Blaine Character Analysis in Let the Great World Spin

Lara’s husband and driver of the car that hits Corrigan’s van. Having garnered attention and praise for his artwork, he is greatly motivated by recognition and praise. He is especially taken by drugs, despite the fact that he and Lara are supposedly trying to live a sober lifestyle. Unlike his wife, he fails to see the point of feeling remorseful about having fled the accident on the FDR.

Blaine Quotes in Let the Great World Spin

The Let the Great World Spin quotes below are all either spoken by Blaine or refer to Blaine. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

The moment he turned to check the front of the car I recall thinking that we’d never survive it, not so much the crash, or even the death of the young girl—she was so obviously dead, in a bloodied heap on the road—or the man who was slapped against the steering wheel, almost certainly ruined, his chest jammed up against the dashboard, but the fact that Blaine went around to check on the damage that was done to our car, the smashed headlight, the crumpled fender, like our years together, something broken, while behind us we could hear the sirens already on their way, and he let out a little groan of despair, and I knew it was for the car, and our unsold canvases, and what would happen to us shortly, and I said to him: Come on, let’s go, quick, get in, Blaine, quick, get a move on.

Related Characters: (speaker), , ,

Page Number and Citation: 118

Explanation and Analysis:

Blaine Character Timeline in Let the Great World Spin

The timeline below shows where the character Blaine appears in Let the Great World Spin. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Lara Liveman and her husband Blaine are driving out of New York City on the FDR Drive. Blaine, who is driving,... (full context)

The van spins out and hits a newspaper truck, but Lara and Blaine’s car moves steadily forward without harm. Looking over his shoulder for an instant, Blaine presses... (full context)

Lara has the clear thought that this crash will destroy her relationship with Blaine, perhaps most of all because of the fact that he seems more concerned with the... (full context)

At this point we learn that Lara and Blaine have for the past year been living outside the city in a small cabin on... (full context)

Upon returning to the cabin, Blaine puts the car in a shed and sweeps the tracks out of the dirt. Then... (full context)

Lara awakes early the next day and steps outside without waking Blaine. She sees that they forgot to take the paintings inside the night before, and now... (full context)

...something else to Lara’s mind: she remembers a boy she’d been in love with before Blaine. He went to Vietnam and came back in a wheelchair. To her surprise, though, he... (full context)

Outside the diner, Blaine pulls up in the car. He joins Lara at her table and tells her that... (full context)

...reason for coming to the city had been to buy a video camera to document Blaine’s new painting series, but now she finds herself driving toward the Bronx. When she arrives,... (full context)

When Lara arrives home later that night, she goes swimming in the lake while Blaine waits for her on the dock. Back in the cabin, he tries to get her... (full context)

...the bar, Lara saw a kid spray-painting a bridge, and this made her think of Blaine’s work. At the bar they talked about Corrigan, and at one point Lara confessed that... (full context)

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Blaine Character Analysis

Blaine Quotes in Let the Great World Spin

Blaine Character Timeline in Let the Great World Spin

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