The Illusionist Book Review

In the passages on pages 1-4 of The Illusionist, the main character has several feelings that change based on the events that occur in those pages. There were feelings that were created mentally to feelings that they can feel physically. The feelings experienced by the main character are not justified for several reasons which can be found in this passage.

First, in the text, the author has made the main character look like someone who lacks a lot of self-confidence. They talk to himself as he doesn't have qualities that are good. Right from the first line of the book, the main character is already saying nasty things about himself. He says "It is indisputably thanks to my distressing awkwardness [...]" (p. 1) meaning that he does not have much talent for the events in his life. A little later in the book he mentions that he shows these photos to Jeanne. He is very happy and loves the photos he takes but he alludes that Jeanne does not like them by saying “[...] as every year she pretends to be ecstatic [...] I would pretend to be ecstatic. believe ”(p. 2). Maybe she really likes them and she wants to see them but due to his lack of self-confidence he makes conclusions too quickly. As you can see, many emotions are built on the fact that there is not a lot of confidence in him. That being said, these emotions are not justified because, his lack of confidence makes him a character who thinks too much which creates several emotions that are not necessary.

Second, the author has the fact that in order to search for his fallen camera, he has to go down into a hole in the ground. Because the narrator is the main character, we know exactly what he may be feeling. At first, when he went down he was tired as one can estimate because of the quote "[...] my non-existent muscles hurt me [...] small size handicaps me [...]" (p. 2- 3). These emotions are not justified at the moment because, going down into a hole is not easy and he immediately returns to the negative thoughts he was having. Also, when he fell into the hole he hurt both of his legs. “I [lift] delicately [...] my pants and [notice] with horror [because it was doubled in volume] [...] the other leg [was worse] (p. 3). At the precise moment, adrenaline has been started so it's emotions are influenced because pain can affect our ability to think correctly. Pain has effects on cognitive flexibility which is obvious because, he mentions that no one is going to find him and that even if there would be a phone, no one would come looking for him on page four.

Thus, The Illusionist has many representations of emotions that one can find in everyday life. It is the lack of self-confidence and the pain felt that explains why these emotions are not justified during this passage. But, maybe this situation that it is feeling to bring him into will change his outlook on life for the better.