jazzlyn’s car, sending them to their deaths. I was angered by their recklessness at first, but in a way I also felt relieved because I knew then that Corrigan and Jazzlyn’s story had not ended at that moment. Lara’s desperation and guilt about the death of Corrigan and Jazzlyn expanded upon the story laid out in the first chapter and created many more connections between the characters. McCann’s use of different perspectives makes each story much more intruiging and more captivating because each character draws you into their own world and we get to see how they each see the world they live in, despite the fact that they are all present in the same city.
Using surreal to describe the scene of Claire with the other mothers is a really good connection seeing as how Miro was an artist during a period of surrealism. I also agree with the fact that the different perspectives really gets you to see things differently as you may have previously thought. It was really amazing seeing how all of these different characters were more connected than I had imagined.
I found that your post overlaps with mine at points, yet goes off on your own ideas at the same time. I like how you said that Claire’s life is almost a blur, as if these things aren’t even happening to her. I thought she was almost sedated to live her life like this. Her life has become the same thing every day to the point that it isn’t even a life anymore. Great job!