The title of this chapter refers to the Catalan artist Joan Miró. Miró was a painter sculptor and ceramist born in Barcelona, and he was popular by his style of surrealism. The phrase “miró miró on the wall who’s the fairest one of them all?” alludes to snow white where the evil queen asks the mirror on the wall who the fairest one is. The queen expects the answer of this question to be herself as she is extremely self-conceited. This is used as by the author to make a comparison to the new character introduced in this chapter, Claire.Claire is a rich women living with her husband on the upper east side of Manhattan. Claire lost her son in the Vietnam war and she joins a group of other women who have also lost their sons in the war, in order to help one another out. These women gather at each persons house and hear the story of the house owners child. Claire was the last one to host the group, and as she is the host she is very nervous about her appearance. She constantly thinks about how the other women are going to think about her and her house. She is incredibly insecure and believes that her friends will start to dislike her. This relates back to the queen how she cared so much about her appearance and she looked at the mirrors and asked the mirror to reassure herself. In this case Claire being rich has paintings around her house and so she is looking at them and trying to change the way her house looks because she wants to impress the women. It is not until the end of the chapter that Claire realizes these women are not here to impress each other but they are here to grieve and help one another overcome the loss of their sons.
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Miró Miró
- Miró is a reference to the Spanish painter Joan Miró, who was active in the late 19th century. He was known for his works which fused abstract art and Surreal fantasy. His style changed from as his view on modern life evolved. The chapter title Miró, Miró, on the Wall, alludes to the famous line from Snow White, “Mirror, mirror on the wall”. Claire Soderberg, the main character of this chapter, references this with “Miró, Miró on the wall, who is the deadest of them all?” This is a reference to her upper-class status and her the sadness she is in over the passing of her son, Joshua.
- The primary characters that we’ve been introduced to so far are Claire, Ciaran, Corrigan, Adelita, Blaine, Fernando, Jazzlyn, Lara, Philipe, Sam Peters (The Kid) and the other programmers, Solomon, Tillie, Gloria and the other grieving mothers. I have counted about 70 connections in the book alone.Lara and her husband Blaine were predominant painters in New York. They decide to move to the outskirts of town to gather themselves and practice art styles from the 20s and 30s. Lara and Blaine are the passengers in the car that hit Corrigan’s van on the parkway, which resulted in the death of Jazzlyn and Corrigan. This relationship is interesting because she took the blame for the accident even though Blaine was driving. Ciaran forgives her for this and they soon develop a relationship.I think it’s worth noting that Lara and Blaine both study the same art that Joan Miro became so popular for in his time. I also think the connection between Marcia and the tightrope walker was interesting too. She was sure that the man on the wire was her son coming to say hello. Claire only asked the question as to why a man would risk his life such a task as walking a tightrope above 110 stories.
Miró on the Wall & Character Intersections
Miró from the name of the chapter refers to the Spanish artist Joan Miró. He is known for his work in the genre of surrealism.“Miró, Miró, on the wall… who’s the deadest of them all?” pg. 112 has the same structure as the known phrase, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” from Snow White. It has a connection to the death of Claire’s son Joshua, her grief and difficulty to accept the truth. She wants to get a reflection of her perspective from others to support her.
The story of Corrigan comes first in the book. This automatically makes me more inclined to find out more about the events which relate to the first set of characters. Having heard of Corrigan’s and Jazzlyn’s fatal car crash from the perspective of Ciaran, made the intersection between Ciaran and Lara worthy of a mention. Tracing back to the time of the crash, Lara’s perspective on her relationship with Blaine changes by seeing him care more about the damage done to his car than the fact that the accident he was responsible for resulting in the death of two people.
Filled with guilt, Lara goes to the hospital, picks up Corrigan’s belongings and goes off to Ciaran. She accompanies him to Jazzlyn’s funeral and they later drive to a bar. Despite seeing the damaged car, Ciaran does not reject talking to her as he sees honesty and regret within Lara. She lied at first, saying that she was the driver due to the embarrassing reaction of Blaine to the accident. But as they talked more, she confessed that she was not the driver.
List of characters (known intersections: more than fifty-five since I am sure that I missed some): tightrope walker Philippe, Corrigan, Jazzlyn, Lara, Ciaran, Blaine, Gloria & other mothers, Tillie, Solomon, Fernando, Adelita, computer hackers, Claire.
