1/07/02
“Magic
Fire”
Hmm now where do I
start? I guess it should be the
initial seed of opinions that hadn’t fully grown until I had completed the
book: my first impressions. I
immediately took a liking to the book throughout the duration of the first,
second, and partly third chapters. The
relationship between Mark and Jessa had me intrigued; I frequently like (or
rather, happily accept) a good “I’m infatuated with you” section in a
story, partly I guess because of my loser status as being single and never
having been “in love”. Jessa’s
motives and behaviour seemed suspicious, as did Mark’s role as a pyromaniac,
which was feebly justified, leading me to become very interested in how the plot
was to develop.
However, I must admit
that Pike’s incorporation of the effects of MAZE made me lose a little
interest in the novel, and I found the pace of my reading increased, just so I
could be finished with the damn section on Mark’s hallucination on his couch.
Little did I know, the significance of MAZE was far more deeply etched
into the plot of the story than I could have imagined, ah, a silly reader I was.
Even when the concept of the “Cray aliens” was established into the
story, it did little to impress me. As
soon as I saw the word “aliens”, I presumed Pike would utilise the whole
cliché of extra terrestrials in flying saucers and all that malarkey.
Anyhoo, as soon as Mark’s encounter with the “floating brains inside
the blue liquid” occurred, my excitement in the storyline was suddenly
boosted. Pike has cleverly used a
notion that could be applied to real life, ironically suggesting that there IS
no real life. This was a brilliant
idea, and undoubtedly works every time, e.g. as shown by the façade of every
day life used in the huge Hollywood hit “The Matrix”.
I had to stop for a few minutes, and, being the intensely involved reader
that I become, apply the scenario to MY life.
The scenario, that is, of suspended brains merely projecting IDEAS of
real life, whereby the THOUGHTS of every day interactions, objects and
occurrences are able to create a seemingly real world.
I was like “whoa, cool”.
I love the idea of
Jessa’s book actually BEING a huge part of “Magic Fire”.
I admire Pike’s double twist in the story, or should I say the double
mask that is used to falsify the existence of mankind (with the use of the
aliens), and then the events experienced by Mark (with the veil of Jessa’s
fantasy being lifted). Of course,
since the book is written from a narrative angle, and also from Mark’s
perspective, the reader is lead to experience the emotions that Mark’s
character is described as portraying in depth.
This has one of two effects: either the reader empathises with Mark’s
desperation to burn things (which of course is all part of Jessa’s fantasy)
and to unconditionally love Jessa, or the reader can analyse his character,
since he is being presented in his true colours.
I choose to use my thinking time on the latter.
Personally, I find
Mark’s character to be the very thing he is afraid to be, a “coward”.
It is an aspect of Jessa’s fantasy that encapsulates the essence of
Mark’s character, and is not a characteristic that she exploits or
exaggerates. For his insistence
upon following Jessa in all of her dangerous plans contradicts his being a
coward. However, digging deep into
the depths of Mark’s character can illustrate his spineless nature. Mark leaves Jessa. Sure,
he bit into the “apple” and realised that the supposed “Garden of Eden”
that he was living in was part of Jessa’s fantasy, but he fails to recognise
that SHE DOES IT FOR HIM. Although
it seems as though Jessa yearns for ANY kind of love, whether it be from Mark or
anyone else, therefore her using Mark in her fantasy grazes the genuineness of
her love somewhat, I think the extent of her imagination and her wanting to
escape her life so badly that she ends up hooked to a machine living IN her
fantasies prevents her character from being shallow.
In fact, I think her character is anything but shallow.
I think she would continue to concoct as many Marks as it takes, until
she is able to be with her love for eternity.
Kinda creepy, but makes one sympathise with her tragic character.
Despite Mark’s role
as the leading character in this book, I see Jessa as being the heroine.
Much like the ‘hero with a fatal flaw’ that Shakespeare’s plays so
frequently used, Jessa is the heroine with a fatal flaw.
Her flaw is not only a cowardly characteristic that disallows her from
accepting real life and causes her to escape into fantasy, but also for wanting
to gain love through lies. Her
character is the epitome if pathetic, in its literal sense.
Her helplessness in her real life, and her ambition to “escape far
away” is an illustration of feelings I am well aware of, so I can empathise
with her character moreso than Mark.
The saddest part of
the book for me was not when Mark’s mother died, or even when Shamarti dies.
It is the end. The thought
of Jessa’s hopelessness in life, which causes her to inevitably kill herself,
saddens me, which might seem stupid to people because after all, it’s only a
book. But the thing is, doesn’t
hopelessness and disappointment in life exist for everyone?
I know it does for me. I
think there are only a few people who can claim to truly be “happy”.
I don’t think “happiness”, at least an overall happiness in life,
doesn’t exist. Nevertheless I
think people WANT to believe they can be constantly happy… the phrase “and
they all lived happily ever after” is an easy way to simplify the maze of
life, and basically is a bunch of crap used to encourage children to retain hope
in life and be optimistic about life.
As sad as Jessa’s fate is, I think she’s lucky to actually escape and live a fantasy, because she can fabricate as many Mark characters as she wishes. For me though, fantasies just provide a higher ground for me to stand on when the disappointment of life unexpectedly pushes me off. The more I dream, the more it hurts when some bastard in life lets me down.