The novel starts with Fenna's stage partner Charles trying to "improve" one of the tricks she designed. What did you think of this, and what did you think of her reaction, both immediately afterwards and later?
Created: 09/08/22
Replies: 16
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
The novel starts with Fenna's stage partner Charles trying to "improve" one of the tricks she designed. What did you think of this, and what did you think of her reaction, both immediately afterwards and later?
Join Date: 09/03/19
Posts: 208
I thought it was an act to assert his dominance and denigrate her. It was designed to wrest any sense of control of the act from her. To put her in her place even though she is the originator of the act, the brains of the act and the one who trained him. It was a purposefully designed to exclude her from the details of the act she created. It made her not only an outsider of her own show but excluded her from the insider information of the stage crew. She was intentionally put on the outside. It was to put it mildly an insult. She gave him a dose of his own medicine and took that opportunity to showcase some of her own special talents. Of course, he didn’t like that either.
Neither of these individuals is very mature and each has very sensitive spots concerning their roles in the act. Charles has issues with his masculinity due to not being able to serve in the war, and of course he sees Fenna as a threat and someone to lash out upon. He also soothes that with drink. Fenna has issues with having to sublimate herself and her talents to a man to make the act work. She also can’t do many things due to her claustrophobia and PTSD.
Join Date: 02/04/14
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Join Date: 04/29/22
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Charles' arrogance in changing the trick and successfully upstaging Fenna could have failed just as easily as it was successful--this time. Illusion is the essence of the magic tricks, and coordination and timing create the illusion. I think Fenna's initial reaction of anger was justified. She had been afraid for his safety and his smirk mocked her fear. However, her revenge actions also could have caused the trick to go awry. I think that once they had lost their trust in each other, the doomed magic act was a logical outcome.
Join Date: 02/18/15
Posts: 497
Their act really called for complete trust in your partner. Once it became apparent that Charles wanted to be the main star (which he pretty much was) and would involve stagehands in his deceptions Fenna really had no choice but to leave the act. It was foolish to try to retaliate because they now had lost the trust and would always be suspicious of one another.
Join Date: 04/21/11
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Join Date: 04/21/11
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Fenna was the "brains" of the act but I think Charles just felt that he should have a say so about what he did - he treated her as the assistant which she certainly was not. What would he have done if the trick would have gone the other way? She did have to go on to prove to herself and others that she could and would be the star of the act although her problem with being in tight areas did not help her either.
Join Date: 02/25/19
Posts: 112
Charles was definitely not my favorite character in this story, but I doubt the author wanted us to view him any differently. It was a power play that was probably exaggerated by traditional gender role issues, and it triggered the rest of the story. At first, I wasn't thrilled when he popped up again later on, but the exchange between them wasn't bad.
Join Date: 10/16/10
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I think performers are always in competition with each other for attention and the spotlight. I didn’t find it surprising that Charlie tried to take the lead. They were both young and men were usually in control/getting all the credit at that time. Also Fenna was limited in what she would try due to her traumatic experience at the Italian Hall.
Join Date: 07/28/16
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Join Date: 08/12/15
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I agree with teachlz. I think that charles thought he was not being treated fairly by Fenna, and he was trying to show how much she needed him in the act. I think its not untypical of what we see with entertainment groups in real life. He was trying to say to her, "Look at me, I can do this!"
Join Date: 06/06/21
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Join Date: 07/29/14
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Join Date: 06/12/22
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I thought it was a highly effective plot device to establish a number of aspects, including the gender inequality of the time, and Fenna's core personality traits and characteristics. It also revealed problems in her professioanl relationship with Charlie, making the next aspects of the story more believable. Her reaction was palpable and believable.
Join Date: 04/12/12
Posts: 294
I was a bit confused about Fenna and Charlie's relationship. I realize she taught Charlie a lot but after he mastered it I wondered why he continued working with her. It was a man's world after all. Other than the fact that it provided Fenna the means to do magic, I guess it wasn't important to the next part of the story.
Join Date: 04/14/11
Posts: 68
I wasn't sure about this as the beginning of the novel, but it did influence the way I viewed both Charles (who I really, really didn't like) and wondered why Fenna allowed him to get away with his actions....but it sets up the rest of the novel in an interesting way.
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