The Magician's Assistant

Dot Fetters is Parsifal’s mother and is introduced to Sabine’s life after Parsifal’s death. Dot is initially implied to be an antagonist, for she is the specter of Parsifal’s traumatic childhood. Dot presents herself as the reason why Parsifal couldn’t be his authentic self in Nebraska. She associates herself with conservatism and a lack of openness, both of which are characteristics that hurt Parsifal as he was discovering the nuances of his sexual orientation. As Dot says of herself and her family:

We were a backwards lot, and I was way out there in front, the most determined to keep myself backwards. I was a grown married woman before someone told me what it was to be gay and it was a while after that before I believed it. And yet all the time I knew something was different with Guy, and he was only three or four before I knew that was what it was. (76-77).

The plotline in which Dot sends Guy to an abusive reformatory because he is gay feeds into a larger narrative about why Parsifal would have changed his name and lied to his found family about his past. In Part 1, Dot’s character is complicated by her reticence over the past, her desire to be close to Sabine, and her enthusiastic aura of motherhood.

It is eventually revealed that Dot was not the one to send Parsifal away; on the contrary, she always loved and accepted him. Dot is the target of domestic abuse and has sacrificed her own safety and happiness for her children. In Part 2, she is characterized as a strong woman and a devoted mother who loves unconditionally. She is the glue that holds her family together despite their ongoing problems, and she also ensures that Sabine is invited into the family. In Sabine, Dot sees an opportunity to make up for her lost years without Parsifal.

Parsifal, known to the Fetters family as Guy, is an important secondary character in the novel despite the fact that he dies before the story begins. He exists in the novel only in the memories of those who mourn his loss, and this quasi-ethereal presence adds a tone of mystery and sadness to his characterization. In his adult life, Parsifal was diagnosed with AIDS but ultimately died suddenly and unexpectedly from a condition unrelated to his AIDS diagnosis.

In his childhood, Parsifal endured an abusive household. One day, when he attempted to protect his mother from his father’s physical abuse, he accidentally killed his father. He was then sent to a reformatory school as an alternative to going to prison. Upon his release, he left home and utterly reinvented his identity, becoming the ultimate magician. In his adult life, he presents a version of himself to the world and to his loved ones that is completely his own creation. During his lifetime, he was therefore an empowered individual who lived authentically. Even his lies about his family of origin contain a deeper element of truth, because his lie that they are dead reflects his need to remain separated from them permanently. Thus, he keeps his past a secret not to hurt his loved ones but to maintain his right to self-determination and break free of the specters of his past.

In Part 2, Sabine learns more about Parsifal’s past. Parsifal always wanted to escape Nebraska and embrace his sexual orientation, and he always wanted to be a performer. Even as a young boy, he had a fascination for aliases, and this tendency emphasizes his belief in his ability to reinvent himself regardless of his family connections and history. Upon leaving the past behind and adopting his own identity, he was able to transform his life and become successful in love and in his career. Parsifal’s life in Los Angeles is the antithesis of what his life would have been in Nebraska, highlighting how necessary it was for Parsifal to leave his past in the past.

Phan is an important secondary character who, like Parsifal, exists only in the memories of those who knew him while he was alive. He is most integral to Sabine’s character development when she sees him in her vivid dreams and connects with him in ways she couldn’t when he was alive. Phan plays a complex role in Sabine’s life, for he was always her rival for Parsifal’s affections. However, he also provided her with a home and a loving friendship. Ultimately, Sabine acquiesced to Phan’s presence even though she remains envious of his relationship with Parsifal even after his death. Phan has had his own challenges in life, for his family was killed in Vietnam, leaving him alone in the world until he finally found Parsifal and gained a sense of peace. The narrative implies that Parsifal and Phan have always been bonded through their shared trauma and missing family: a history to which Sabine simply cannot relate. Phan was also accessible romantically and sexually to Parsifal, rendering him Phan both a rival and a co-lover while he was alive.

In death, Phan takes on a new meaning in Sabine’s life. Her grief for him is explored in her subconscious, and the vivid dreams she has after Parsifal’s death feature Phan and give him a new aura that Sabine had not appreciated while he was alive. In her dreams, which are products of her subconscious, Phan takes on a prominent and loving role, becoming a man she relies on and yearns for. In Sabine’s dreams, Phan takes her on journeys that help her to clarify the complexities of her marriage and reconcile her unprocessed emotions about her ambiguous status in the relationship.

As Parsifal’s sister, Kitt becomes an important secondary character in Part 2 of the novel. Through Kitty’s memories of Parsifal, Sabine gains a better understanding of the various traumas and challenges of Parsifal’s childhood. However, although the two women soon develop a deep and meaningful bond, Kitty complicates the grieving process for Sabine because she represents a woman who filled a very similar role as Parsifal’s assistant and supporter. As the narrative states, “No one in [Nebraska] could have imagined Sabine. There was no need for her because her part would be played by Kitty, patient in instruction, diligent in practice” (165). Kitty’s love for her brother is reminiscent of Sabine’s love for Parsifal. Thus, Sabine and Kitty serve identical functions for different eras of Parsifal’s life, and as a result, Sabine feels as though she has stolen something from Kitty because Parsifal chose to spend his life with Sabine as his right-hand woman rather than with his sister.

Without Parsifal in her life, Kitty replicates many of the cycles of small-town life, including marrying a man who subjects her and her children to physical and emotional abuse. Although Kitty honors Parsifal’s memory by naming her second son Guy after Parsifal’s birth name, Kitty feels that Parsifal left her behind. She therefore represents the kind of life that could have happened to Parsifal had he not severed ties with his family. When Kitty and Sabine develop a close, nearly sexual and romantic relationship, Sabine metaphorically makes up for the years that Kitty lost with Parsifal. She also steps in as Parsifal would have, inviting Kitty to California to provide her with the necessary distance from her husband. However, Kitty hesitates to make this major life change, and her uncertainty implies that she doesn’t know how to make opportunities for herself, whereas Parsifal was committed to radical self-determination. Life happens to Kitty, and she responds, but she does not take an active role in improving her life.

Bertie is Parsifal’s sister, although he never met her. She is the youngest of the Fetters children and was born shortly after Guy killed their father. Because of the circumstances surrounding her birth, Bertie and Dot are extremely close. Even though Bertie has been engaged to a man she loves, she still lives with her mother, and their codependency highlights the hole left behind by Parsifal. Dot wants Bertie to be more independent, but their closeness also highlights Dot’s virtues as a mother. Bertie is the one who breaks her family’s cycle of marrying into toxic situations, thereby foreshadowing hope and happiness for the future.

Howard is Kitty’s husband. A partially reformed “bad boy,” Howard has defied most people’s expectations by staying in a marriage and maintaining a stable job throughout his adult life. With his frequent petulance, unpredictable rages, and occasional physical abuse, Howard serves as an antagonist who metaphorically replicates the types of abuse that the young Parsifal once had to endure from his father. However, it is also important to note that Howard’s temper is a reaction to shame, indicating that his behavior is the result of deeper emotional triggers. Through Sabine’s narrative perspective, Patchett implies that Howard is not entirely beyond redemption, although his actions make it clear that he has a lot of work to do before he can be a truly good and trustworthy partner to Kitty, and the final outcome of this relationship is left ambiguous. Because Sabine is not frightened of his erratic and dangerous moods, Howard’s abusive behaviors are partially defanged. From a practical storytelling standpoint, his antagonism also acts as an important plot device that brings Kitty and Sabine closer together.