Miró
I) Miró alludes to Joan Miró, who was a Spanish painter from the late 19th century to the late 20th century during many periods of art including surrealism, fauvism, cubism, abstract, realism and modern art. The title of the chapter “Miró, Miró, on the Wall” is a reference to the popular line from Snow White, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall”. The main character of the chapter, Claire, says this because she is a fairly high-class woman living in a nice house and is very depressed over her son that died and seems to be unsure if she is more dead than her son is. She appears to be very affected over the tragic loss of her son.
II) Primary characters: Adelita, Blaine, Ciaran, Claire, Corrigan, Fernando, Gloria + the other mothers, Jazzlyn, Lara, Phillipe, Sam + other hackers, Solomon and Tillie. They’re is about 65 human interactions now (may be off by a few) that I can point out.
Lara was with Blaine while he was driving and they were the ones who crashed into Corrigan’s car while he and Jazzlyn were in it, resulting in both of their deaths. The interaction that interested me the most was between Lara and Ciaran because she first told him that it was her driving the car, while it was actually Blaine. Ciaran forgives her for it and Lara realizes she wants to leave Blaine and we earn that previously when Lara and Ciaran went to get a drink, she told him that she actually wasn’t the one driving, to which Ciaran responds that he knew all along and then kisses her. It’s kind of weird that things turned out like this since she was in the car responsible for killing his brother and that Lara actually decides that she wants to leave her husband Blaine probably a little for what he did and how he treats it, plus the whole Ciaran situation.
Miro, Character Intersections, and Gloria
I) The title of the chapter of Let the Great World Spin about Claire is “Miró, Miró, on the Wall.” This is a reference Joan Miró (1893-1983) the modern Spanish surrealist painter, and the famous line: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” from the fairy tale Snow White. Later, Claire references this line again on page 112 saying: “Miró, Miró, on the wall, who is the deadest of them all?” The title of the chapter is a reference to Claire’s status as a well-off modern woman with a house full of exquisite art, who is grieving over her dead son to the point of feeling dead herself.
II) The Major Characters in Let the Great World Spin:
- Corrigan
- Ciaran
- Tillie
- Jazzlyn
- Lara
- Blaine
- Solomon
- Claire
- Gloria, and other bereaved mothers
- Fernando
- Sam, and other computer hackers
- Philippe
- Adelita
Here is a diagram of all the connections between named characters in Let the Great World Spin so far. I counted 74 connections total.
Gloria is a quiet character in the first half of Let the Great World Spin. She interacts with many major characters, but has yet to come to the forefront.
Diagram of all the intersections between Gloria and other characters in Let the Great World Spin.
When Tillie is in jail, Gloria brings Tillie’s grandchildren, Janice and little Jazzlyn to visit her. Tillie recognizes Gloria from the projects, but she doesn’t even know her name.
Despite not knowing Tillie and Jazzlyn well, Gloria took Janice and little Jazzlyn in after their mother’s death and lives with them in a house in Poughkeepsie.
Why did Gloria take in Jazzlyn’s children? Why did she take them to visit Tillie? She was uninvolved with Tillie and Jazzlyn before the car accident. She could have stayed uninvolved.
Gloria is a powerful character. She steps in to help Janice and little Jazzlyn when they were forgotten. Yet, all we really know about her is that she lost three sons to the war, and that she wears flowered dresses. Who is Gloria?
Sources: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/joan-miro
Miro, Intersections and Regrets
- Miro was a Spanish painter who lived from 1893 – 1983. When the book refers to a “Miro” it is referring to one of his paintings. His style of painting was unique and unlike others’, but some claim that his style is closest to Surrealism. Some of his famous works include the Nord-Sud, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, and Spanish Dancer.
- There are many characters in this book, and many that I would consider to be primary characters. What is interesting about this book is that each character has a role. They are not just “extras”, but each character can be considered a primary character and adds certain elements to the story. Here is a list of the more prevalent primary characters.
- Corrigan
- Ciaran
- Tillie
- Jazzlyn
- Adelita
- Claire
- Gloria
- Lara
- Blaine
- Fernando Marcano
- Compton
- Kid
There are so many intersections in this book. The one that intrigues me the most is Lara and Tillie, when they meet in “The House that Horse Built”.
What intrigues me the most is simply the fact that Lara took the effort to go visit Tillie and to get her to be able to see her grandkids. I feel as if they are both regretful of different things. Lara regrets not stopping when they crashed, and Tillie regrets allowing Jazzlyn to follow the same path she did as a prostitute. Yet, their regrets take them down unbelievably different paths. Lara falls in love with Ciaran, anb Tillie kills herself. Regrets can make people do crazy things.
