The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

Frankie’s blue strings are a significant symbol of the interconnectedness of every life. Carmencita first receives the strings as a gift, and she is told that they have lives inside them, a fact confirmed by Music in the last chapter. At first, Frankie believes that it’s his guitar playing that alters the lives of the people around him. This is because the first string turned blue after Frankie’s guitar playing saved Aurora’s life. By the end of the novel, however, Music reveals that “it was not his playing that turned them blue; it was his heart” (487).

Carmencita receives the strings because of the kindness she showed to strangers, and Aurora posits that Frankie received the strings because he showed kindness to the six dead strangers when they first met. Later, Frankie’s strings turned blue when he committed a selfless act to help another person; while this was sometimes connected to his guitar playing, as was the case when he saved Aurora’s life, at other times it wasn’t. When he talked the doctors into saving Hampton’s life, or when he threw his guitar case over Ellis to save him from the bomb shrapnel, it was desire to save their lives and the resulting actions he took that turned the strings blue.

The guitar strings always turned blue after Frankie helped save a life or positively altered a life, except in the case of Alberto. Although Frankie didn’t directly kill Alberto, his presence at the club that night led to his death; in other words, had he not been there, Josefa wouldn’t have needed to save Frankie, and Alberto would still be alive. However, it was still a kind act that turned the guitar string blue because Josefa saved Frankie’s life that night.

The strings’ changing color signifies when lives have been changed by the presence Frankie as well. Music makes this clear after Frankie’s guitar string turns blue when he says yes to accompanying Django to America. Music says that had Frankie said no, Django wouldn’t have gone to America, and his music and life would have suffered. Yet, perhaps the most significant blue string happens at the very end of the novel, when Frankie’s final string changes color after he forgives Josefa. This blue string implies that Frankie’s forgiveness towards Josefa has impacted her life for the better—that he’s saved her life in some way.