Let the Great World Spin

This chapter chronicles the day of the tightrope walker’s performance from the point of view of the judge before whom he appeared after being arrested. The judge is Solomon Soderberg, the rich husband of Claire from Chapter 2.  Judge Soderberg has a very jaundiced view of life in New York. “There wasn’t a bad thing in the city that didn’t pass through Soderberg’s gutter watch. It was like studying the evolution of slime. You stand there long enough and the gutter gets slick, no matter how hard you battle against it” (257).

His principles of justice yield very different results on this day. The tightrope walker gets a clever token fine of $1.10, a penny for each floor of the World Trade Center. Tillie receives a long prison sentence for robbing a john who was sexually assaulting a prostitute.  

In this chapter, the author presents Adelita’s version of her relationship with Corrigan. How she met him, how they fell in love, how they finally slept together, and how he still struggled with breaking his vows. After a night of lovemaking, Adelita and Corrigan have this exchange:

“Well, I woke up this morning and diagnosed a very early case of happiness.”

Never heard of it,” he says.