The Magic Misfits

“The colorful train reminded Carter of the first magic trick he’d ever seen: a gentle hand coming close to his face and pulling a red silk handkerchief from his ear, which was tied to a yellow one, which was tied to a blue one, which was tied to a green one, and so on, and so on, and on and on. It was one of the few memories Carter had of his own father.”

Just as the handkerchiefs flowed continuously, the memories now flood Carter’s mind. With the emotion-laden emphasis on the “gentle hand” in Carter’s memory, the author indirectly emphasizes the fact that Uncle Sly has been anything but gentle in his treatment of the boy. This brief glimpse into a more loving past that is now forever lost provides a crucial understanding of Carter’s hidden psychological scars. Additionally, his father’s obvious fondness for the sheer joy of magic tricks stands as a reasonable explanation for Carter’s own passion for the art, and this appreciation for magic has permeated his entire perception, as he even sees the sunrise as a cosmic magic trick in and of itself.

“It was their final vanishing act.”

This deceptively simple statement carries infinite volumes of unexpressed pain, as the deaths of Carter’s parents represent a deeply traumatic aspect of his story. By cynically describing their deaths in terms of magical jargon, he creates a sense of a barren emotional environment in which he wanders, bereft, and desperately finds any way he can to distance himself from the pain of his past. Thus, this statement reflects his meager attempts to shield himself from the agony of their loss.

“What was left of that earlier, good feeling squeezed out of him like a balloon with a leak in it.”

Once again, the author uses carnival terminology to create a whimsically vivid sense of Carter’s inner emotional landscape. This simile comparing Carter’s disappointment to a leaky balloon invokes the funhouse imagery of the midway, with all its deceptions and reversals. Thus, even before he encounters the world of the carnival itself, the narrative emphasizes the fact that for Carter, happiness is as elusive as winning a rigged game on the midway, and he has learned to expect any momentary glimpse of happiness to be destroyed by the vicious man to whom he is currently beholden.

“Being around him then was like walking around in a pitch-black room full of hard edges. Take a wrong step and you would stub your toe so badly it’d make you cry. Carter tiptoed a lot.”

The author employs vivid similes and figurative language to describe the true depths of the trauma that Carter experiences at Uncle Sly’s hands, and the passage clearly establishes the boy’s ingrained hypervigilance as well, as the descriptions of taking “a wrong step” and “tiptoeing” around his volatile and heartless guardian reflect the common attributes of someone who is habitually abused. Yet, at the same time, the author’s use of figurative language also softens the harsh realities of Uncle Sly’s deeply damaging and abusive behavior.

“Outside, a lush green forest stretched like a fuzzy rug all the way to a mountain range in the not-far distance.”

Mineral Wells offers Carter a welcome change from his past experiences of living on the streets or in halfway houses. The almost boundless descriptions of the vista that meets the boy’s eyes convey Carter’s eagerness to embrace the new world that awaits him and leave his distressing past behind. The author therefore uses concrete language to compare the landscape’s beauty to a comforting floor. By evoking images of a safe and cozy home, the author also implies Carter’s inner yearning to find a place to belong.

“Games cried out: rat-a-bang-clang and ding-ding-dang.”

The author uses onomatopoeia to mimic the carnival sounds and create an atmosphere of excitement, frivolity, and unpredictability. Harris makes frequent use of such techniques throughout the novel to invoke a more visceral, moment-to-moment experience of the action. By crafting the illusion that the reader is just as much “in the thick of things” as Carter, the author also imbues the narrative with a sense of urgency, implying that anything might happen at any given moment.

“His head was crowned with a top at, floating on a cloud of white curls, which contrasted against his pitch-black mustache.”

Mr. Vernon has a kindly, gentle appearance. Comparing his white hair to fluffy clouds emphasizes his unassuming nature, and the implicit connection between the magician and a fair-weathered day is designed to suggest that Mr. Vernon represents a refuge of safety for Carter. From his long experience at making split-second judgments of other people’s emotions to safeguard his own well-being, Carter is able to assess Mr. Vernon’s demeanor and immediately decide that the man is worth the risk of approaching.

“Wide nostrils, as big as the holes in bowling balls, seemed to sniff at Carter.”

With this visceral and almost animalistic description of the novel’s antagonist, the author creates a sense of imminent violence and threat around Bosso, as even in his quietest moments, he is portrayed as though he is a predator on the prowl for his next victim. In this context, Carter implicitly becomes the prey, and while his past experience with Uncle Sly’s abuse has left him with unseen scars, he is nonetheless able to use these memories to divine the understated threat that Bosso represents.

“A warm feeling rose in his chest—it was an unfamiliar sensation. It made him feel awkward and vulnerable, so he tried to push it down.”

This quotation emphasizes Carter’s stunted understanding of his own emotions, as while in Uncle Sly’s company, he was forced to bury his own feelings in the interests of emotional and psychological survival. As a result, he now has no practical experience with expressing his feelings effectively. The internal softening that he feels in this moment crucially shifts the focus of his inner journey as he realizes that it is permissible to feel and express his deeper emotions.

“Carter cringed at the word vagabond—a person who wanders from place to place without a home or a job. Carter had been called a vagabond—many times.”

A vagabond is a person without a home, and Carter cringes at this unkind epithet because he once had a loving home and has always longed to find another that represents that same form of safety. When the term “vagabond” is applied to him, it leaves him with the idea that his lack of a home is a permanent state rather than a temporary setback. The word therefore triggers the deep and mostly unexpressed pain that he carries from the loss of his parents and his lifestyle as a person who has been displaced through no fault of his own.

