On the Devil's Court

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991

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Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5-Epilogue

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Themes

The Lure and Costs of Power

There are three men named Faust, or Faustus, in this book, all of whom struggle with power and its consequences. The first is Marlowe’s character Dr. Faustus, who is mentioned throughout On the Devil’s Court and discussed at length by Joe and his classmates. Marlowe took an old Germanic legend and developed it into The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus in 1592. Perhaps the main observation that Joe and his fellow students make about Faustus is that he never changes, meaning that he never seeks to undo his deal with Mephastophilis, the devil as Marlowe calls him, and take back his soul. As Joe remarks, “I don’t understand why Faustus doesn’t repent at the end. He doesn’t have to burn. If he repents, he gets the best of both worlds: he uses the devil’s power for twenty-four years and he goes to heaven anyway” (111). The students conclude that being in the thrall of the devil has a seductive, addictive quality and Faust is so seduced by it that he loses his ability to think for himself and change his decision.

The second Faust is Joe’s father, Dr. Joseph Faust Sr., an intense, self-absorbed geneticist. While his work is intended to be beneficial to humanity, clearly he is another Dr. Faust who is rearranging nature through his experiments with gene splicing. For much of the book, Dr. Faust is oblivious to his son and to his own nature. Thus, he is stunned and perplexed when he reads the tabloid article in which Joe criticizes him. Such criticism simply does not register with Dr. Faust, who believes others should recognize the gravity of his work. Joe’s confrontation with his father around the issue of traveling to Boston to accept the Lasker Award is a prophetic moment and the beginning of Dr. Faust’s recognition that he needs to change.

The third Faust is Joe, equally driven and single-minded. Like the other two Fausts, Joe strikes an unnatural deal with power beyond himself to attain that which he believes he cannot achieve on his own. He learns many lessons about himself and about supernatural deals: Getting everything you want may be more a characteristic of hell than heaven; making a deal with the devil may cut you off from human companionship and intimacy; and there is no serenity for very successful people who believe they have made a deal with the devil. Ultimately, like his father, Joe becomes a changed person. He achieves what he sought and, in the bargain, becomes an admired leader of his teammates. The benevolent nature of the book’s outcome belies the whole idea that Joe made a deal with the devil. Instead, apparently, he only thought he did.

Polarities as an Oversimplification

Deuker’s book is full of polarities, many of which turn out to be much less clear cut than they initially appear. The world, as described by Joe, is made up of extremes. This begins in the first chapter when the family moves from the East Coast, Boston, to the West Coast, Seattle. Joe expresses everything in his life as one pole or its opposite. He is forced to go to private school when he would prefer public school. On the basketball court, he invariably plays brilliantly or terribly. He chooses friendship with Ross, who is exciting, over friendship with John, who is dull. The individuals in the book are described in polarities: Joe’s father shows no interest in his life while trying to dictate his future. The settings are described in polarities as well: Seattle is either bright and sunny or gloomy and rainy.

Part of this view has to do with the story’s narrator being an adolescent. Deuker, a middle school teacher, recognizes and accurately depicts Joe as a concrete rather than an abstract thinker. A concrete thinker—the typical teenager—thinks in absolutes: For example, my parents absolutely do not understand me, and my friends absolutely do. The ability to think abstractly—nothing is completely black and white, almost everything has some gray to it—comes after adolescence.

The other aspect of the story’s polarity has to do with Joe’s emergence from a spiritually cosmic struggle that tests all his intellectual and emotional resources. While, to the other students in his English class, the struggle of Faustus with the devil is a theoretical exercise, Joe is living it out. He is forced to deal with the reality that not everything in life is absolute: Yes, his father had a heart attack and almost died, but it was not because he made a deal with the devil; yes, his team had an undefeated season, but it was not just because he emerged as an outstanding player. Joe ultimately recognizes that his world is not made up of absolutes and polar opposites.

Personal Growth

Deuker allows readers to follow not just Joe but also a number of other characters over the course of a year. Some of the people in On the Devil’s Court grow, learn, and change, while others pointedly do not. Joe’s character development is clear. His mother, Ella, is put in stressful positions throughout the book—running interference between her husband and son, dealing with the tabloid story, caring for the invalid Dr. Faust, encouraging Joe when he is depressed—and she responds superbly in each occasion. Joe’s father experiences an awakening regarding his treatment of his son and the direction of his life. John, a stolid individual, expresses growing joy and admiration—he loosens up as the book progresses. Ross, on the other hand, seems not to change. His occasional conversations with Joe throughout the book—discussing the vandalization of the Faust’s home, standing apart from the brawling basketball players in the championship game—seem to portray a person who knows what he wants and does not care about the opinions of others.

Deuker makes it clear with Joe, Ella, and Dr. Faust that the development of their characters occurs when they are put under stress as individuals and as a family. It is ironic that, following the tabloid story sparked by Joe’s interview, Joe’s father says they must pull together and resist those who are criticizing them: “‘These people are trying to make us crack,’ my father said. ‘The best thing we can do is to hold together’” (75). Up to that point, the three of them have been essentially leading totally disparate lives. Indeed, following the events surrounding the tabloid story, they do foster a stronger interdependence. Deuker seems to be implying that growth and strength come from adversity.

Perhaps the greatest irony surrounding the development of Joe’s character has to do with how he matures after making his deal with the devil. Prior to his encounter with the shadowy presence in the Ballard gym, Joe could be characterized as ambivalent, self-absorbed, and moody. Immediately after the deal, he is confident and clear-minded. In addition to the new intellectual focus he has—not to say he is any smarter, but just paying better attention—his judgment seems keener. Deuker makes it clear that the emerging maturity in Joe is not a result of the devil paving the way for his success but of Joe wrestling with his success and the consequences of it. If there was a supernatural force involved in Joe’s life, was its intention to make him an outstanding basketball player or to help him grow as a person?