The Circus of Dreams (Quarter 3/ Assignment 1)

The Night Circus by Eren Morgenstern is a critically acclaimed young adult fiction novel featuring two illusionists who were marked as opponents from a young age by their famous magicians of fathers. In a twist of events, the two fall in love prior to learning of their destiny and are unable to find it in their hearts to signify one another’s downfall. Having to deal with both the expectations and tribulations of not only their fathers, but also their mentors and their fellow circus performers, aforementioned lovers Celia and Marco find themselves in the midst of the unexpected- as can be expected with the enigmatic night circus, Le Cirque des Rêves. While the two lovers are the main focus of the story, Morgenstern gives great insight into her other characters’ lives, as all features in The Night Circus are intertwined in one way  or another. This unique writing style introduces readers to the most primary secondary character, Bailey the farm boy, who falls into internal conflict when he is given the option of abandoning his mundane life on the farm to travel with the circus, seduced by the uncertainty of the future through his two relatively new friends, Poppet and Widget.

Morgenstern’s book is geared more towards young adults and adults in general. Speaking specifically, The Night Circus would appeal more to whimsical readers or those looking for a mentally engaging and mysterious read. The book describes the magic and illusions in depth while at the same time leaving many elements to the reader’s mind, so there must be a degree of willful suspension of disbelief and active imagination for those who do not habitually believe in magic. The magic Morgenstern writes about is parallel to the relationships her characters have with one another. Considering all of the book’s characters are tied to the circus, Morgenstern’s purpose of writing The Night Circus was to serve readers a glimpse of how the circus serves a darker purpose than its gilded entertainment scene, but to also to create a parallel to relate this to everyday life. In the daily walks of life, there is more than meets the eye. Morgenstern encourages readers to consider what they cannot see by setting the unknown elements of life parallel to Le Cirque des Rêves and through this, achieves her purpose. Having read this book, I will go into my day viewing everything as a little bit more of a puzzle.

The most prominent stylistic choice Erin Morgenstern incorporated in her book was an omniscient narrator focused on individual plots and subplots. By doing this, Morgenstern allowed readers time to contemplate how one character’s decision could affect one of another plot, which tied the stories together quite nicely. There were also small interludes throughout the book in which the circus appearance would be reflected on or the reader would be directly addressed. At the very beginning of the book it is written, “Then the iron gates shudder and unlock… Now the circus is open. Now you may enter” (5). Throughout the whole book, the narrator told the story through cryptic language and open-ended sentences. In no way did this detract from perception or full understanding of what was occurring, but enhanced both the severity of the whimsical and enigmatic tone set in juxtaposition to the heavy burden of specific characters. For example, the last moments of Tara Burgess happened near a train, after a meeting with one Mr. A.H. The whole exchange was odd, as Tara could not recall why she was in the train station, what more why she was there. After being deposited by A.H. on the train platform, Tara stepped forward and was killed by the train. Morgenstern, instead of saying Tara was hit by a train, simply stated, “She does not see the train” (179). The writing style demands rapt attention and at the same time provides the perfect style for just that. Prominent themes present in The Night Circus are change and escape. Bailey’s story exemplifies change and escape, as well as unmet expectations in how he is encouraged to determine which life-altering path he will take in less than one day. Discontent with his farm life, Bailey found his escape in the Le Cirque des Rêves when it was in his town. When he broke in on a dare, he ended up meeting the girl who would become his best friend, Poppet. When Bailey finally found
Poppet at the circus again, he was introduced to her twin brother Widget and the three became inseparable. However, their tight friendship was jeopardized when Poppet visited Bailey on the farm and told him he would have to decide by nighttime to travel with the circus or stay on his farm. As a fifteen or sixteen year old, this would be a drastic and life changing decision, but also the teenage dream of escape. As if leaving his family would not be enough, Poppet told him “I know that if you don’t come with us, there won’t be anymore circus” (268). This quote is the embodiment of stress, but also the catalyst of Bailey’s life. It also signifies the pace of Morgenstern’s writing. A multitude of issues are solved and created within a few pages. The fast pace of the action is offset by the tame and descriptive descriptions of the subplots. Through a mix of emotional and logical prose, the author hooks her readers into her book, as if the circus and its performers are unfolding before their eyes.

