Let the Great World Spin

by

Colum McCann

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Let the Great World Spin makes teaching easy.

Judge Solomon Soderberg Character Analysis

Claire’s husband and a judge in downtown Manhattan. He is well-respected in the legal community and is a relatively good judge despite his rather jaded, discouraged approach. He believes deeply in order and greatly respects the law. These days, though, his primary concern seems to be getting through each day, efficiently hearing and sentencing one case after another. Unlike Claire, he does not wish to talk about his son’s death.

Judge Solomon Soderberg Quotes in Let the Great World Spin

The Let the Great World Spin quotes below are all either spoken by Judge Solomon Soderberg or refer to Judge Solomon Soderberg. 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:
Political Unrest Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 9 Quotes

His fellow judges and court officers and reporters and even the stenographers were already talking about it as if it were another of those things that just happened in the city. One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. New York had a way of doing that. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief.

Related Characters: Judge Solomon Soderberg
Related Symbols: The Tightrope Walk
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:

Soderberg glanced at Tillie Henderson as she was escorted out the door to his right. She walked with her head low and yet there was a learned bounce in her gait. As if she were already out and doing the track… Her face looked odd and vulnerable, and yet still held a touch of the sensual. Her eyes were dark. Her eyebrows were plucked thin. There was a shine to her, a glisten. It was as if he were seeing her for the first time: upside down, the way the eye first sees, and then must correct. Something tender and carved about the face… Her face seemed for a second almost beautiful, and then the hooker turned and shuffled and the door was closed behind her, and she vanished into her own namelessness.

Related Characters: Tillie Henderson, Judge Solomon Soderberg
Page Number: 274
Explanation and Analysis:
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Let the Great World Spin PDF

Judge Solomon Soderberg Quotes in Let the Great World Spin

The Let the Great World Spin quotes below are all either spoken by Judge Solomon Soderberg or refer to Judge Solomon Soderberg. 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:
Political Unrest Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 9 Quotes

His fellow judges and court officers and reporters and even the stenographers were already talking about it as if it were another of those things that just happened in the city. One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. New York had a way of doing that. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief.

Related Characters: Judge Solomon Soderberg
Related Symbols: The Tightrope Walk
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:

Soderberg glanced at Tillie Henderson as she was escorted out the door to his right. She walked with her head low and yet there was a learned bounce in her gait. As if she were already out and doing the track… Her face looked odd and vulnerable, and yet still held a touch of the sensual. Her eyes were dark. Her eyebrows were plucked thin. There was a shine to her, a glisten. It was as if he were seeing her for the first time: upside down, the way the eye first sees, and then must correct. Something tender and carved about the face… Her face seemed for a second almost beautiful, and then the hooker turned and shuffled and the door was closed behind her, and she vanished into her own namelessness.

Related Characters: Tillie Henderson, Judge Solomon Soderberg
Page Number: 274
Explanation and Analysis: