The Magus

Alison is an important character in the text and functions as the archetype of the romantic heroine as well as the divine maiden in Nick’s story. Described by Nick as slim, tanned, and attractive—though not conventionally beautiful—Alison has grey eyes and long, brown hair, often bleached by the sun.

Like Nick, Alison is at a crossroads when she first appears in the novel, unsure about her past or future. Additionally, Alison also faces the weight of gendered expectations. For instance, Nick notes that Alison is troubled by the termination of pregnancy she underwent in Australia; in the 1950s, the import of this decision would have fallen on Alison alone. Alison is also aware of the fact that, for all his liberal values, Nick unwittingly judges her for her sexual freedom. She frequently alludes to the fact that Nick thinks less of her because she is “a whore and a colonial” (25), or “a tramp” (21).

Alison is also honest, blunt, and emotionally volatile. She is prone to despair, such as when she tells Nick that being shut in an airplane makes her want to drop out into space and oblivion. Thus, like Nick, Alison has a nihilistic streak. However, she is redeemed by her honesty and her true love for Nick. She offers clear-eyed appraisal of her emotions and is often cited in the novel by other characters as a good exemplar. As an example, Lily de Seitas Sr. tells Nick that had Alison been brought to Bourani, she wouldn’t have been subjected to the same treatment as Nick because “Maurice would have recognized at once that she was not a person whose emotional honesty needed to be put to the test” (652).

Alison symbolizes the truth in the novel, as well as acts as a mirror for Nick. When Nick tells Alison he loves Phraxos, she correctly diagnoses his feelings as escapism, asking him if he would not be bored even of the beautiful island without Conchis’s tricks. While the narrative sometimes tends to portray Alison as a figurehead—more a device to assist Nick’s symbolic rebirth than a flesh-and-blood person—she emerges as a dynamic character because of her willingness to change. By the end of the novel, Alison transforms from an unsure, volatile young woman to someone who is more confident. Though Nick repeatedly asks Alison to reconcile with him, she takes her time to decide, refusing to be rushed by him.

Described by Nick as short-statured, bald, and deeply tanned, Conchis has deeply intelligent, penetrating brown eyes. Nick often alludes to Conchis as “simian” or “saurian” (74), with a resemblance to the painter Pablo Picasso. The allusion to animals establishes Nick’s fascination as well as fear of Conchis; it also indicates that for Nick, Conchis embodies the wildness and terror of nature itself.

Though the text is teeming with details about Conchis—whose name is a play on “conscious”—there is very little definitive information on him, most of Conchis’s stories being fake. Perhaps the only credible fact about Conchis is that he is a man of considerable means, since he has enough resources to stage his elaborate, immersive plays and spectacles. It is also possible that Lily de Seitas’s information about Conchis is true: He is her friend and lover, godfather to Lily and Rose (Julie and June), a renaissance man with an interest in immersing people in his “plays.”

Allegorically, Conchis represents a god-like figure who makes his subjects suffer to prove their mettle and devotion. He also represents a writer, since he creates a fictional world in which the reader, like Nick, is a participant. Nick looks for meaning in Conchis’s world, forever stymied by arbitrary twists and turns. While Conchis is obviously highly intelligent and well-versed—with an impressive knowledge of music, philosophy, literature, ornithology, and psychology, among other subjects—Nick notes that he tends to be pompous. Conchis often speaks in cryptic, self-important sentences, referring to himself as a magus-analog figure like Zeus and Prospero.

Furthermore, Conchis’s decision to test people through psychological experiments is also controversial, since it often crosses the line of consent. For instance, though Nick agrees to participate in Conchis’s play, he is unaware the play will involve him being left tied-up and terrorized on a beach, or drugged against his will. Thus, Conchis is an ambiguous character, who evades meaning, much like the conscious self he represents in the text.

An important character in the novel, Julie is described by Nick as stunningly beautiful with pale skin, large, gray-violet eyes, and blonde hair. As her identity varies through the novel—from Lily Montogomery to Julie Holmes to the psychologist Vanessa Maxwell—it is difficult parse out her backstory. However, it can be assumed that she is an actress, the goddaughter of Conchis, and the daughter of Lily de Seitas Sr. These fudged details are fitting, since Julie’s function in the narrative is deeply symbolic, with her representing a test for Nick. One of these tests is to make Nick realize that the search for a conclusive meaning is futile. Thus, Julie keeps switching selves to confound Nick.

Julie also represents the archetype of the seductress or the siren who lures the hero away from his true quest. Nick alludes to this fact when he describes himself as a “Ulysses” on his way to meet “Circe” after glimpsing Julie; in Homer’s Odyssey, Circe is the enchantress who traps Ulysses/Odysseus on her island for several years. At the same time, as the shy Lily, she represents restraint, coyly fending off Nick’s ardor. Thus, Julie/ Lily represents more than one feminine stereotype in the novel, meant to test and teach Nick. Of course, confined to this “teaching” function, Lily remains a relatively flat character in the novel.

Late in the novel, June tells Nick that her name is associated with “a card in the Tarot pack called the magus. The magician…conjuror. Two of his traditional symbols (being) the lily and the rose” (492). Since the rose on the magician card symbolizes passion and desire, it can be inferred that June/Rose represents a freer, more obvious expression of female, heteronormative sexuality. This is confirmed by the fact that June is portrayed as a bolder version of her sister, such as when she sunbathes topless before Nick, making fun of him for primly looking away. If the rose symbolizes passion, the lily symbolizes wisdom and purity. Thus, taken together, the twins represent a balanced idea of stereotypically “female” power. As this reading of her character indicates, like her twin, June is a cipher in the novel, with a role that is largely symbolic.

The older Lily is an important minor character in the novel, representing the archetype of the wise woman. In a text that evades questions, Lily is the one character who offers some resolution for Nick. Thus, she symbolizes clarity.

It is Lily who tells Nick the most credible version of the truth so far: That her husband was the first English teacher at Lord Byron school, where he and Lily struck up a friendship with Conchis. After the birth of her daughters, Lily and Rose (whom Nick will know as Julie and June), Lily and her husband returned to England. Continuing to be in touch with Conchis, they soon became facilitators of his game. Lily also offers invaluable advice to Nick, such as the importance of protecting the feelings of the person one loves. Lily can be seen as both a better-realized version as well as an amalgam of her daughters.