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“Dear Thisbe,
I wish there weren’t a wall.
Love, Pyramus”
This quote appears in Chapter Ten in a note that Henry writes to Alex and slips into the pocket of his kimono. Alex finds the note after he tries to tell Henry he loves him, and Henry flees and stops all contact with Alex. Pyramus and Thisbe are the original star-crossed lovers from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The two are from warring families and fall in love by slipping notes through a crack in a wall that separates them. This story is the inspiration behind Romeo and Juliet, and Henry invokes it because he believes he and Alex are driven apart by the circumstances of their families and their respective legacies. In a sense, the entire novel is about Alex and Henry dismantling the wall that keeps them apart, which is comprised of the traditions of their nations, the prejudices of others, the expectations of their families, the pressure they put on themselves, and their fears about falling in love with each other. In the end, Alex and Henry successfully break down the wall and are able to be together, escaping the bleak fate of Thisbe and Pyramus and creating a new story in which star-crossed lovers have control over their own destiny.
