My Name Piece

           
           "Well Sarah, you know it's not a very Jewish name," my grandmother said upon hearing what my parents had named me. Angela is a very Italian name and yes, I am in fact a Jewish girl. So my name and I, we don't connect culturally. That's okay. In Italian my name means "angel". Just imagine--someone being a complete angel? Well I don't know anyone who is. I like the way it sounds, the way the syllables roll off your tongue. My name feels like the color orange to me, or maybe something sweet, warm citrus-baked batter enfolded by a cool glaze.

         I don't understand how it's so hard to remember. My name is not "Andrea" or "Angelica". To new kids, my name is a twisted up yo-yo string, their face a knot of confusion when they try to approach it. At camp, it took Sophia, a girl in my cabin almost a week to get it straight. By the third day, she would still address me as "Andrea" or "I know, I know ittttt...".

         My nicknames are different. It started sitting doing homework with my friend one time a few years ago, when she told me she came up with a nickname for all of her friends. Using my last name Tanzer, I became "Tannerino." Soon the name was shortened into Tanner, expanded into Tanzy, Angie Tanzie and simply "Tanzer". To one of my friends I am "Angggee"and to others "Angie". Sometimes, it's a friendly tone, but sometimes, it's the stretched out, demanding "Annn-gee," of my irritated younger sister Katy. 

         I've always been the only Angela in my class, of the probably at most 3 in my school. It makes me feel unique and different, which I like. I wouldn't change my name if I had the choice, because my name is a star among many, although it may be pink next to some plain white.
 

The Night Circus Response

             Over the summer, I read the book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This novel features two magicians- Celia and Marco-who are trained and taught hard from a very young age to fight in a competition. A special one, held in a strange circus called Le Cirque de Rêves, or "The Circus of Dreams".  Soon it gets more complicated, because as the children progress, bit by bit they are falling in love with each other and the competition calls for a single remaining soul, named both winner and best magician. I think the characters Celia, Marco and Chandresh Christoper Lefêrve (creator of the circus) all have different intentions throughout the book. While Celia wants to know more about the challenge and get rid of the persistent not alive, but not dead substance of her father, Marco wants to get Celia (better known as "The Illusionist) to like him as much as he does her and Chandresh wants to make his circus absolutely perfect. 
                 
               Celia wants to know more about the challenge she is involved in and rid herself of her persistent half-dead father. For example, on page 192, incredibly exasperated, she says to her father "This is getting tiring... My opponent... possesses comparable skills. How will you ever determine a  winner?" and all he will say is "That is not your concern." This shows how desperate the girl is to understand the challenge, wanting to know how it all works, how it will turn out and how tired she is because she can't.  Secondly, on page 174, her father appears in a room at a place she is at and tells her "I do not think social engagements are a proper use of your time," to which she replies "You do not get to to dictate how I spend every  moment of my life, Papa." At the end of their discussion she just tells him to leave her alone. She wants her father banished from her and it's a terrible struggle to achieve this. 

              Marco wants to get Celia to like him as much as he does her.  For instance, at one point he is creating rooms of scraps of paper. It describes that he is composing chambers leading into Celia's, "Stairs that wind around her halls. Leaving open spaces for her to respond." It is evident that he wants Celia to admire him the way he admires her. The phrase "open spaces for her to respond" shows he badly wants her reply to his calling, to join his world. Also, later in the book at a Midnight Dinner, a fancy dinner held by Chandresh, he steals a moment with her to ask about having a drink together they had previously planned. It says "The intensity of his gaze is even stronger than it had been... while Celia can feel the coercion of it...there is something almost like a plea."

              Chandresh Christoper Lefêrve, creator of the circus is fueled by hope to make his circus perfect. For example, upon receiving the review "M. Chandresh... continues to push the boundaries of the modern stage, dazzling his audiences with spectacle that is almost transcendent," in a newspaper clipping,  he gets infuriated, throwing knifes at it, at the dreadful word "almost." Chandresh cares so much about the audience in shows, that as it says on page 57 "He still has more interest in the audience than the performance." Throughout the novel, he spends much time working and meeting with people for his circus, arranging and tweaking blueprints, plans, models. All the effort he gives shows his ultimate intention is on making a perfect circus. 

              In conclusion, in The Night Circus, a few of the main characters have different goals. Celia wants to know about a challenge, Marco wants to be valued by Celia and Chandresh wants to create a flawless circus.