Katabasis

While chalk is a motif related to the working of magic, it is also a symbol of memory and history. Chalk is made from “compressed, tiny fragments of ancient sea creatures that died millions of years ago” (114). It contains the concentrated life essence and all their memories. When Alice snorts chalk near the climax of the novel, she has visions from the lives of all the ancient creatures who made the chalk: “A woman laughing. A deer startling. A giant’s stride. A midnight streak into the lake, and the plunging cold. All the axioms in the world swirling and dancing above her” (468). These visions show all the pasts and memories encapsulated in the chalk.

The histories embodied in the chalk can be hyperlocal. Since different areas contain different creatures whose bones are compressed under differing environmental factors, the “efficacy of chalk depends on where you dug it up” (114). In this way, memory is unique to place. The chalk also gives Alice a sense of power and agency, helping her to move forward instead of feeling detached and unwilling to face what her past experiences in academia were really like.