“What was the worst that could happen? (If you ever find yourself as a character in a story, refrain from asking yourself this question).”

In this passage, the author indulges in a moment of metafiction by addressing his readers directly and drawing attention to the reality that the story is, in fact, just a story. However, his suggestion that anyone in real life might become a character in a story also implies that Carter’s own tale is just as real as any other boy’s might be. By “breaking the fourth wall” and acknowledging the reader’s presence, the author makes his audience feel as though they are inside the story. This approach also allows the narrator to deliver advice, insert humorous asides, or directly critique any given character’s actions.

“DING-DING-DING-DING-DING.”

In this over-the-top usage of onomatopoeia, the author invokes the impression of a bell, but far from what might be expected, the sound does not represent the literal cacophony that characterizes the carnival atmosphere. Instead, the scene involves a deeper philosophical context, as it represents the moment in which Carter realizes that he and Leila share similar backgrounds as orphans who have lost their parents and have therefore experienced a harsher version of childhood than most people have.

“He took a deep breath, his whole body shuddering—it felt like the first oxygen he’d ever inhaled.”

With this visceral description of intense relief, the author emphasizes the crucial moment in which Carter chooses to extend a modicum of trust and reveal some of his backstory to his new friends. Once the decision has been made, he feels the lifting of a massive burden. By comparing his decision to trust his friends to the feeling of breathing a deep and essential breath of air, the author implies that trust is as vital as life itself. This passage also emphasizes the lingering effects of Carter’s trauma as he experiences the profound intensity of directly discussing his past.

“[T]he violin breathed out its final hopeful note.”

By personifying the violin as a living being that breathes and feels emotions, the author creates a world in which Theo’s musical talents form a vital part of his environment. As Carter spends the night at Theo’s home and experiences the novelty of a safe and loving refuge, he hears a note of hope in the violin’s music because he is slowly daring to regain his own hope for a brighter future.

“The air was scented with thrice-cooked French fries, suntan lotion, and chlorine. And the only sounds Carter heard were of splashes and laughter.”

The Grand Resort’s indoor water park amazes Carter with its sumptuousness, as he has never seen a setting so lavish and decadent. With the author’s effusive use of sensory descriptions, he creates a vivid jumble of experiences to evoke a sense of adventure, excitement, and novelty to describe the environment.

“Like little frogs, the pair broke the surface and peered above the waterline with goggled eyes.”

As the team employs absurd disguises to engage in an amateurish attempt at espionage, the author employs a simile to compare the two children to frogs, thereby evoking an element of wry humor in the scene. This impression is soon strengthened by Carter’s embarrassment over his tiny swimsuit. Set within the jovial and crowded scene of the waterpark, these deliberately clandestine descriptions add a sense of frivolity to what the children perceive as a deadly serious undertaking.

“I think being misfits makes us more amazing.”

In this moment, the group actively embraces a negative label and transforms it into something positive, and this exchange also provides an explicit explanation for the title of Harris’s series. While misfits are typically outsiders who can find no place to fit into mainstream society, the children have willfully created a society of their own out of sheer defiance. In embracing one another, they create a whole new version of society that is inherently inclusive of their quirky skills and interests.

“‘A catwalk?’ Carter asked, wondering why a theater would need a place for cats to walk.”

By utilizing this whimsical play on words, the author simultaneously creates a humorous moment and emphasizes Carter’s lack of practical life experience. Never having been to a theater, Carter is entirely unfamiliar with the conventions of theatrical vocabulary. His assumption that a catwalk is for cats adds humor to the story and invites readers to contemplate the absurdities of language.

“‘Looks like someone has egg on their face,’ Izzy added.”

Having egg on one’s face is an idiom for being publicly shamed or embarrassed. However, given that the children have literally showered Bosso with a jumble of breakfast foods, the author takes the opportunity to provide a literal manifestation of what is usually no more than a whimsical figure of speech.

“Bosso’s face was the color of angry strawberries.”

This seemingly simple quotation reflects the author’s deep facility with figurative language, as the sentence contains a vivid yet ridiculous personification that robs Bosso’s righteous indignation of any shred of dignity. As Bosso’s humiliation quickly turns to rage, the author belittles the villain’s emotional distress by implying that his anger is essentially impotent, as the carnival owner now represents just about as much threat to the children as an “angry strawberry” would pose.

“Bosso backed off, but a sinister grin crawled across his face.”

Just as this description casts Bosso as the stereotypically classic villain, the author uses yet another vivid personification to imbue the man’s very expression with a devious sense of danger. The quote also portrays his expression as if it were a disgusting insect: a contemptible and revolting creature rather than a sign of an intelligent emotion. Additionally, the grin’s slow appearance reveals the fact that he is already plotting his next move.

“Carter continued to marvel at the sky’s streaks of yellow, orange, and red, all tied together like the multi-colored silk handkerchiefs that his father had used in a magic trick long ago.”

The author returns to the lighter imagery that characterizes Carter’s fondest memories of his parents, Just as the sunrise reminds Carter of his father, thereby bringing the narrative full circle as Mr. Vernon appears next to him, the image of the sun also symbolizes hope and new beginnings, as Mr. Vernon will become Carter’s adoptive father.

“We were never on our own, were we?”

In this moment, Carter realizes that Mr. Vernon has been helping him all along. The contemplative yet surprised tone of this question highlights the true depth of Carter’s philosophical revelation, as his faith in adults is finally restored. With the effusive evidence of Mr. Vernon’s benevolent nature, Carter finally accepts that adults can be kind and caring, not harsh and abusive like Uncle Sly.