Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Immortalists, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate vs. Choice
Family and Shared History
Obsession
Death, Meaning, and Legacy
Surviving vs. Living
Magic, Religion, Dance, and Possibility
Summary
Analysis
It’s Klara and Raj’s opening night—New Year’s Eve—and the show won’t begin until 11:00 P.M. Before Klara leaves to drop Ruby off at daycare, Raj says he’s proud of Klara. He tells her he loves her, but when she presses him on whether he believes in magic, he says that he believes in her instead—that she’s a star. He hugs Klara and Ruby together, and Klara thinks that they feel like ghosts.
Klara’s obsession with proving that magic exists and that she can communicate with the dead grows worse and worse. It completely flips her reality, to the point where her living family feels like ghosts, while the dead members of her family feel more alive and real.
Themes
Klara drops off Ruby at daycare, kissing her and saying she’ll see her soon. Klara then rides the elevator to the penthouse to see the view, sneaking into the suite after a maid leaves. Klara calls Gertie. Gertie congratulates her on her opening, and Varya gets on the phone to say that Daniel’s engaged to Mira. Klara is excited to hear that the family will soon gain a new member, and she hangs up.
Klara calling her family in this moment affirms the comfort that she finds in their bond. She also appreciates the shared joy in celebrating her success, or in welcoming a new member of the family. At the same time, she is equally pulled by Simon and Saul, and she wants to remain bonded with them as well.
Themes
Klara pulls a rope out of her purse—the first one she used for the Jaws of Life. She’s been waiting for something to prove the fortune teller’s prophecy, but Klara realizes that she must prove it herself. She ties the rope around the overhead light fixture and stands on the table. She’s terrified when she thinks about Ruby in daycare, and she decides to wait until she hears a knock. Two minutes pass, then five. She almost decides to pack up the rope, and then she hears a knock.
Klara’s obsession with proving that magic is real leads her to choose to kill herself, illustrating how these uncontrollable obsessions can even prove fatal. In addition, Klara is actively choosing to fulfill the fate that the fortune teller gave her. Like Simon’s death, Klara’s demise is due to a combination of both fate and choice.
Themes
Hearing the knock, Klara replaces the table with a stool. More knocks come, and someone shouts, “Ma’am?” but Klara doesn’t stop. She stands on the stool and puts the rope around her neck. There is more knocking, and a familiar voice calls for Klara. She looks outside at the view. The voice shouts again, clearly panicked. On January 1st, 1991, as the fortune teller predicted, Klara hangs herself and becomes “a star.”
Klara’s fate is particularly tragic because it is clear the knocks are coming from someone who is worried about her and trying to find her. Yet because of Klara’s obsession, she instead interprets the knocks as Simon calling her to him, reinforcing how her thoughts take on a life of their own and lead her to kill herself. Benjamin’s use of the word “star” also has a double meaning here—Klara isn’t a star in the sense of celebrity or popular stage performer, but instead the word implies that in death, her consciousness leaves her body and returns to the universe.
Themes
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