The idea of the unknown is a very prevalent theme throughout Colum McCann’s novel, Let the Great World Spin, and is especially highlighted in the story about the tech guys in Palo Alto. When Phillipe Petit walked across the towers, the tech world was slowly emerging and gaining a following, especially on the west coast. While this story doesn’t initially seem related to the main plot line and the interconnecting tales of those scattered throughout New York, small details prove differently. These three hackers are young boys are located across the country, yet they strive to feel connected in the wake of this momentous feat. They struggle to get the first hand account of what happened to Petit, but once they are able to get ahold of someone …show more content…
Claire is one of many characters living an undisclosed life in the beginning of the book. The rest of her book club is oblivious to the way she lives her life, but also how much she has internalized the pain of her son passing. She has become extremely self conscious and lonely, just as the hackers in Palo Alto. The hackers are locked in this dark basement, isolated from this entire city, bustling above them, just as Claire is isolated from her friends and family. This separation adds to the idea of unification throughout the stories through their shared tales of separation. Each character has a point in the novel where they feel cut off from others. Gloria and her family, Claire and her husband, Lara and her husband, Corrigan from reality, and the hackers prove to be fundamentally no different from any of the other characters. McCann really takes the idea of separation knowing no bounds and incorporates it, showing that the feelings aren’t necessarily confined to the individual, but instead stretch across the nation. After talking to both Jose and Sable, Sam says, “You’re sealed in by it, the wires, the piping, the electrons moving, but nothing really moving, nothing at all,” (197). Sam seems to feel trapped in his life, oblivious to the world and becoming more and more focused on computers rather than people. There is something calming about this quote, Sam has a space where he can sit and think away from the world above him, almost making time stand still. That being said, McCann adds an interesting aspect to the stories, he is able to find power in the settings that the characters are in, and Sam and the hackers are no exception. They feel safe and strong within their musty basement because it allows them to become more knowledgeable. When the tech guys had just started up, years ago, Dennis said, “ One of these centuries we’re going to have ARPANET in our heads,” (187).