Colum Mccann's Let The Great World Spin

In Colum McCann’s novel, Let the Great World Spin, tragedies strike every character, and the way in which the different characters seek closure and counseling ends up shaping their personalities. While the approaches used to combat their grieving varies from character to character, McCann makes a compelling argument in support of seeking out grief counseling within a community. Many of the characters, such as Lara and Claire seem to initially internalize their feelings, and continually beat themselves up due to their guilt ridden and grieving conscious. Yet when they find their respective groups, which on the surface, seem to differ greatly between Lara and Claire, both characters are relaxed in their element. Claire finds comfort in Gloria, the polar opposite of her, while Lara finds comfort in the reparations she attempts to make with Corrigan’s family, namely Ciaran.
At the

beginning of Claire’s story, she seems different from the other characters, but after reading further into the story, the readers are exposed to her vulnerable state.

Her son was one of the first computer hackers and worked for the military until his tragic death abroad. His death took such a toll on his parents but they both had drastically different way to grieve with this pain. Her husband, Solomon, internalizes all of his pain, and becomes this shell of a person. He mistreats everyone around him, from his wife to those being persecuted from up on the bench. The way in which Solomon disrespects people is directly related to how he has been able to grieve. He is isolated in his job which also leads him to be narcissistic and arrogant, fully believing that he is not only always right, but also coming across as this person who thinks that his answer is the only right one. Solomon sought out comfort while grieving through his work, trying to return to the idea of normalcy, the life he was living before

his son died, but he ended up creating an alternate, mean persona, one that will protect him from getting hurt. In comparison, his wife seeks out her comfort through the veteran’s support group, and more so in Gloria. Claire is greatly distressed by the idea of being alone, but in some cases is worse at dealing with a group setting. She constantly worries about how she comes across to others, but in many ways, this is a better coping mechanism than Solomon’s. She focuses on all the little insignificant details rather than looking at the big picture. This causes her to be occupied for long stretches of time, but she is especially hit hard by her emotions when she is left alone. After asking for her guests to be sent up, she is contemplating what the group will think of her. She says, “Talking about me, maybe. Needs a doctor. Awful gray streak in her hair. Husband’s a judge. Wears implausible sneakers. Struggles to smile,” (85). This quote supports the idea that grieving process is better within a community and when Claire finds a community with Gloria and the other women she is no longer focused on her son, but rather on how she is perceived by her peers. Gloria provides a constant stream of distractions for Claire, whether it be through helping her recover from a mugging or raising two kids who clearly needed a stable home, further helping her through the grieving process.
Similarly, Lara and Blaine are used to support McCann’s argument that finding grief counseling within a community is more effective than grieving alone. When speeding down the busy New York City, they bump into a van, and that tiny little tap changed their entire lives. Corrigan and Jazzlyn are both killed and Lara and Blaine are forced to live with the remnants of the crash. Blaine comes across as a spoiled, self-absorbed child, showing little remorse for the horrendous crime that he and his wife committed. He has become so absorbed in his artwork that he mistreats everyone around him, including Lara, by constantly yelling and verbally abusing them. Lara really proves that grieving is better when in a community due to the way she handles herself when she is alone with her guilt. After being yelled at by Blaine shortly after the crash, she says, “I lay still and trembling,” (122). All of this tension that is felt in their marriage is a direct result of the accident, and Lara is especially vulnerable, something that shows in this quote. She is depressed and keeps to herself out of necessity, but begins to open up once she meets Ciaran. She seeks him out in order to find closure in the crash, to find a community to rid her of her guilty conscious. After being exposed as Corrigan and Jazzlyn’s killer, Lara stays up to sketch and has a realization. She says, “All I wanted to do was to walk out into a clean elsewhere,” (153). Lara shows a more mature side of herself in this quote when she isn’t trembling or uncontrollable, rather, she has accepted her actions and has this desire that she knows is unattainable. In a way, Ciaran is not only helping Lara go back to her life before the accident, but also helps her is a different grieving process. He helps her grieve the loss of her husband. While Blaine is not dead, his old life is dead to Lara, and she found it extremely difficult to let go of the wisp of a person her husband has become.
Although McCann does show both sides of the grieving process in these characters, it is clear that those who seek a community, whether that be one person or a few, see their personality greatly alters from those that do not. Both Claire and Lara have their spouses stay isolated and become hostile to those around them, whereas the women change their tone and seek not only closure, but also a distraction to help them forget the tragedies that ripped their marriages apart and completely changed their lives.