Let the Great World Spin
Geography and environment can play a major role in who we are as people. In prologue of “Let the Great world Spin” by Colum McCann, A dark figure can be seen standing along the ledge of the observation deck in Tower B of the World Trade Center on an early August morning.
This draws in a crowd of hundreds. This large crowd proved to be very opinionated. Being that it wasn’t for certain if the man was a jumper, I was amazed at how many people were said to be shouting for the man to jump, and others said not too, while the rest stared in awe.
The setting of the beginning of chapter one then begins in a family home in Dublin, Ireland. There is a much different vibe than that of New York City. In the prologue everything is near chaotic. In the beginning of chapter one I had a feeling of tranquility which gave me a sense of security. This soon turned to grief and sorrow for the loss of the brother’s mother and Corrigan’s irrational behavior.
In chapter one, I could relate to much of what Ciaran and Corrigan had experienced. I have two older sisters and although none of us share the same father our mother raised us as a single parent throughout areas of the Bronx. That being said, of all the characters introduced so far I feel a close emotional connection with Corrigan. Many of his character traits and actions remind me of somebody close to me. He always struggled with substance abuse and tried to make others happy, without any regard for himself. Maybe it works as a coping method to not take any blame for his own actions, or maybe it’s just a way of forgetting them all together. Either way, I feel reading this book has so far given me a different perspective and insight on issues I see in my own life.
The World Spins Under
Let the Great World Spin
The prologue labelled Those Who Saw Him Hushed, explains the events that took place when a man, named Philipe Petit, walked across a tight rope between the twin towers. Column McCann narrates this story in sort of the perspective of a bird, as the events taken place are seen from another perspective. New York is known for its busy and chaotic style, but as there is suddenly silence and people gather around to watch this build up tension, as police sirens and firefighters rush to the scene, there is large anticipation amongst the crowd and the reader. This made me think about the perspective of Petit, it must have looked liked the whole world is there under him, looking at what he might do next. I also have a special connection to this story, as when I first arrived into the United States, I barely knew english, therefore I read children’s books to improve. My favorite book that I had read and one of my first was actually a picture book about this same event. I read teh book with the same excitement as the people mentioned in the prologue. I could not believe that this was possible, and I couldn’t imagine how someone was brave enough to do such a thing. This was actually one of the few things I had known before coming to New York, this interesting story about a tight rope walker. Therefore the prologue really made me interested in this book, and made me constantly think about the ideas and themes present in the prologue as I started to read the first chapter.
Throughout the first chapter, I have most connected to Ciaran. Not because of his family or the events regarding them but in the way of discovering a new lifestyle and a new country. Dublin is 3,176 miles away from New York, it has a very different culture, lifestyle, and all around look. I also arrived in the Bronx when I first came to New York. I came from a longer distance however all the way from Istanbul. Which similar to Dublin, is a very different city compared to New York. Just like Ciaran I was discovering this new culture and style through an outsiders lens. Therefore I felt connected to Ciaran in the sense that we are both immigrants.
Ordinary lives become extraordinary
The prologue of the book begins with a man on the twin towers and everyone gathering to watch what he was going to do: “if he slipped, or got arrested or dove.” This part made me laugh at little, because it is very New Yorker to only think of the bad that was going to happen and how no one was expecting him to walk on a tightrope or do something amazing. How we have a habit of stopping when someone on the train is being arrested and screaming, but not often for someone on Union Square singing. I became like the watchers, ignoring everything around them to focus on the man; I even tried to skip through the long descriptions of New York in the book to see what would happen to the man, even though I knew. It also made me think of the extraordinary things I have missed because I was too “busy” and couldn’t be bothered.
The scene then changes to Ireland, specifically Dublin Bay. The narrator starts to talk about his family, focusing more on his brother, Corrigan. His brother is described as someone who even in the darkest of days can see the light. After their mother dies, he moved around a bit and then goes to Brussels and becomes a monk. Corrigan has a desire for real “rough plot” and after being in Naples, he is sent to the Bronx (YAY!). Corrigan is a character I want to be like, someone who puts others above themselves. I can relate to his idea of put it all out there and helping even if you get hurt, and not ending up another cynic. I sometimes dream of being that selfless. However, I also agree that being selfish is sometimes required, because his selflessness gets him hurt. I really love his character and of course as always, every character I love has something tragic happen to him.