Chase Rathgeb
Dr. Jamison
9th Grade Adv.Lit
10 November 2015
Erin Morgenstern, the author of the National Bestseller, “The Night Circus” is an author known for her ability to enhance the meaning of text through certain words and phrases. These certain phrases appear in Part III of the book quite often. For example, in the encounter between Marco and Celia on the 13th anniversary of the circus, Morgenstern states after the two kiss, “The air swirls in a tempest around them, blowing open the glass doors to the garden with a tangle of billowing curtains.” This, other than the descriptive phrase, can also be an allusion to “The Tempest” by Shakespeare, as Morgenstern does make several other references to the play like the naming of Hector as Prospero, and him wanting Celia to be named Miranda. Another descriptive phrase is an observation by Bailey of the “rêveurs.” He states, “Each is a deep, scarlet red that looks even redder against all of the black and white” (320). This is a descriptive statement describing the rêveur’s uniforms. The next description is the explanation of the Ice Garden on page 321, when Bailey discovers it for the first time. There are two quotes, one of them on page 321, states, “Bailey peers at a nearby rose, and while it is cold and frozen and white, there is the barest hint of scent as he leans closer. The scent of rose and ice and sugar.” There are two important details that effect the story in this case, one, it shows the cold, frozen side but also reveals a rosy, sweet side when further scrutinized. Also, it made the story flow better with the use of using “and” repeatedly instead of using commas to separate the adjectives. The second quote in the Ice Garden is when Poppet takes off her coat to play hide and seek with Bailey and Morgenstern writes, “He follows her around trees and topiaries, through coils of vines and roses, chasing glimpses of her red hair.” This is the ending of the chapter and in my opinion it wraps up the scene very well, eluding to a possible relationship between Poppet and Bailey (Doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship). On page 334, there are two quotes that better explain the situation. The first one is, “The sound of his pencil scratching against paper is as methodical and precise as the ticking of the clock in the corner.” This describes the mood of the situation as Mme. Padva walks in to the office to find Mr. Barris sitting there. It also alludes to the clock, in which the clock is referred to constantly in the story. Though it is not the same clock as the one in the circus, the ticking of the clock and the idea of moving time is related to constantly. The second is the quote about the drafting table, in which Morgenstern quotes, “The drafting tables by the windows is all but hidden in the meticulously ordered chaos of papers and diagrams and blueprints.” I liked how Morgenstern used complete opposites to describe the drafting table, yet she made total sense. She described it in a way a teenage boy would keep his room. Most teenage boys keep their rooms dirty, yet they know where most everything is, a meticulous mess. On page 370 Morgenstern quotes, “The air itself crackles with mystery” while Morgenstern described All Hallow’s eve. It describes the spooky yet curious feeling you experience while in All Hallow’s Eve. The last quote is on page 374, where Morgenstern quotes, “Chandresh stares at his empty hand as though he cannot recall what he was holding moments before.” This alludes to an earlier part of the story where he forgets that he used to have brandy in his hand after Marco uses his abilities to make him forget, and the scene is repeated very closely to the original.
I actually enjoyed doing a review of Morgenstern’s style because I like to appreciate how each author has a different style, each one slightly or completely different than the other, Morgenstern is quite interesting especially in the use of vocabulary and tone of her writing. I like how in her stories that take place in the past, that she actually uses vocabulary form that time. I also enjoyed reading about her creative descriptions of locations, scenes, and emotions.