Does the main character change in the first fifty pages of Open City?
In Teju Cole's book Open City, the main character, Julius, goes through many changes. In the first fifty pages, the changes are subtle but significant. As he wanders through the streets of New York City, he initially reflects on elements of his personal life. He works as a psychiatric resident and reflects that his new habit of walking serves as a release from the “tightly regulated mental environment” of his work. He likes how all of the choices he makes on his walks are inconsequential and make him feel free.
As we get deeper into the story, we see Julius begin to think more about the people around him. When he goes home at the end of chapter 1, he is shocked to learn that Carla, the woman who lived next door to him, died months ago and he had no idea. He feels ashamed that he had not...
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realized and then tries to feel better about the fact that the time Carla’s husband knocked on his door to ask about guitar had been before Carla had died. He says,
I felt a certain sense of relief at this, which was taken over immediately by shame. But even that feeling subsided much too quickly, now that I think of it.
In this scene, the reader begins to see Julius reflecting on how fast life moves and how it goes on even without his participation in it. His understanding of this and increasing paranoia about it escalate as the book moves on. He changes even more profoundly between part 1 and part 2, as he feels sick about “too many things happening at once” and begins to forget things.
Does the main character's attitude change in the second 50 pages of Open City due to living in New York?
In the second fifty pages of Teju Cole’s Open City, the main character, Julius, becomes more reflective about the people and places around him. As he continues to wander through New York City he takes particular note of some of its distinctive characteristics, like its large population and its cultural and ethnic diversity.
Living in New York is a unique experience, as one lives among over eight million people with incredibly diverse backgrounds. Many people get around the city on the subway, which is always crowded with fascinating people doing hundreds of different things and going all kinds of places. Living in this unique environment allows Julius to make philosophic observations about humanity. It also makes him feel alone, which is ironically a common feeling when one is navigating a crowded place like New York by themselves. For instance, recall how he goes to the overpass full of people near the ruins of the World Trade Center. He says:
I felt conspicuous, the only person among the crowd who stopped to look out from the overpass at the site. Everyone else went straight ahead, and nothing separated them, nothing separated us, from the people who had worked directly across the street of the disaster. When we descended the stairs into Vesey Street, we were hemmed in on both sides by a chain-link fence, penned in, “like animals” stumbling to the slaughter … But atrocity is nothing new, not to humans, not to animals.
In reflecting on the masses of people around him, Julius’s mind goes to the horrible things people have experienced. His thoughts about the trauma these people have dealt with and the parallel he draws between humans and animals allows Cole to explore how the trauma of 9/11 impacts the city. Julius reflects on such themes more and more as the book goes on which contributes to his paranoia and anxiety. His own feelings of isolation also stem in part from his biracial identity, which demonstrates how despite the city’s diversity, its ethnic divisions can make it difficult for some to find a place where they fit in.