This book greatly appealed to my interest in the arts of magic and illusion, even though circuses frighten me. The advanced language and sophisticated writing style were extremely pleasing and restored my hope in today’s authors. The complexity of Morgenstern’s characters is unparalleled and they are written to be very in touch with their emotions. In addition to this, all of the interactions between the characters seem to hold an agreement of keeping a secret from the reader. The only thing I did not like about the text was that at some points the events would be confusing in the moment, but thankfully they would be explained later on. From me, The Night Circus receives a solid 8.5/10 stars, as I feel this read will stick with me for months to come. The best books are the ones you cannot forget, and I will not forget this one anytime soon.

Morgenstern took the saying “everything is not what it seems” and constructed an entire universe from it. With The Night Circus, she not only reinstates what is already known, but she encourages readers to contemplate the world around them and to question reality, which many people are afraid to do. This fearless and indirect call to action will touch the hearts of readers and influence a change in worldly perception.

Green is Keen? (Quarter 1/Assignment 3)

Unless your name is Kermit, being green is not so sweet. In the life of Elphaba Thropp, this statement holds quite true. In Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba faces social and personal conflicts with the color of her skin in a refined, religious community of yore. The story begins with an unfaithful Melena Thropp who ‘does the dirty’ with a man taking residence in her and her husband’s home. Unfortunately, this act of passionate sin led to a child of a color as sickly as the deed by which she was created; The girl was born green. With her bug-eyes, razor sharp teeth, and unusual skin color, Elphaba was the talk of the town. A society as religious as Munchkinland was not ready for her and this was made well known to the young lady.

Having grown up under less… affectionate nicknames such as “little snake” and “lizard girl,” Elphaba was well aware her skin color set her apart from the rest. This conflict was not only external, but internal as well. Ostracized from society by her own parents, Elphaba’s early years were spent in a home with her narcotic mother, overly-religious and illegitimate father, and opinionated nanny. Maguire narrates, “Frex organized an exorcism… The man was beady-eyed, perspiring with effort even though the mornings were colder and colder. Elphaba slept in her binding cloth in the middle of the carpet, oblivious to the sacrament. ” Elphaba’s father, Frex, called upon a god to fix his daughter, yet to no avail. In a muzzle due to her sharp teeth, Elphaba never said much to her caretakers and the one time she did speak to them, she was muttering the word “revenge” at the mere age of three. Internally, Elphaba’s conflict was that the only one person she could relate to was a traveling Quadling glassblower named Turtle Heart, a man as mysterious as herself. He was the only person Elphaba would enjoy in her younger years, as he would create glass toys for her to chew on and play with. Elphaba’s physical condition would not allow her to bite anything else and her parents were unwilling to consider alternatives for her. The fact that mother and father were unable to connect with her and love her like a daughter led to an extremely strong sense of young independence and distrust in Elphaba. Detached from the norms of society, Elphaba makes herself known even in her schooling as an oddling well beyond the color of her skin.

Elphaba’s situation is unique in how her dilemma can only be resolved to an extent by her and is very dependent on the reactions of those around her. Whether or not Elphaba accepts herself as she is, the people surrounding her will judge her by appearances and rumors and as a result fail to bother giving her a chance to show her true self. This is not to say that Elphaba wishes for the attention of these citizens, but the fact that the damage inflicted is mostly toward the ones who refuse to peer out from under their egos can be quite bothersome. With her wit and biting sarcasm, Elphaba has to establish a good name for herself in a society of prim and proper elites, all while being green.

S.S. Cambias (Quarter 1/Assignment 2)

Pirates? Check. Space travel? Check. An insanely difficult to follow storyline? Check. James L. Cambias, author of Corsair, blasts off his book with a heated spaceship battle taking place in the year 2031, outside of Earth’s atmosphere. In the midst of an illegal space trade empire, Cambias’s protagonists and antagonists circle around each other in a battle of morals, justice, self-interest, and occasionally wits in Corsair.

The overall setting in Cambias’s book is the year 2031, sixteen years into the future from today. In this time, space travel has evolved to the point of a stable space trade market becoming established and valued in society. With every good there is a bad, of course. David Schwartz, under the alias Captain Black the Space Pirate, has made it his mission to solicit as much money through illegal space trade as possible, creating the main conflict of the story. Having been sidetracked from his goals in high school by girls and shortcuts, David lost his drive to make an honest living for himself and decided to lead a life of danger and thievery. His enemy, ex-girlfriend, and the story’s lady of justice, Captain Elizabeth Santiago, has to foil his plans as the protagonist and restore the order of space trade to better the world.

