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 only think about how they will be able
to win the competition by controlling their children’s views on their
competitor. They have power and influence over what their children should feel.
Hector
and Alexander also have power over 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, which is controlling other people’s lives.
After I
read this book, I thought that it kind of related to “The Hunger Games” by
Suzanne Collins, in a sense that a higher power forces two children to
outlast/murder each other to prove their power to other people. This text makes me wonder how they would have
turned out if Marco actually did commit suicide. How would Celia react and
would she ever be the same? Would she
ever use magic again? Her father’s
emotional power over her probably would have convinced her that she doesn’t
belong without Marco in her life, and she probably would’ve killed herself too.
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