Magic - English essay

What is magic? Do you know that feeling when someone else has the magic you desire? These questions stress the main themes, which are materialism and jealousy in the short story “Magic” written by Liz Rosenberg in 1999. In the short story she sheds light upon her own childhood. This indicates that it is a part of an autobiography.

The short story is told through a 1st person narrator through a flashback. It gives a smarter point of view on what she experienced as a child and how her view used to be on different things. In this way she is ironic about how she acted as a child.
The main person is a young girl whose age and name is not known. She is a child who still loves the ”magic” around Christmas but also drinks wine, which could indicate that she is around the age of 13. She is an only child in a Jewish family who lives in Hempstead, New York. She doesn’t understand the magic and values of Christmas and she only believes in all the material things, such as presents and decorations. In this way the narrator is very immature. When the narrator gets sick she is lying in bed and she sees her parents as ghosts standing, watching her. The concrete meaning is that she is dazed and confused and doesn’t know if her parents are really there, while the symbolic meaning is that her parents let go of her and accept that she wants to celebrate Christmas as a normal child. When she wakes up a red sled is standing beside her bed. The sled is a symbol of her, finally getting her wish fulfilled and that she finds her magic. The sled also symbolizes the parent’s love and that they are willing to do anything for her.
(ll. 66- 71 “My parents divided things equally between the two holidays – eight tiny presents for Hanukkah, and one big, practical one for Christmas, despite my mother’s reservations- a new winter coat, or one year, a bookshelf for my room. We weren’t an extravagant family, and I was content with little luxuries and the few big necessities.”) This could indicate that the family is from the lower middle class and that they are not that rich. They live in a middle class neighbourhood and the father has his own pharmacy. The narrator’s relation to her parents is good although they don’t go into dialog about the questions the narrator asks because she is so childish. They just evade the subject and tell her that she will know when she gets older. They are actually good parents as the narrator realises now and also in this way she is ironic about herself. Her mother is a hypocrite because she doesn’t want to celebrate Christmas and doesn’t even believe in God. The fact that the narrator’s family only gives practical gifts on Christmas is also hypocritical because they should not give presents on Christmas as a Jewish family. This is a way of trying to give the narrator an experience of Christmas anyway but she doesn’t understand and think that they are applying double standards because she is so immature.

Marie Piscatelli is the narrator’s best friend and lives just down the street from her. She is from a Christian family and they celebrate Christmas contrary to the narrator’s family. The narrator spends Christmas Eve at Piscatellis’ because of her religion. (ll 30-31 “Marie picked at her food and swallowed her peas whole, like bitter pills”) This is an example of her describing Marie with a hint of shallowness because she thought she was not thankful enough of having the privilege of celebrating Christmas. The narrator was very jealous of Marie and she had a hard time accepting her Jewish religion and Hanukkah. The Author chooses a lot of words to describe the two holidays, Hanukkah and Christmas to give them either a positive or negative atmosphere. When the narrator is thinking about Christmas she uses words such as “magic” where she on the contrary uses words as “blackish nubs” and “a dim memory” to give it a negative tone. She only cares about materialism and is jealous of all Marie’s things. That is what she now knows is wrong. The Author’s message is that it is more important to show love and affection instead of continuously wanting more. The more you get the more you want.
When she knocks down the decorations at the Piscatellis’ it is because she feels humiliated by all the things she doesn’t have at home. It is also because she is jealous of the Piscatellis and she thinks that all the material things will make her happy. In fact the Piscatellis are not as loving and caring as the narrator thinks. Marie’s Father has ulcers and the magic is not present in their lives. The bitter pills may symbolize that Marie has to swallow her sorrow and pain. Actually the narrator is much more fortunate compared to the Piscatellis. I think the Author chose the title “magic” because the story is really about love and not presents. In this way love is the real “magic”.

Magic is much more than presents and decorations. It is more important to show love and affection and appreciate your own life. The grass is not always greener on the other side.