Does anyone have any thoughts on the relationship between disability/impairment and space (for example New York) in Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn? I am exploring the relationship between disability...
Does anyone have any thoughts on the relationship between disability/impairment and space (for example New York) in Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn?
I am exploring the relationship between disability and location. I am already looking at discriptions of America as 'schizophrenic'. Was hoping you might have some thoughts after reading Motherless Brooklyn. Thanks
1 Answer
alexb2 | eNotes Employee
Cool question. Some thoughts I have are about Brooklyn, and the way it is portrayed especially through the character of Minna. Minna rules certain parts of Brooklyn through hazy and strange relationships-- perhaps the way that the mind of someone with tourette's syndrome or schizophrenia finds his mind ruled by different impulses and voices. Just as how Brooklyn is sometimes small and easy to figure out, and other times mysterious and strange, with corners and pockets that are undiscovered, so is the mind. This is heightened in the mind of the impaired.