The Atlas Paradox

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 3

Parts 4-5

Interlude-Part 7

Part 8-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Viviana Absalon

During the initiates’ studies, Dalton raises the example of Viviana Absalon as a way to talk about some of the larger concepts that affect medeian studies and training: fate, balance, and death. Viviana was a medeian who died an untimely death at 45 but during her autopsy was discovered to have the organs of a woman half her age. Although it provided interesting fodder for discussion, “Viviana Absalon left them without a meaningful conclusion, merely providing an experimental point of argument—could she have lived forever, had fate not intervened?” (82). Dalton has reached his own conclusion—that “perhaps the untimely death of a medeian whose gift for life was somehow an inevitable or predestined outcome” (82)—but not everyone agrees.

As the initiates grapple with the larger questions that their study of magic raises, Viviana Absalon’s example serves as a touchstone, especially for Reina, who is interested in both the limits and meaning of possessing power. Parisa, whose studies center on the concepts of fate and free will, is also affected:

She recalled Dalton’s lecture, the proof of fate that he’d derived from the body of Viviana Absalon, the medeian whose specialty was life. Life that had summoned her death, like two sides of a coin. A rise and fall, a turn of a wheel (305).

The story of Viviana Absalon connects to the theme of Finding Balance. Despite her power of longevity, her life is unexpectedly cut short, so her story symbolizes the idea that the universe somehow works to achieve balance.

The Anthropocene Era

The identification of her current reality as the Anthropocene Era is important to Reina’s studies and becomes a motif that she uses to shape her theories about her own power and purpose. She defines it for Callum as “our current geological age. Means that there are no natural ecosystems anymore that aren’t affected by humans” (125). As a naturalist, Reina believes that she has been born into this very human age in order to achieve balance:

Why, in the age of the Anthropocene, with all the violence and destruction that had come with the rise of machines and monsters, would there be born a child who could hear the sound of nature itself? It was time for the wheel to turn. For the soul of the very universe to find balance (292).

The era becomes an important aspect of Reina’s theory that she’s a part of a young group of supreme beings and thus connects to the theme of A New Generation of Gods. In addition, this motif connects to the theme of Finding Balance. Reina recruits Callum to help her access the texts that the archives keep denying to her—and in doing so, recognizes that “if balance was king, then perhaps it was a question of their natures […] he was the Anthropocene incarnate, she was nature itself, and this was how the cycle would continue. The wheel would invariably turn” (295). In emphasizes humanity’s involvement in all aspects of the global ecosystem, this motif also gives Reina a way to understand that she—and the other medeians—are the natural evolution of the world and the human answer to the next generation of gods.

Schopenhauer, Jung, and Schrödinger

In keeping with the novel’s belonging to the dark academia genre, Blake touches on several well-known intellectual figures across various disciplines. These references become a motif that connects to both dark academia and the intellectual pursuits of the initiates. Three that feature most frequently are the philosopher Schopenhauer, the psychiatrist Jung, and the physicist Schrödinger. Each of these men are known for their monumental contributions to a field, and Blake uses these references to lend weight and complexity to the initiates’ studies.

Tristan brings up Schopenhauer to Nico as the logic behind his theory that he can access his powers, at least at first, only if his life is in danger: “Schopenhauer’s will to live states that there is something innate in each of us. Something like self-preservation, which essentially comes to fruition in moments of impending death.” (90). Parisa, in her search to understand human psychology, refers to Jung several times. When Atlas is explaining his plan to Tristan, the other man sums it up by saying, “So you want to find out if Schrödinger’s cat is alive or dead” (263). Each of these references adds a layer of complexity to those familiar with these men’s work or prompts some quick research. However, the references also illustrate the academic level on which the initiates are operating, thus providing clues about the seriousness of their studies and the depth of their intelligence.