Somewhere Beyond the Sea

“It was a tricky line to walk with her: lay it on too thick, and she’d shut down, waving it off and changing the subject. He’d made it his mission to tell her at least once a day how proud he was of her.”

Arthur’s thoughts about Phee characterize both her and himself. Arthur has deep compassion for the children in his care, and he works hard to help them grow. Phee struggles with her confidence, despite having grown somewhat in her time at Marsyas. The fact that she has already changed in some ways—and the likelihood of Arthur’s success in helping her continue to grow—demonstrates The Transformative Power of Love.

“I like my body. It’s squishy.”

Chauncey follows his declaration that he has a cloaca rather than a penis with this assertion of pride in his unusual, amorphous green body. The diction “squishy” adds a humorous tone to the moment, but Chauncey’s comment serves a more serious thematic purpose, as well. His body represents both gender ambiguity and the larger body types often shunned in contemporary society. His positive feelings about his body reinforce the novel’s position regarding Queer Joy as a Form of Resistance to oppressive cultural norms.

“I am magic. I am human. […] I am a boy. I am a girl. I am everything and nothing in between. […] You recoil in fear. You scream in anger. […] You wish I was invisible.”

Sal’s poem explicitly links magical qualities to ambiguous gender identities. In its demand that others see him for who he really is and its refusal to let others’ anger take away his joy, Sal’s poem shows how well he has learned Arthur’s and Linus’s lessons about The Importance of Living Authentically. It is also a clear example of queer joy as a form of resistance.

“Midway through their journey, the first raindrops began to fall.”

As Linus and Arthur near the city, they leave behind the joy, color, and sunshine of Marsyas Island. The rain foreshadows the unfortunate turn the hearings will take and the change in their mood the city will induce. The perpetual rain and grayness in the city symbolizes the crushed spirits of those who live there and the setting’s general lack of authentic joy.

“Let them listen to what joy sounds like. Maybe they’ll learn a thing or two.”

Arthur’s refusal to be intimidated by the bug that Linus finds in their hotel room characterizes him as determined to forge ahead, living according to his beliefs regardless of what others choose to do. In his comment to Linus, he explicitly connects his decision to ask Linus to dance with the idea of demonstrating joy to those who do not fully understand it, reinforcing the novel’s theme of queer joy as a form of resistance.

“When we live in fear, it controls us. Every decision we make is smothered by it.”

Arthur’s aphoristic comment about fear controlling people expresses a key part of his belief about the importance of living authentically. Arthur wishes to be fully himself, and he will not be pressured into a false conformity or shy away from displaying queer joy. In this way, Klune positions him in sharp contrast to the people in their society who shun and oppress magical beings—the novel portrays these people as controlled by their own fears.

“Which, of course, brings me back to the Antichrist. Lucy. A wonderful name for a boy.”

Rowder’s sarcasm regarding Lucy’s name characterizes her commitment to traditionally prescribed gender norms. Her diction choice—calling Lucy “Antichrist” despite Arthur’s explanation that it is prejudicial to use this particular term—characterizes her as insensitive to people’s desire to have a say in the language used to refer to and describe them. Both of these aspects of her characterization link her to real-world controversies related to gender nonconformity and J. K. Rowling, whom Klune explicitly names as the inspiration for Rowder as a character.

“You have given my life color in ways I did not expect.”

Linus’s proposal represents a significant moment in his and Arthur’s relationship, particularly since Klune juxtaposes it against their discussion of Arthur’s supposed faults and Linus’s assurances that he loves these things about Arthur. This structure reinforces the text’s theme of the importance of living authentically, while Linus’s explanation of why he wants to marry Arthur emphasizes the story’s symbolic use of color.

“‘I LOVE BEING ALIVE!’ David bellowed with unrestrained glee as the truck launched off the edge of the dock.”

This image of the truck barreling forward, launching itself out over the open ocean, is a dramatic one and illustrates Helen’s absolute faith that Zoe will provide a landing spot—the impromptu salt road. Symbolically, Klune indicates that David is learning a lesson about the “leap of faith” that love requires, preparing him to trust that Linus and Arthur will be there for him when he needs a “landing spot” of his own.

“Lucy’s eyes filled with a malevolent red. ‘I am not a magic banana boy! I do not care about your poops! I am Lucifer!’”

Lucy’s comical fury at his siblings’ teasing exemplifies the humorous tone that characterizes much of the children’s dialogue and actions. The juxtaposition of childhood innocence and mischief with the children’s magical abilities is particularly pointed in Lucy’s case: He is simultaneously a typical seven-year-old and the Antichrist. This opposition creates comedy and underscores the novel message about people fearing what they do not understand, regardless of whether there is actually anything to fear.

“‘You’re a dear,’ Chauncey simpered, pulling his sunglasses off his eyes and letting them rest on the brim of his sun hat. ‘Ever since Eduardo left me for a sea cucumber named Leslie, all I’ve known is this yacht and the call of the open sea.’”

Chauncey’s vivid imagination and confidence in sharing his imaginary world with his family are a tribute to the nurturing environment cultivated by Arthur and Linus that encourages him to live authentically. Diction like “simpered,” in combination with details like “Eduardo” and “a sea cucumber named Leslie,” emphasizes the fluidity and ambiguity of Chauncey’s identity.

