Coming of Age and Education in The Night Circus
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern follows the life of Celia and Marco, bound to each other and competitors in a game before they even knew the other existed, and how their game affected the lives of everyone around them.
Every character in this novel, Celia, Marco, the twins, their friend Bailey, had magic thrust upon them. I believe that magic here is supposed to represent life and the education that comes with it. It is unavoidable and how someone is educated as a child, greatly affects their adulthood. Focusing on Celia and Marco, I thought they were both abused as children through their education. Celia's father was extremely "hands-on" with his teaching. He pushed Celia to the point of breaking both physically and emotionally. All teaching was done through trial and error, resulting in scars and the death of a pigeon. While this did develop the magic she was born with into amazing skills, it didn't focus on ways to "work smarter" and left Celia an over-thinker and a perfectionist. In contrast, Marco was taught in complete isolation. The man in the grey suit focused on books and studying. Marco did not actually practice his magic for a while. The man in the grey suit left Marco neglected more often than not, and as a result he became detached from life.
Both Celia and Marco learned that they needed compassion, vulnerability, and that how they were taught was not right. Celia even went on to teach the twins how to develop their magic in a much more controlled and better paced way than her father.
The Night Circus was a really fun read and I enjoy how Morgenstern used magical education as a vessel to discuss how education affects people.
Every character in this novel, Celia, Marco, the twins, their friend Bailey, had magic thrust upon them. I believe that magic here is supposed to represent life and the education that comes with it. It is unavoidable and how someone is educated as a child, greatly affects their adulthood. Focusing on Celia and Marco, I thought they were both abused as children through their education. Celia's father was extremely "hands-on" with his teaching. He pushed Celia to the point of breaking both physically and emotionally. All teaching was done through trial and error, resulting in scars and the death of a pigeon. While this did develop the magic she was born with into amazing skills, it didn't focus on ways to "work smarter" and left Celia an over-thinker and a perfectionist. In contrast, Marco was taught in complete isolation. The man in the grey suit focused on books and studying. Marco did not actually practice his magic for a while. The man in the grey suit left Marco neglected more often than not, and as a result he became detached from life.
Both Celia and Marco learned that they needed compassion, vulnerability, and that how they were taught was not right. Celia even went on to teach the twins how to develop their magic in a much more controlled and better paced way than her father.
The Night Circus was a really fun read and I enjoy how Morgenstern used magical education as a vessel to discuss how education affects people.
I also read night circus, I liked the idea of not having to follow what your teachers/parents have taught and to create a path for yourself. Rejecting their competition for their well being and connection was a great point in the story.
ReplyDelete