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Chapter 17
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
Raj works with the production team to rig the Jaws of Life and stage Second Sight. Ruby is starting to speak, and Raj wants to rent an apartment and look at preschools. Meanwhile, Klara knows that if the fortune teller is right, she will die in two months. One day, when Klara is out shopping with Ruby, she notices a man who looks exactly like Eddie O’Donoghue in the parking lot. She starts to run away, then slams into a woman whom she mistakes as the fortune teller. Klara is terrified and runs back to The Mirage.
This chapter tracks the deep toll that Klara’s obsessions begin to take on her. Her thoughts are completely out of her control as she is haunted by the ghosts of her past and plagued by the idea that she might die in two months. These thoughts and visions terrify her, and her panic illustrates the damage that her mind is starting to cause in her life.
Themes
An hour before Klara’s first dress rehearsal, she hears Simon’s knocks again when she is in the bathroom, but this time they spell out “MEET ME. US.” Klara lowers her head, dizzy. She feels Saul and Simon pulling her toward them, but at the same time she hears Ruby calling her. Raj bangs on the bathroom door, and when he enters he discovers that Ruby has been eating soap from the dispenser. He is furious at Klara and helps Ruby wash out her mouth.
Again, the chapter continues to track how dangerous Klara’s thoughts are becoming. She is so caught up in the idea that can communicate with Saul and Simon that she ignores her own baby daughter. This is to the detriment of both Klara and Ruby, as Ruby needs Klara’s protection and Klara’s negligence is driving a wedge between herself and Raj.
Themes
Raj asks if Klara has been talking to Simon, and he smells alcohol on her breath. He warns her against throwing away what they’ve built by drinking again, and Klara says that Raj is controlling. Raj replies that if he hadn’t found her, she’d be a drunk and a failure. Klara says he doesn’t know what it’s like in her head—or what she’s lost.
Both Klara and Raj acknowledge here that Klara’s obsessive thoughts are destroying her. Raj tries to get her to control them, whereas Klara believes that they’re uncontrollable since they stem from experiences that she cannot forget.
Themes
Raj argues with Klara, explaining that he’s lost a lot too, and that her family has it good. Klara argues that Simon and Saul didn’t have it good, and Raj says that just because they didn’t live until 90 doesn’t mean they didn’t have it good. He says that she doesn’t have any space in her head for anyone’s problems except her own. Raj says as soon as they get a day off, he’s taking her to see a doctor.
Raj’s argument touches on the theme of living versus surviving. He argues, as the book ultimately suggests, that surviving to an old age doesn’t necessarily mean having a better life, and that shorter lives can sometimes be more satisfying or meaningful. Even though Simon and Saul’s lives were cut short, they were able to pursue their passions and build meaningful relationships.
Themes
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December 28th, 1990. If the fortune teller is right, Klara will die in four days, on her opening night. Klara thinks that there must be a trap door that will allow her to escape her fate. She suddenly has a revelation, however. She thinks that if Simon and Saul can contact Klara, then death is an illusion. She thinks that even if she dies, she can communicate with Ruby—she can cross boundaries, as she always dreamed.
Klara’s obsession takes on a new depth here. She believes in magic and its ability to explain things that she does not understand, but here she extends that belief to cover death. Her insistence that she can communicate with Saul and Simon prompts her to conclude that death is inconsequential because she can exist beyond death. While it is tempting to have this kind of belief in magic, ultimately these thoughts reveal Klara’s instability and hint at the potential harm in believing that death doesn’t matter.
Themes