“[W]e have one thing the government doesn’t. And it’s going to change everything. […] [We have] Each other.”

This passage evidences Sal’s personal growth and confidence as a result of Arthur and Linus’s nurturing and guidance. In this moment, he offers comfort to the adults instead of the other way around. He stresses the importance of found family, a motif commonly used in LGBTQ+ narratives that emphasizes the transformative power of love. Sal’s words are prophetic, foreshadowing the way that the family’s unity and their relationship with their community will help them in their final battle against DICOMY in the novel’s conclusion.

“Hiding away solves nothing.”

Although Sal has spoken up several times to express his wishes or give counsel to Arthur, this is the first time he openly defies Linus and Arthur’s wishes. He speaks up for David’s right to live authentically, regardless of what the government inspector thinks about it. His aphoristic pronouncement mirrors Arthur’s own way of speaking, suggesting the degree to which Sal has internalized the values Arthur has taught him.

“The sun disappeared behind a cloud as if even it wanted nothing to do with her.”

When Harriet Marblemaw arrives, she brings some of the gloom of the city with her to Marsyas Island—both literally and symbolically. The use of the pathetic fallacy suggests that even the weather responds to her negativity; this is reinforced by the anthropomorphic claim that the sun “[wants] nothing to do with her.”

“This is what she wants, Dad.”

Lucy’s comment to Arthur, interrupting his transformation into the phoenix, demonstrates that Lucy extraordinary powers of perception for a person so young. The moment is extremely significant for Arthur, as it is the first time Lucy has called him “Dad.” Lucy does so without thinking, emphasizing the loving, familial bonds that the children share with Arthur, genuinely viewing him as their father.

“You should bring the phoenix out more […] It’s part of you. Why hide it away when we want to see you fly?”

Phee’s words to Arthur demonstrate how well the children have learned the lessons Arthur and Linus have taught them about the importance of living authentically. That one of his children should have to point out that they love and cherish him exactly as he is indicates that Arthur has been so busy taking care of everyone else that he has, at least in this way, neglected to care for himself.

“Stop trying to act like you’re doing this alone. You’re not. You have us.”

Arthur talks often about the strength of his children and the support of the local village, but in this passage, he’s required to move beyond talk and allow the children and the villagers to step up and take part in the battle. Sal’s challenge to Arthur to accept the help of his family represents a turning point in Arthur’s understanding of himself.

“He walked around the desk, the buzzing sound absolute, his brain a hive of crawling wasps with poison-slick stingers.”

The metaphor of Arthur’s brain as a wasp hive vividly conveys how angry and confused he is after learning of Rowder’s plans for Lucy. The metaphor of insects in the brain recalls Lucy’s complaints that his brain sometimes feels as if it has spiders in it—both metaphors depict angry emotions and unethical desires as insects infesting the mind.

“And for the first time, Arthur Franklin Parnassus wept for himself.”

After his explosive transformation into the phoenix and his near-drowning, Arthur finally breaks down and weeps, signaling a pivotal moment in his character arc. For his entire life he has coped with anger by allowing it to fuel him to help other magical beings rather than pursuing his own healing. For the first time, he confronts his own emotional wounds and understands their contribution to his anger.

“‘Bigotry comes in all forms,’ Sal said, ‘not just against magical people. It wasn’t too long ago that you and Linus couldn’t get married, and look at you now.’”

Sal’s words to Arthur explicitly link the text’s exploration of discrimination against magical people to real-world forms of prejudice. His focus on the marriage rights of LGBTQ+ individuals serves as a reminder that prejudicial laws can be overturned and progress made, offering hope for a better world for the characters within the novel and, by extension, to readers in the real world navigating various forms of oppression.

“After all, a proper lady does not have facial hair, or body hair of any kind. Though the upkeep can be time-consuming, it is important. How else are you one day going to find a husband?”

Marblemaw’s remarks disrespect Talia’s gnomish culture and reduce Talia’s identity to a prescribed construction of gender that has little to do with who Talia actually is. Klune makes it clear how little Marblemaw cares about the children as individual people and links the text’s anti-magical characters with heteronormativity and cultural discrimination.

“Silence, only broken by the sound of approaching engines, a persistent buzzing like a hive of furious wasps.”

The simile comparing the government cars’ engine noise to the sound of wasps buzzing echoes earlier comparisons in the text of malevolent thoughts to insects. Klune’s use of figurative language creates an ominous tone to the passage appropriate to the moment: This engine noise announces the arrival of Rowder and Marblemaw and ushers in the final showdown with DICOMY.

“A black hole. Papa taught us about them. […] [E]ven the smallest of them can suck in all light. […] That’s what I see in you. Your insides don’t have light.”

Lucy’s metaphor comparing Rowder’s psychology to a black hole conveys why she is so dangerous: Not only does she lack ordinary human emotions like joy and compassion, but she also acts in ways that actively destroy these emotions in others, like a black hole sucking in surrounding light. In this scene, Klune employs irony as Lucy, whom Rowder thinks of as the personification of evil, demonstrates so much sorrow and compassion for Rowder, weeping for her condition.