Reel

“Boy, we all gonna die. Question is, how did you live? Did you live or just wait for death to come?”

The first Prologue, with Canon and his mother, sets up their relationship as a formative part of Canon’s character. His mother introduces several key ideas in the novel: the imperative to live life to the fullest, the ability to have joy even in the face of illness, and the importance of finding love and companionship. The same wish to embrace life shines through the characters of Dessi Blue and Neevah.

“Storytelling is sacred. Story must be protected, at all costs. Sometimes at personal cost.”

This passage reflects Canon’s beliefs at the beginning of his character arc, when he hasn’t yet followed his mother’s advice and found a person he loves more than his art. Canon’s devotion to making art is part of his character, but this conviction also airs one of the novel’s messages about the importance of storytelling and the cost of sacrificing a personal life for ambition, reflecting The Challenges of Preserving Personal and Artistic Integrity.

“Theater has the power to transform, to transport. For every person waiting for curtains to rise, this story is the vehicle to escape the mundane, the grind, the pressures life imposes on us. I know because I feel those same pressures. I feel the weight of life and I want to be lifted as badly as they do. For someone tonight, I’m the getaway.”

As a complement and answer to Canon’s reflection on the power of storytelling, Neevah’s reflection on the power of theater supports and continues this theme about the importance of art as a way to escape or sometimes transform suffering. This shared belief hints at the compatibility between their characters and also underlines the novel’s celebration of the value of art in human life.