In class we
have talked about how Doctorow uses his powers as an author in some ways that
are not quite subtle. For example, Doctorow makes Houdini all a sudden crash
next to the little boy’s house right after the little boy thought about the
magician. It’s a rather odd thing to happen, but perhaps Houdini happened to be
driving down that street and crash. The chances of that actually happening is
really unlikely, but it has some basis of realism. However, some of the other
things Doctorow adds to the story seems to be like some sort of magic.
The little
boy started off seeming like a normal kid. Sure, it was odd that Houdini
appeared right after the boy thought about him, but that was probably just
Doctorow trying to get Houdini into the story. But then the little boy says something
quite confusing. “Warn the Duke,” he told Houdini (Doctorow 10). Who’s this
duke? Why did the little boy randomly tell Houdini this? It just overall is a
puzzling end to the chapter. But the story goes on. Then as we follow Houdini
in his story, he happens to meet Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It can be easy to
forget the little boy’s prior warning like Houdini did (Not that Houdini would
know what to warn the duke about). However, the little boy’s statement is
somewhat prophetic. Could a warning have prevented Ferdinand’s assassination?
What would that have meant for WWI? This is only the start of the supernatural
powers of the little boy.
In Chapter
15, Doctorow tells us that the little boy “could look at the hairbrush on the
bureau and it would sometimes slide off the edge and fall to the floor. If he
raised the window in his room it might shut itself at the moment he thought the
room was getting cold” (Doctorow 117). Doctorow in this passage just basically
told us that the little boy has telekinetic powers. Any doubt about the boy
having strange powers is erased by Doctorow in this moment. It’s not just the
reader connecting the boy’s strange statement and the later encounter with
Ferdinand. Doctorow is showing us the unusual traits of the boy. For a book
that can mix history and fiction so well, it is odd that he would decide to
give the little boy these powers in a not so subtle way. What is Doctorow
trying to do with the little boy? Why is he being so obvious with his powers as
an author? There are a lot of strange things going on with the little boy. What
do you think?
