The Cartographers

This section fully introduces all the major themes and symbols and begins to explore and develop them. Obsession and the distinction between Reality and Fantasy are the most emphasized, though Nell’s continuing Fixation on the Past also plays an important role. Additionally, the contrast between Camera as Isolation and Photographs as Community is fully introduced, while the symbolism of Phantom Settlements as Secrets and the Compass Rose as Legacy is confirmed.

In this section of the novel, the parallels between the Cartographers’ past obsessions and Nell’s present fixation with the Junk Box map become very clear. Wally’s tendency toward obsession is particularly prominent, for although he is initially the most resistant to the Dreamer’s Atlas project because it is “too experimental” (96), he ultimately becomes its most adamant supporter, indicating his predisposition to obsession through his extreme dedication to the project. In further support of this particular personality quirk of Wally’s, Eve also notes the evidence of Wally’s obsession with Tam. Just like Romi, Eve also remembers Wally’s displeasure with Tam every time she made a new friend; in fact, Eve suspects him of having very strong feelings for Tam, so deeply suppressed that they were secret even to himself. Thus, the theme of Phantom Settlements as Secrets is made even more prominent in this section of the novel. Accordingly, the very nature of such secrets gains a sinister tone as Eve admits that Wally’s his obsession with the past has consumed him, compelling him to become the very criminal who is terrorizing Nell in the present, for he is the murderer of Nell’s father and the mysterious burglar at the NYPL.

While Nell has not yet reached a level of obsession to match Wally’s extremes, she nonetheless has the potential to follow his path, and this tendency is made clear as she becomes increasingly obsessed with the Junk Box map and even goes so far as to throw away her own ambitions to return to the NYPL in order to maintain possession of it. Ironically, in doing so, she echoes her father’s own ruse of seven years ago and tells Irene that the map is worthless. With this monumental decision, she willfully destroys her future by fixating on a relic from the past. Indeed, the more often she encounters the Cartographers, the more embroiled in their secrets she becomes, and her initial disbelief at learning about the magic of phantom settlements soon transforms into eagerness to seek them out for herself. Thus, her determination to find Agloe on the Junk Box map mirrors her efforts to find out what the Cartographers are hiding. Each time she learns about a new secret, she also finds out more about the magical phantom settlements and trap rooms, and each discovery likewise intensifies her obsession. This also becomes a turning point for Nell’s character development, and the narration clearly implies that she now has a choice. She can either learn to move on as Felix did, or she can allow her obsession to ruin her life, as Wally has done.

Francis’s revelation that Agloe becomes a physical place if accessed through the Junk Box map also intensifies the author’s tendencies to toy with the boundaries of reality and fantasy, transitioning the discussion from the philosophical to the literal. Initially, although the contrast of Reality versus Fantasy is first explored through the metaphors of the Dreamer’s Atlas, the idea of blurring the line between the two remains merely a philosophical debate. However, the realization that the phantom settlement of Agloe could actually be a real place solidifies this abstract discussion firmly in reality, and Nell, still primarily rooted in the logic of the real world, balks at the strangeness of this concept, just as Wally initially resisted the idea of the Atlas as being “too experimental, too strange” (96). Despite her relative open-mindedness to investigating oddities (as evidenced by her willingness to seek out Romi), Nell nonetheless rejects Francis’s admission of Agloe’s existence and discounts the fact that the disappearance of Romi’s shop actually supports Francis’s story. When she seeks out Felix’s support of her logical view and instead meets his rejection (a reaction to her own lies and secrecy), his failure to support Nell instead pushes her in the opposite direction—toward the realm of fantasy. Thus, as she literally runs away from Felix, she also retreats philosophically from a grounding in the real world and grows both physically and spiritually closer to the trap room that exists within the Map Division. Thus, this scene proves to be a pivotal moment that forces her to accept the fact that phantom settlements and trap rooms can actually manifest under specific circumstances. While the attack on her represents a warning that her growing obsessions are leading her into danger, it also represents a metaphorical transition, for when Nell passes out, she travels from the real world, which is devoid of magic, into a metaphorical dimension of illusion and dreams.

The key symbols of the novel are not neglected in this section, for Eve confirms the connection between the Cartographers and the Compass Rose, solidifying its function as a symbol of their lasting Legacy. When they were still at school, the Cartographers carved their sigil everywhere, a fact that reflects their desire to leave their mark on the world, both literally and figuratively. After Nell’s birth, Tam carves the symbol on her graduation pen and hands it to her daughter, literally passing down her legacy to her child. As an adult, Nell also continues this tradition, for each map she finds is also marked with the Cartographers’ compass rose, and each secret revelation ties her more tightly to the mysteries of their collective past.

At the same time, although Nell succumbs to her own internal obsession with the Agloe map and its secrets, she also resists being controlled by external factors. This pattern becomes most evident in her interactions with Felix and his associations with the Haberson Map. Although well-intentioned, Felix constantly pushes her to regain her previous position at the NYPL, and although Nell initially agrees with this encouragement, she ultimately refuses to listen to his advice. Instead, she impulsively considers taking a midnight trip to Agloe and later throws away her only opportunity to regain her NYPL career by lying about the true nature of the map. In this way, she rejects both Felix and the path he tries to set out for her, causing him to accuse her of prioritizing the map over him. Finally, when Felix tries to comfort Nell by revealing that Haberson has taken over the NYPL’s woefully inadequate security, his surprise at her displeasure indicates the stark differences between their respective life philosophies. Given Nell’s focus on ancient maps and tradition, she is unsurprisingly mistrustful and unimpressed with modern technology and feels that its control and growing omniscience is more akin to a panopticon rather than protection.

The symbolism of Photographs as Community appears once again when Nell wins Eve over using a combination of maps and the photograph from Francis (134). Eve contrasts this symbolism by introducing Wally’s Camera as a symbol for Isolation. Like his character traits of introversion and rigidity, the camera acts as a separation between the photographer and the photographic subject. Wally, who is never without his camera, likes photos because they are “[p]roof that things were real” (135). However, for all the photos he takes of the Cartographers, he is never in them himself; he observes but doesn’t openly participate. This self-induced isolation through observation thus sets him apart from the rest of the group. Just as he resists the addition of each new friend to the group while Tam is alive, he uses her death as an excuse to isolate himself not just from society, but from its laws and values as well, for he becomes set upon following a trajectory of madness and isolation rather than seeking support for his grief.