Magic, Religion, Dance, and Possibility Theme Analysis

Magic, religion, and dance are integral to several of the Gold family members’ lives: Klara is awed by magic and illusion; Saul finds comfort in religious ritual; and Simon is inspired by ballet. Although each of these activities seem totally dissimilar on the surface, the novel illustrates that the power of religion, magic, and dance lies in the fact that they each enable people to understand life’s greatest mysteries and imagine new possibilities in their lives and the world.

Klara loves magic because it often defies logic and physics, thus expanding people’s perceptions of reality. For Klara, magic is not about deception. Rather, her goal is to “impart a different kind of knowledge, an expanded sense of possibility” on her audience. Magic thus represents the idea that there could be alternative explanations besides sheer logic and fact in the illusions that she performs. Klara also recognizes that magic can fill everyday life with wonder. Once, when the Golds are on vacation on a beach, they see that the water looks completely red. Simon posits that it looks like ketchup; Saul says it looks like the Nile. Years later, in school, Klara learns that it’s really because of algae blooms, but “This knowledge [makes] her feel curiously empty.” Preserving the mystery around the ocean’s red color is more appealing to her than understanding facts, because she likes the ambiguity and wonder in believing that something could have many different explanations. The fact that Klara believes in her own magic asks readers to consider alternate possibilities as well. When Klara produces a strawberry in her hand in a magic trick but has no idea where it came from, the novel invites readers to consider mysterious explanations for how Klara acquired the strawberry.

Religion—specifically Judaism—underpins the Gold family’s life, and the characters recognize that it is powerful because it, like magic, explores the world’s mysteries and allows for explanations beyond reason and fact. Saul is the most devout Jew in the family, and Klara describes him as having read the Talmud “every which way,” sometimes even staring at a single page for days. She understands that for Saul, Judaism is both “a way of living lawfully” but also “a placeholder for what we don’t know.” In other words, religion enables Saul—enables people—to engage in life’s mysteries because it allows them to have faith in a supernatural explanation for things that lie beyond humans’ capacity to understand. In Hebrew school, Klara loves the stories of Judaism, like that of Daniel, a prophet who disobeyed the king and was thrown into the lion’s den as punishment. Miraculously, the lions left him alone. As Klara notes, stories like this “suggest[] that she could do anything,” reinforcing the idea that religious stories expand life’s possibilities. Klara even relates her magic specifically to religion. She explains to an audience that for a long time, she thought magic and religion were opposites—that religion was formal while magic was interested in breaking rules. Yet gradually, she recognizes a deeper similarity between them: that they both believed in “a space where the impossible becomes possible.” Thus, Klara’s comparison of religion and magic reinforces that both require people to suspend their disbelief and consider more supernatural explanations for life’s mysteries.

Dance also expands possibilities for Simon, allowing him to imagine the way the world could be or what he might be able to achieve. When Simon moves to San Francisco as a teenager, he starts taking ballet lessons at a local academy, which houses a company called Corps. Simon notes that unlike other companies, where “male dancers act as bland fairy-tale princes,” the men at this company dance with each other and the movements are modern and acrobatic. For Simon, who is gay, this is appealing, as the company’s routines enable him to envision a world where he can partner with men romantically, not just in dance. Taking dance lessons also enables Simon to find new potential in himself. He expresses how it’s “mysterious” to him, but when he leaps, it’s “as if he’s sprouted wings.” Dance gives him a sense of achievement and freedom, elevating him to a state that he never thought possible. The combination of the words “mysterious” and “wings” also relates Simon’s movement to angels, which further connects dance and religion. Just like magic for Klara and religion for Saul, the power of dance expands his notions of what is possible.