Aug 16, 2023
"The sky is the glass ceiling of all our dreams." : a small wooden ceiling devoid of stars for Agreste when he was younger, hidden in a small dark room in the same way his parents hid the heavy secret of their relationship. In a way, the calm that inhabits the room symbolizes the calm that hangs over his life: there's nothing around him to make him feel emotions, to pierce the silence with bursts of laughter or tears. It's a calm that's been imposed on him, a calm that doesn't appeal to him, a calm that's nothing like a calm, the calm of solitude: an eerie calm, a calm that's always been part of him. To return to the moment when he cut his hand (in chapter 14, I believe), his sky at that moment shrank abruptly: his eyes were no longer riveted upwards (in full expansion of his sky as he helped Theresia in her play) but downwards, to the wooden floor where his blood was flowing, he no longer knew emotions, he was simply "calm" - he felt again that "eerie calm" similar to the one he knew as a child.
His departure from this place, his escape from this calm, marked the beginning of the expansion of his sky. Under the stars, he experiences a new calm, a calm of freedom, a calm he has chosen, a calm where emotions like love can reemerge: love for others, but also for the new, the expansion . Here again, there's an interesting parallel between the "blanket of quieted stars" and the "blanket of carnelian fashion" in chapter 14: here again, this second blanket has nothing to do with calm; it's Agreste who's going to qualify it like that like - eerie calm- (in view of the strange calm that runs through it), while the first already has a calm of its own.
Also, the fact that the expansion of his sky began with a tragic event echoes the fact that, in a way, his painful death was merely the starting point for a new expansion of his sky. His sky, which he had refused to expand for a long time (in a way, in chapter 1, when he said he didn't pass where the stars shone, it was like restricting his sky to the attic ceiling he had always known: rediscovering the eerie calm in which he knows he's suffering, but somehow doesn't feel it).
Going to this carnival, besides celebrating the success of the play, is a bit like "a celebration of budding emotion", but which one? First of all, it's Theresia who invites Agreste, so it must be an emotion she's felt. So I don't think it has to be love, as this feeling is initially unknown to Theresia and frightens her. I'm leaning towards a celebration of the expansion of her sky. This can be understood in several ways. From the point of view of her Playwrite mask: celebrating the success of her play, from Theresia's point of view as a whole: celebrating the terrifying yet beautiful expansion she felt => but wasn't that love in the end? ). For Agreste, it's another opportunity to spread his sky among confetti and balloons, under the soft orange haze (which he calls "beautiful color", once again he finds beauty in Crell). In this festive panorama, they can both discuss the performance, but also try to shed light on a few "misunderstandings", such as the look Theresia gives Agreste.Except that when the time came to explain herself, she became very defiant. She turns red, becomes agitated and bites her tongue. Tongue biting can mean, among other things, that you're deliberately holding back a comment or reaction to avoid saying something "incriminating". So it would be understandable for her to act in this way, as Agreste said they were now in a situation far too delicate to talk about it "loudly". However, biting her tongue could also indicate a desire to lie. But why lie? What if she was really angry at that moment? Of course, we've seen that she was terrified of realizing just how attached she was to Agreste. But I don't know, part of me thinks she was really angry with herself, to see how much she had "deviated" from her passion for Agreste. Also, maybe she was angry with herself because, even though the theater was full, she only had an eye for Agreste, the rest was of little importance. She only wanted to show him the stars, "return the favor", "make him smile". And so she strayed from her goal/passion of Playwrite. ( and maybe she was really angry at him in a way for make her "forgot" her goal. )
This carnival is also "the emergence of a torn past". Indeed, we learn a little more about Theresia's past. At first, like Agreste, you'd think she'd look on the carnival with indifference, as she no longer grasps its "beauty" having seen it dozens and dozens of times. But I think it's much deeper than that. Meeting Franz Forger seems to corroborate this hypothesis. Here we meet the playwright for the clockwork carnival, a man who has given Theresia and her sister Cassea ( OMG ) a house and a purpose . Well, already this man is not synonym of good emotions to Theresia, judging by her body language: she's withdrawn - her eyes darken, she's defensive.
Now let's get on with the hypothesis: the little theater where she and Agreste have stopped to watch the play is where Theresia spent her childhood. The play they're watching is one Theresia took part in when she was younger. More generally, I think she directed it with Cassea perhaps. It was Theresia who sewed the dragon, and Agreste's feelings when he looks at it are similar to those he felt when he first saw Theresia's work. Franz is said to have subsequently bought this place.The fact that he says "own this place" elicits horror in Theresia, as if in some way the fact that he's buying the place is telling her that he still has a hold on her ( I dont know how to explain this clearly ). Then she says that Franz is the one who gave her a purpose. But what was it? To become a Playwrite? Become famous and come back here? To write for the sake of the viewer, to give people something to look at? Whatever the case, we understand a little more why she works so hard, and why her passion is so important to her. In fact, it's much more than a passion: it's a goal.
Another important thing to note: the names. First of all, going back to the play, I think the hero in armor is a character that represents Cassea and the dragon Theresia. In a way, all eyes are on Cassea, or at least on her armor ( december ). Secondly, Cassea has the same name as Franz, namely Forger, while Theresia's first name is Hayes : it like she created her own identity. In a way, the Forgers are "known" and Theresia remains in the shadows, her name having no value until now. Perhaps this is why Franz Forger would have chased her away, and the goal he would have given Theresia would be to be famous enough, to make a name for herself.
On Cassea's side. We also understand why she created this December identity: in a way, it's a way for her to escape Franz's grip and hurt him and Theresia? It's also important to point out that when she introduced herself to Agreste, she simply said Cassea, not Cassea Forger.
As Theresia said, this family is a triangle of bitterness, a picture of a family torn apart like her torn past.
Finally, despite this wave of negative emotions, she finds a smile again when she talks to Agreste, her star in this torn sky of hers. Her emotions/expression flush like a garden of Amaryllis : she's "budding" again . What a charming flower to describe the emotions Agreste is contemplating. Not only for its symbolism of love, beauty and determination, but above all for its shape, as this flower is known for the star-shaped arrangement of its petals. Again, it is like he is able to contemplate stars.
A little side note 1 about chapter 14 's details :
- his broken reflection on the puddle of blood is the perfect image of his state of mind and accompanies his realization: just like the latter, he realizes that he's a "broken" man. Broken by the past, by regrets, by remorse.
- Carnelian: he describes his blood as "carnelian fashion". Historically speaking, in ancient Egypt, the carnelian stone was used by the Isis to accompany the dead in their passage to the afterlife: in a way, this underlines Agreste's reincarnation. But the most interesting aspect is that of its symbolism, where I'm interested in two aspects:
1) from a psychic/mental point of view: it eliminates harmful thoughts. Agreste's wound serves as a realization. In a way, he's putting words to feelings and situations, in this case his death and the repercussions it has had on him and his peers => these harmful thoughts flowing away in the stream of his blood on the ground, or more simply from his heart to his mind.
2) from a physical point of view: it activates healing and strengthens the heart. Thus, this wound and the realization it has provoked are one of the starting points for Agreste to heal from his past wounds, and are one less thorn planted in his heart or at least, even if they're still planted there, they'll hurt a little less.
Side note 2: wildflower: the fact that this is the word that describes Agreste's new environment, where he's going to spread his sky, refers to the fact that "wild" implies movement, novelty, freedom of sorts. "Flower" could echo emotions, vivid new ones. In a way, every emotions our mc encounters is symbolized by flowers from this wildflower field: lilac, amaryllis, daisies, grass.
