Motherless Brooklyn

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Jonathan Lethem's novel Motherless Brooklyn is a suspenseful mystery that is set in the corrupted world of Brooklyn's petty criminals. The story follows four orphans from St. Vincent's Home for Boys and their self-proclaimed mentor Frank Minna. Minna is a mysterious figure, somewhat of a lowlife and womanizer who takes four "motherless" teens under his wing and provides them with a purpose in life as operatives in his so called L&L Detective Agency. These orphans, appropriately dubbed "Minna Men" are Tony, a tough guy who has secret aspirations to take over the agency, Danny, a calm cool collected individual with looks to match, Gilbert, a goofy, sometimes clueless loser, and Lionel Essrog, a victim of Tourette's and the main character of the novel.

These four, as members of the detective agency, partake in seemingly erroneous jobs, such as moving furniture for two mob bosses. But when Frank Minna is suddenly murdered while on a stakeout with Gilbert and Lionel, the orphan boys must quickly learn to fend for themselves, while at the same time uncover the legacy and mystery that Minna left behind. A legacy of lies that still poses a threat to the remaining Minna Men, and it is up to Lionel, tourettic tics and all, to find his father figure's murderer. Moreover, it is Frank Minna's brief appearance in the story that sets up the main conflict of the novel, affecting the development of each character, suspense of the story, and underlying theme.

Characters are a pivotal aspect of every story and in Motherless Brooklyn, the memory of Minna facilitates the reader's understanding of each character. From the time Minna took in his young prot'g's up until his death, he represented the father, mother, brother, and sister of these four men. He was in a sense the only family that the orphans ever knew. And his death forced all of them to grow up. Furthermore, it represented a testament to the relationship of these four men and their mentor. Before the murder, the Minna Men were always told where to be and when to be there; they did what they were told to do, no questions asked, such as when they helped two mobsters in shady business deals. This sense of control in their lives, upon Minna's death, was abruptly thrown into chaos and each character reacted differently. Gilbert became very antsy and detached with his fellow agents, eventually landing in jail because of his passiveness. Tony appointed himself as the new leader of the crew, assigning "tasks" to each men in regards to their search for Minna's killer. Danny didn't really react at all, remaining the same calm person he was. While Lionel, ignored Tony's orders and decided to become much more proactive, determined to find the killer on his own.

The significance of the various reactions of the characters is that it helped reveal the true personality of each individual, as well as their relationship with Minna. Out of all the men it becomes obvious that Lionel is the one who truly cared for his mentor, something that seemed apparent in all the men before Minna's death. Furthermore, the character of Tony as a whole becomes much more apparent. Before Minna died, it was Tony who constantly berated the other Minna men and now the reader understands why, because he wanted power, and picking on the others gave him a sense of power. The reader begins to comprehend the status of each men in the group and their roles as well. Tony was Minna's right-hand man, Lionel was Minna's freakshow, his sentimental favorite, while Gilbert and Danny were the followers, simply part of the detective agency because of the history they had with Lionel and Tony. The growth that is caused by Minna's death is mainly witnessed through Lionel, who changes from a passive, nervous man plagued by his Tourette's, to a confident, active man who is no longer controlled by his disease. Minna's brief appearance in the story served as a catalyst to the introduction and progression of each character, thus providing a common source for this progression and an intriguing forum through which it could be conveyed.Order custom research paper on Motherless Brooklyn

Another very important role that Frank Minna played in this novel was to add elements of suspense to the story. All seems well in the lives of Minna and his men until Frank is suddenly murdered. It is at this point of the novel that the story truly begins and the plot thickens. Frank's death comes as a shock to all the members of the detective agency and it leaves many unanswered questions. Even though Gilbert and Lionel are present during Minna's murder they are as clueless as the reader in terms of details and Lionel at one point even says "I didn't know anything…" This fact is significant because it establishes Minna as mysterious, never saying all that he knows, or letting on all that he doesn't know. And because of his mysterious nature, Minna left his men in the dark and vulnerable, which in turn adds an element of suspense to the story. The reader and the characters of the story don't know who to trust or who to believe. Furthermore, the fact that Minna plays such a large role in the novel yet only appears for a portion of it ties in to his effectiveness as a forum of suspense. The reader barely knows Minna and is left to discover his character not through his own actions but through the perspective of other characters in the story. In other words, no one ever has a true sense of Frank Minna, all that is known about him is circumstantial and subjective. Because of this, the reader cannot predict the reaction of other pivotal characters of the story toward the "legacy" Minna left behind, thereby creating another element of suspense. Minna's omnipresent role in the novel also carries over to the overall message of the story.

There are various themes that can be extracted from Motherless Brooklyn but one that stands out above the rest is that of finding your purpose in life. The whole novel is a vivid account of Lionel Essrog's journey toward self-acceptance and finding his place in the world. And without the constant memory of Minna, this journey could not have been achieved with such conviction. When Minna died, Lionel along with his fellow "Minna Men" were left alone, once again, as they were when they were orphans, without a place in the world. The four men had gotten so used to being Minna Men that when their namesake was murdered, it left them to find new purposes in life. Only now their purposes would be valid and based on something other than lies. For Lionel his purpose at this time of his life was to find the men behind his mentor's death. Basically, Minna's death purged one purpose in Lionel's life and gave him another more meaningful one. And while trying to achieve this task, Lionel grew as a person eventually learning to accept his Tourettic self and fit in to a world that was not always willing to accept him.

Minna's role in Motherless Brooklyn is indicative of how important characters that appear briefly in literary works can be. His short appearance in the novel is probably more influential than many of the other characters in the story who remain part of the bulk of the book.

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