The Darkness within Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus

My first impression to the Night Circus is that it felt like a dark story of a magical world, and although the overall mood of society feels like the early 90’s or so, the everyday rituals and communications taking place added a fantastical and magical level to the book.

The touch of reality within the Night Circus comes from the setting of the circus itself. As circuses are a type of show that took place within many different spots of history, the setting is what I bet is the element that the author allows the audience to make a connection with. In addition, I feel that the choice of setting also seems to aid to the whole mood of the storyline. When we talk of circuses, we could think of risky acts of bulls running towards women with red flags, escape artists trapped in a tank full of piranhas, and gymnasts jumping from ring to ring at a height sky high. Associated with what we commonly feel is dangerous, the combination of the circus and the time setting of nighttime derives a subtle image of darkness.

In fact, what the author is describing throughout the pages is mostly behind the scenes of the night circus. Magic is used throughout these scenes as a tool of discomfort(as so far this is what I felt), showing the degree of harshness of the circus training, and the dangerous tradition tied around it.

The first magical ability described towards one of the main character, Celia, is the ability of self-healing or restoration. For something to be restored to its original state, it has to be hurt in the first place.  And the act of hurting is done by Celia’s father Hector. On the other hand, Marco, the other main character is picked up by Mr A.H, who at first impression rejects Marco from telling his name. The broken kinship between the two main characters and their trainees draws the warmth out of the whole storyline. In fact the intense training of Celia due to Hector’s brutality is what really emphasizes the mood of angst. Killing a dove which is known as a symbol of peace, and cutting Celia’s hand open so that she can heal herself repeatedly. Hector’s blindness to her pain combines with the magic of the story, which makes the whole tradition and ritual much more extreme because it seems like in the circus of the magical world, pain is a minor thing as it can be undone so easily. In fact the life and death choice that is to come as a result of the conclusion of the circus competition is another unrealistic element that pulls up anxiety, communicating to the audience how different the whole social standard would have been like if we were to be living in a magical world.