Which Life?

In the book Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, he shows all sorts of characters.  Two characters in particular that he demonstrates very well are Tillie and Claire.  These two women are vastly different.  Tillie is a prostitute and Claire is a rich woman.  These two woman are as different as two woman can be.

Tillie is a woman who has been a prostitute for almost her entire life.  She seems really sad.  She's also very lonely, even though she's with someone every night.  She's also totally unstable.  She uses drugs all the time, she talks about shooting up all the time.  It also makes me really sad to read about her demeaning herself.  She constantly calls herself "Tillie F*&%ed up Henderson".  She's really mean to herself.  She calls the pimps she's with "daddies" She has a new "daddy" all the time.  She also lives on the street.  She also has no friends just competitors.  It's also really upsetting because she was expected to become a hooker.  I mean, even her mother wanted her to become a hooker.  She wanted her to go on "the stroll" (that's what they all call being a prostitute).  Even though she has a ton of sad and depressing things that complicate her life, she also is very free.  She doesn't really have to be chained by the things most people are chained by.

Claire is extremely different.  She has the life many people would dream for.  She has a really nice life.  She lives in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood.  There is a sense of stability in her life.  She has a huge income, a husband, and a whole life that is almost the same everyday.  That's not to say that her life is great or perfect, because it isn't, but her life is pretty good in general.  She knows her son, unlike Tillie.  Claire's son died in the war in Vietnam.  Even though he died, she still knew him, she still loved him and raised him.  She has a husband she can rely on, and is proud of herself for what she has accomplished.  The whole situation that she's in is light years better than Tillie's, except for the fact that she's confined to rules and a life she has to have because of her accomplishments.  I think she's got a good life but sometimes I feel sorry for you.

All in all, I think both woman's lives have pluses and minuses to them.  They both have good parts in their lives and bad parts, some people have more bad than good and some have more good than bad, but it usually evens out in the end.  Still, I can't imagine what it would be like to be either of them.