45 pages • 1 hour read
William RitterJackaby
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Perception, Illusion, and Truth
Jackaby deals with the world of glamour and illusion, with the title character having the unique gift of seeing “behind the curtain” (34). This setup naturally lends itself to exploring themes of expectation, denial, and the everyday façades regular people project every day.
Ironically, Jackaby is perhaps the only character with no such projections; as someone with the ability to see the truth in all things, he presents himself to the world exactly as he is. Abigail, meanwhile, tries to present herself as the confident professional she believes herself to be but is often thwarted by society’s preconceptions of her gender. There is no magic involved in the deception, but still, the truth of her character is obscured by the skewed expectations of those around her. Although this is an obstacle and a point of contention for Abigail, she also sees its value when she emphasizes her femininity to access a crime scene. When Jackaby questions the “performance” (32), she tells him she merely used an illusion already in place. Despite her challenging circumstances as a woman, she has an innate understanding of how perception shapes the world and how to adapt to it as needed.
