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“Everything I have done, every change I have made to that circus, every impossible feat and astounding sight, I have done for her.”
This quote is from an argument between Marco and the man in the grey suit in the chapter entitled “Thirteen,” after the man in the grey suit interrupts Marco and Celia kissing in the hallway. Marco’s declaration of love is a turning point in the novel that makes it clear that their love has fundamentally changed the nature of the challenge. Rather than attempting to best one another with their displays of magic, Celia and Marco have been creating tents with the purpose of impressing and inspiring one another. Marco’s motivation for confessing his love for Celia is multi-faceted. The moment is loaded with childlike petulance as Marco lashes out against the man is the grey suit, the only father he has ever known, for putting him in such an impossible and heartbreaking situation. Just as strong of a factor in his confession is simply the strength of his love for Celia, which is far more important to him than the challenge. Though the man in the grey suit insists that Marco’s motivations have no effect on the outcome of the game, his love for Celia defines the events of the novel from this moment on.
