The Night Circus

CTQ: Who has “power” in your text?  How does that power get shown?

            I have recently read the book “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern.  It’s about how two magicians, Celia and Marco, are put into a magical duel by their guardians.  This event takes place in a circus, and it lasts many years.  As time goes by, Celia and Marco fall in love, but they figure out that the only way to play the game is to outlast the other player.  I believe that Hector Bowen (Celia’s father) and Alexander (Marco’s adopted father) have the most power in this text.

            Celia and Marco are expected to have an inner drive to try to out last each other.  But they love each other and Celia sometimes thinks of committing suicide to let Marco win.  But, thanks to their parents, they are forced to never run away or even think about it by a scar that will blindingly hurt whenever one of them gets any ideas about it.  This shows the power that the parents have over their lives.  “And then his right hand begins to burn, the pain sharp and searing, beginning at the scar around his finger and racing up his arm, blacking out every thought in his mind.” (page 351).This is what happens when Marco asks Celia to run away with him.  His scar was made when he first started preparing for the challenge.  This shows how much power and influence the parents have over the magicians lives, so much that they can get into their children’s thoughts.

            Whenever Celia and Marco kiss, either Alexander or Hector shows up to lecture his child about how their love will get them nowhere in the challenge.  Celia and Marco are constantly being reminded that their love is fake, disgusting, and irrelevant by their guardians.  “ ‘Stop behaving as though you love that boy’ Hector says.  ‘You are above such mundane things.’ “ (page 397). This quote shows Hector Bowen’s attitude towards Celia and Marco’s love for each other.  Hector and Alexander can only think about how everything affects their competition for who’s the better magician and they never think of their children’s feelings.  They have power and influence over what their children should feel.

              Hector and Alexander also affect the other people involved in the circus.  The fact that Alexander had no shadow convinced Charles Lefèvre (the owner of the circus) that there was something secret and evil going on behind his back.  That caused him to attempt to kill Alexander with a knife, but he misfired and it hit Herr Friedrick Thiessen (the maker of the famous clock on the gates of the circus) instead.  “…Mr. A. H-‘s suit shifts…the knife brushes by his sleeve, and comes to rest instead in the chest of the man he’s speaking with…[he] catches Herr Friedrick Thiessen as he slumps forward.” (page 375).  This shows how entangled other people can get in the web of magic that Alexander (A.K.A. Mr. A. H-), Hector, Celia, and Marco have created.  It makes normal people suspicious and causes them to do drastic things.  Hector and Alexander have taught their children to do the same as them.

            After I read this book, I thought that it kind of related to “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, in a sense that two people who love each other are being forced to kill each other.  This text makes me wonder how they would have turned out if Marco actually did commit suicide without Celia, how would she react and would she ever be the same?  Would she ever use magic again?