Previous
Prologue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Immortalists, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate vs. Choice
Family and Shared History
Obsession
Death, Meaning, and Legacy
Surviving vs. Living
Magic, Religion, Dance, and Possibility
Summary
Analysis
Nine years later, Saul dies of a heart attack. All four of the Gold siblings are shocked. Varya returns from Vassar, and Daniel from SUNY Binghamton. The funeral takes place two days later, and Gertie must be dragged through it. In the synagogue and at the cemetery, Simon laments silently that he’ll never see his father’s face again. Varya and Klara cry, but Simon is unable to. He feels that he has lost not only his father but the person that Saul might have become.
The fact that the Gold siblings reconvene for Saul’s funeral establishes how important their familial bond is in times of grief. They are able comfort each other and Gertie because of this solidarity. Saul’s unexpected death at a relatively young age also illustrates the downside to not knowing one’s fate. Because Saul died relatively young, Simon becomes aware that his father may not have accomplished all he wanted to before he died.
Themes
With Saul gone, the family’s roles shift. Varya hides away, and Daniel, only 20, greets guests and leads prayers in their home during the shiva. Klara cleans the kitchen, and Simon takes care of Gertie. Gertie sits shiva with a new devoutness—she always believed in superstition more than God. But now, she practices every rule to the letter, reciting the Kaddish on the floor and trying to read the book of Job. Many of the guests are Saul’s longtime employees, including his junior partner, Arthur.
Saul’s funeral demonstrates how Judaism becomes a way of understanding life’s mysteries through stories and rituals. The book of Job describes a wealthy man with a large family who loses everything, but in the end still believes in the justice and knowledge of God. The story suggests that suffering is a test of faith and thus gives some meaning to Saul’s passing and the Golds’ grief.
Themes
Simon loved to visit Saul’s shop as a child, when Saul showed Simon patterns and sewing techniques. But gradually, Simon realized that the shop represented an inescapable future. Daniel planned to be a doctor, which left only Simon to take up the family business. By the time Simon was a teenager, he realized that Saul’s attention to him was contingent on Simon’s involvement in the business. At the shiva, Arthur and Gertie grieve together, but they thank God for Simon.
While families can be a source of comfort in times of shared grief, here Simon acknowledges that his family has been a source of tension as well, because he had always felt obligated to take up tailoring. Saul viewed Simon as a way of continuing his legacy in building his tailoring business, but he seemed not to consider what Simon himself might want for his future.
Themes
On the last night of shiva, the siblings gather together in the attic while Gertie sleeps. Daniel and Varya are leaving the next day to return to college—Varya is studying biology and Daniel hopes to be a military doctor. In two weeks, Klara will graduate from high school. Rather than go to college, she plans to become a professional magician. She has been studying under Ilya Hlavacek since she met him at the magic shop nine years earlier.
Klara’s interest in magic has only grown since her encounter with the fortune teller. Magic not only represents a way for her to understand life’s mysteries but also to create new possibilities for herself. Rather than take on a traditional life, Klara pursues a more unconventional route.
Themes
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Varya and Daniel are shocked by Klara’s decision to leave, especially with Gertie still grieving. Simon thinks that Varya has always been rigid—on her 14th birthday she yelled at Simon for blowing out three of her birthday candles. Klara says she had always planned to leave, even though she doesn’t know where she wants to go yet. She also says that Simon will be there to take care of Gertie, though this bothers Simon greatly. He dreads the prospect of being alone with Gertie, of taking over the business, and of losing Klara, his greatest ally.
Simon’s memories reveal some of the anxieties his family brings him, from petty tensions over blowing out birthday candles to greater divisions regarding their life paths. Having to stay in New York City, care for Gertie, and take up the family business while being abandoned by his siblings imbues all of Simon’s family interactions with a sense of obligation and frustration.
Themes
Simon supports Klara’s decision, though, telling Daniel and Varya that they only have one life. Klara then brings up the fortune teller, daring her siblings to admit the dates on which the woman predicted they would die. Varya goes first: January 21st, 2044. Klara is surprised—she says the woman told her she’d be 31. Daniel says he doesn’t believe the woman, but he admits his date: November 24th, 2006, when he is 48.
Klara’s reaction to her age at death reveals the burden of knowing one’s fate. Even though Varya and Daniel deny believing the woman’s prediction, the possibility that she might be right causes Klara to doubt her life path and potentially encourages her to make bolder choices. While Varya and Daniel are taking a more traditional route in life and going to college, Klara doesn’t because she understands that she may not live long enough to pursue long-term goals.
Themes
Klara asks Simon about his date. He simply replies, “young,” and refuses to say anything more. Varya states that the fortune teller only has power over them if they give it to her and that obviously the woman was a fraud. Varya says she’s sorry that they went to the woman, and Klara blames Daniel for making them go. As they start to argue, Simon grows furious. He’s frustrated that they all get to escape while he has to remain. He yells at them to shut up.
The book seems to agree with Varya’s philosophy—that the woman only has power if they believe in her. Varya means that they won’t be anxious if they don’t give into their fear that the woman might be right, hinting at the danger in obsessing over the woman’s predictions. But the book proposes another interpretation: by giving power to the woman and changing their actions according to her predictions, they may actually fulfill the woman’s prophesies.
Themes
Varya and Daniel sleep in their beds and leave the next morning, but Klara and Simon climb up to the roof. In the morning, Simon asks Klara not to leave. She instead suggests that he come with her to San Francisco. Simon is stunned. Only Klara has ever known that he is gay—together they sneak out to clubs where Simon can be himself. It was at one of these clubs that a go-go dancer told him about San Francisco, where gay people can live openly. Klara acknowledges that Gertie would be angry, but that going to San Francisco would let him start his life. This idea seduces Simon. Though he often tries to avoid the thought, he wonders if the fortune teller is right. Simon agrees to go and tells Klara how much he loves her.
Simon and Klara do exactly what Varya just noted—give the woman power by believing her. Because both are worried about dying relatively young, they decide to run away together to take advantage of their lives, fearing that their time left may be short. In Simon’s case, the desire to make the most of his time is also prompted by the anxiety and obligation surrounding the family. Because of this tension, he feels the need to escape—to live for himself rather than to fulfill his family’s expectations of him.
Themes
