33 pages • 1 hour read
Let the Great World Spin
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PrologueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
The prologue is very specific as to time and place. The date is August 7, 1974, and the location is the World Trade Center at the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. There are thousands of people everywhere looking up. What they see is a small man on top of one of the towers. At first, no one knows if he is about to jump. Then they see him start to cross from one tower to the other on a high wire. He is a tightrope walker, and he successfully performs his fear 110 stories above the city.
Prologue Analysis
There is tension and excitement since the crowds do not know what is happening. Is the figure on top of the tall building about to jump to his death? Might he (or she) accidentally fall? Eventually, the observers figure out what is happening. They see the wire and the balancing pole the walker has in his hands. There is still fear, but then amazement and awe as the tightrope walker performs his act, including hopping and lying down on the wire.
The author captures the mob psychology of the event with some in the crowd hoping to see a spectacular fall and tragic death and others hoping to see the magic of a seemingly impossible performance.
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By Colum McCann