Corsair features a universe of danger and excitement. The definition of corsair according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary is quite literally “a pirate,” of which there is no shortage in this book. The reader visits a series of times and places, reverting to the year 2023 more than once and in that time, receiving backstories and insights to the characters. The universe Cambias paints is technologically advanced, sleek and modern. Robots perform man’s job and aid humans in providing security for the public. The internet is even more vast and informative than today. However, this world is outruled in writing by an overwhelming amount of spacecraft-talk and code that is used even at the beginning with little explanation. It is for this reason that I have so much trouble grasping a complete and coherent understanding of what the protagonists and antagonists of this story are up against geographically, despite our real-life continents and their landmarks being used as visited settings in the book.

This being said, I would be a slightly less content young lady if I had to live in Cambias’s imagined world. The idea of intergalactic battle occurring over my head does not appeal to me in the slightest, and neither does the space pollution that is already an issue in our modern time. In addition to this, the characters Cambias paints seem untrustworthy and humanly frightening. Although there are plenty of dangers in our world today, space pirates are an unknown for now. Winning most shady character in the book is David, who says to Elizabeth after revealing that he solicits money from innocent people, “So what? Everybody steals… Morality’s just a set of rules people agree to follow. I don’t agree with their rulebook” (Cambias 39). It is seedy individuals like these that litter the book and give me the creeps. Whether or not I would be associated with said troublemakers if I were to be in their world is not a concern of mine. The whole idea of corsairs voyaging both sea and space to wreak havoc is unsavory and disheartening, especially considering villains like Captain Black the Space Pirate are the ones manning them.

Paiges of Anarchy (Quarter 1/ Assignment 1)

Danielle Paige’s Dorothy Must Die, the first of a three book series, is a stimulating read to say the least. The story of anarchic Oz is narrated through the first-person eyes of sixteen-year old Amy Gumm, least popular girl in school. Her life is anything but a gem, considering she has a deadbeat mother, no father, and no friends to speak of- all within a trailer park town in Sunflower State Kansas. Because of her poor upbringing, Amy has earned herself the name “Salvation Amy,” a sore topic of hers throughout the book. A self-pitying character, Amy wishes for her way out yet is also unwilling to work towards obtaining her one-way ticket. In an unexpected turn of events (thanks to an ironically forecasted Kansas twister) Mother Nature decides to take pity on Amy and give her and her hostile pet rat, Star, an adventure that no airplane could ever fly them to. This trip is anything but a vacation, though, as Amy learns that she is in Oz to earn her certification as a teenage assassin through killing Oz’s very own cruel sweetheart and dictatorial leader, Dorothy Gale.

Paige was clear in her motives of creating Amy Gumm and granting her her very own story. Amy’s school life is parallel to her encounters in Oz after her fateful ride in how her first enemy, Madison Pendleton, is an earthly (yet still sparkly) parallel to Amy’s second antagonist, Dorothy Gale. “If the lights went out in the hallway, she could light it up like a human disco ball. Like human bling” (Paige 4). Essentially, Amy’s main problems are dazzling mean girls with empires of frightened followers. Amy has to apply her reactions to Madison on planet Earth to the dictatorial ruler of Oz, Dorothy, in order to carry out her mission of restoring peace and magic to Oz by killing Dorothy. In this way, Paige has made the situation a bit easier on Amy in how she allowed her some practice in dealing with disagreeable personalities before facing one that could end her life in the snap of a manicured finger.

Amy is an undeniably piteous character at the beginning of the book, thinking the words of many teenage girls like “…he would never be interested in me, (Paige 5)” and “I was just a thing in the way…(Paige 11).” She slouches, views herself as a burden, yet is unwilling to apply changes to make herself even a little bit happier. For this, Amy comes across as annoying, even though readers are well aware of her less-than-savory living conditions. By the time Amy finally begins to dwindle in doubting herself, she quite literally becomes someone else which, although it is a progression in the story, hardly counts as positive character development for Amy.

If the opportunity arose for me to become friends with Amy, I cannot honestly say I would take it. Considering her reputation around school, (she was slapped by a pregnant Madison Pendleton and as a result was suspended for ‘physical assault’) nobody with self-respect would wish to be seen around her. A teen in rural Kansas with bubblegum pink hair and a dreary aura would not make a very good friend, especially when her years of social introversion are taken into perspective. I imagine a conversation with Amy would be unbearably awkward and cynical, leaving me wishing for my own pair of red heels to click me elsewhere.

Despite my harsh criticism of the main character of Paige’s book, the story itself is definitely worth a read. With a riveting hook and an even pace in action, Dorothy Must Die is quick to sweep up the interest of its readers and leave them wondering what the yellow brick road has in store for Amy Gumm and her dilapidated Converse.

When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat.

 – Mark Twain