Writing Resources
From the beginning of time to the present day people have grappled with the question of destiny and whether we choose our own paths The idea that a stranger can completely alter our course of life has been a question of the ages and something almost every religion has tried to answer In Colum McCann s Let the Great World Spin the concept of two people or more crossing paths and somehow profoundly affecting each other s lives is explored throughout the novel using a multi perspective narrative The characters connect via chance encounters unexpected circumstances and relationships that defy cultural and racial boundaries and all of it traces back to the day when a man walked a tightrope in between the Twin Towers in 1974 The elements of compassion and empathy are also important to the narrative and serve to separate and connect characters to one another at different times This creates a complex web of humanity that is held together by the event of The Walker and the little tentative bonds made between people who might not otherwise have known each other or had much in common The Walk demonstrates how an event can bring multiple storylines together across space and time and fundamentally intertwine the lives of several people from different walks of life
