The Marginalized In New York City

Let the Great World Spin(2009),the 5th novel of Colum McCann,is one of the best in his 6 novels.McCann has depicted a number of marginalized figures who have different living attitudes when stepping into New York city and facing the mainstream urban culture in the novel.As a traditional focus of American ethnic literature,cultural collision and melting is also reflected in this novel.It is mainly between the foreign culture and the American white culture.This novel syncretizes different elements from African tradition,Irish tradition,and American culture.However,in the novel,the melting of culture is no longer the same as that described in traditional American ethnic novels where foreign culture is assimilated by white culture.Instead,foreign culture also has a chance to affect the upper class and be treasured by its own people.The life courses of marginalized men in New York are mainly referred to three living spaces: the urban core,the Bronx district or the marginalized area,and the original living areas of the so-called New Yorkers.The comparison between different living spaces highlights the unavoidable gap between different groups,while the connection between different living spaces shows exchanges among different ethnic groups.The thesis makes a cultural interpretation of the plural marginalized figures living in New York city.It classifies the marginalized figures into three categories:dreamers yearning for urban core while failing in it,dreamers desiring for urban core and succeeding in it,and strangers holding their faith in marginalized areas.Then the thesis goes on exploring some deep cultural reasons for the diversity of marginalized figures,and finds that the marginalized in New York city tend to be diversified because of crisis of marginalized identity,dynamism of subjective faith,and deconstruction of American society.