46 pages • 1 hour read
Cassie BeasleyCircus Mirandus
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Ephraim’s Bootlace
Ephraim’s bootlace is a symbol whose meaning changes throughout the novel. For Ephraim, the bootlace symbolizes his own latent magic as well as his experience at Circus Mirandus with the Lightbender, whom he loves and admires. When Ephraim first meets the Lightbender, he uses his bootlace to showcase his magical knot-tying abilities.
The symbolism of the bootlace shifts when, later, Micah takes the bootlace because it reminds him of his beloved grandfather after he passes, as well as their shared values of imagination, silliness, and faith in magic. Gertrudis tests this faith when she instructs Micah to take the bootlace off; for Gertrudis, the bootlace also symbolizes faith in magic—something that she defines herself in opposition to. Her disgust illustrates her own understanding of the bootlace’s meaning: “[S]he saw the bootlace wrapped around Micah’s wrist. Something Micah hadn’t expected flitted across her face—recognition. An angry flush reddened her cheeks” (292).
Micah demonstrates his loyalty to Ephraim and their shared values when he refuses to acquiesce to Gertrudis’s demand, even when she strictly instructs Micah to cut the bootlace off before Ephraim’s funeral. Micah insists on keeping the bootlace on as it links him to both Ephraim and Circus Mirandus.
Drums and Trumpets
The music of the circus—drums and trumpets—is a recurring motif that illustrates the pivotal theme, Mystery and Magic. The only people who can hear the sounds of the circus are those who are open to the existence of inconceivable wonder and magic, typically children. The drums and trumpets first lure Ephraim to the circus as a 10-year-old. Later, Micah hears them when he and Jenny follow the wind to the circus. Finally, Micah hears them again when he is in the highway traffic jam with Gertrudis on their way to Arizona.
When Jenny and Micah first go to the circus, Jenny, who is ruled by logic and intellectualism at this point in the story, cannot hear the noise:
It was music. It was pipes and drums.
‘Do you hear that?’ he asked Jenny.
She shook her head. ‘I don’t hear anything.’
‘It’s the music! The music Grandpa Ephraim heard.’ Micah could feel it now, pulling him toward it (212).
Ephraim raised Micah to be open to magic; therefore, Micah hears the music clearly and understands it as a pull toward wonder and excitement. By ensuring that skeptics cannot hear the music, the circus draws in only those children who are open enough to enjoy it. Jenny can only hear and see the circus when she opens herself to the possibility of magic; at Micah’s instruction, she says, “[I]t’s a magic circus” like she means it (216). This allows her to hear the drums and trumpets and see the wonder of the extensive, previously invisible circus.
Crossing the Canyon
Mr. Head, the manager of Circus Mirandus, sets a condition for Micah to join the circus. The Lightbender explains, “[H]e wanted me to make absolutely sure that you loved Circus Mirandus as much as we do” (401). To test Micah’s love of the circus and his trust in the forces of magic, the Lightbender creates a convincing illusion of a canyon across the highway. Micah can hear the drums and trumpets of the circus in the distance on the other side of the canyon. Micah ultimately decides that he is willing to risk falling to his death in order to see Circus Mirandus again; he reasons that the magic of the circus will keep him safe, and he steps into the void. In doing so, Micah proves that he loves the circus, unlike his grandmother, Victoria, who used the circus to fulfill her own needs for celebrity and adoration. Having proved his love of the circus and his faith in magic, Ephraim’s miracle is fulfilled: Micah is allowed to live at Circus Mirandus and will learn to use his own magic.
