Discussion Question #6

[Amy]

Chandresh is portrayed as a brilliant and creative perfectionist at the beginning of the novel, yet he slowly unravels as the competition matures. Is Chandresh merely a puppet of the competition—solely used for his ability to provide a venue for the competition—or do his contributions run deeper?

[Amy]

I think he is a puppet. I couldn't really find much about Chandresh that suggested he was one of the creative brains behind the circus. He was simply someone with money and connections who was easy to use for the purpose of bringing together the peformers and getting the funding they needed. He was perfect, since he knew many eccentric people and was awake after midnight every night, hosting elaborate dinners. What kind of people would attend such functions? Circus type people, of course! I don't think he really had much to do with creating the circus, but the circus couldn't have come into being without his connections and financial input.

[Amy]

I thought that this question was a little odd. Not really the right question maybe??? I didn't think that he was really ever portrayed as "a brilliant and creative perfectionist" and I don't think that he "slowly unravels as the competition matures". I think that he WAS the one with the connections and the finances and that it what enabled the circus to come into being and I think that unraveling is a bad description of what really happened! He didn't unravel, he was made to forget things. Pieces of memory taken away from you would make you seem a little unraveled I guess, but it was done too him.. It's not like he had Alzheimer's or something!