Joan Miro was a Spanish artist who derived his artistic style from his passion for poetry and his view of the modern world. He combined abstract art with surrealist fantasy when he produced his murals, tapestries, and sculptures.
As the Sergeant explained how Joshua had passed in Vietnam, Claire stared at the prints above her couch with a forced smile. She questioned “Miro, Miro, on the wall, who’s the deadest of them all?” (McCann 112) This line immediately made me think of Snow White, and the famous line that belonged to the evil queen, “mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” I knew well the evil Queen asked her mirror that question to reassure herself that she was the fairest of them all. However, I was not sure who Claire was referring to when she had asked who is the deadest of them all. Was she asking about herself or her son? The group of women who had lost their sons in the war came together to share their stories as a source of comfort. None of them fully accepted the death of their sons; there was still a part of them that believed they would return. Maybe “Miro, miro on the wall,” is a representation of Claire’s hope. The hope that the mirror will respond back Joshua is not the deadest of them all.
The primary characters are Corrigan, Ciaran, Adelita, Claire, Jazlynn, Tillie, Gloria, Fernando, Blaine, Solomon and Sam.
There are about 70 connections between the characters throughout the book. There is not only human connection but also geographical connection as well. We begin from the top of the world trade center to the deep ends of the Bronx. They are all scattered throughout New York, and a series of events unite them.
I was most intrigued by the intersection between Ciaran and Blaine. To be clearer, it was not their meeting, but more so their attraction for each other that drew me in. I became more curious about Ciaran and why he felt an attraction to someone who was involved in his brother’s death. Maybe he realized she was not a bad person. During their meeting, Lara let the driver who hit the back of her car go without an argument, she confessed she was not the one who was driving the car that killed Corrigan, she returned Corrigan’s belongings and attended his funeral. All of her actions could have persuaded Corrigan that she was not at fault for his brother’s death or maybe he was just very drunk and wanted to kiss someone. The last two lines “There is, I think, a fear of love. There is a fear of love.” (McCann 112) of the chapter represents Lara’s fear of falling in love again because of her experience of Blaine. Blaine and Lara are two very different people. Through their actions, it’s easy to see Blaine does not care about anything else but himself and his pleasure, whereas Lara still holds her morals to some value. The experience she had with her former lover ended up killing two people hence she might not be ready fall for anyone else anytime soon.
I actually did not think about who Claire was talking about when she said that infamous quote. She’s not physically dead, but is she living? Because of her son’s death, she had also died, but the group had given her a reason to live and we’re slowly seeing that what was black, gray and white is gradually returning to its original color.
Lara and Ciarans meeting intrigued me as well. I will never understand why he kissed her or why she let him. That is probably why this book is so interesting because we never know the reasoning of the characters.
Wow! Great post, I never thought of Blaine and Ciaran’s intersection in that way. It is cool how you contrasted Lara with Blaine.