Vanishing Acts

“I learned a lot that night […] That when people vanish into thin air; that when you can’t find someone, it’s because you’ve been misdirected to look elsewhere.”

From the Prologue, Misdirection, Illusion, and Lies are established as a key theme in Vanishing Acts. Though Delia is referencing a vanishing magic trick, the passage foreshadows how lies and misdirection affect the characters’ lives and their perceptions of reality later in the narrative.

“You can’t exist in this world without leaving a piece of yourself behind.”

While this excerpt seems like a philosophical interjection, Delia is being literal. The human body is constantly shedding scents and skin cells that someone or something can track. These scent trails are key to Delia and Greta’s work. This quote also foreshadows Andrew’s arrest later in the story, as he has left pieces of his former life behind that others can follow.

“Me—a tomboy who spent hours in the company of boys pretending to be a swashbuckling privateer, or an archeologist searching for relics, a girl who had only once been the damsel in distress, and even then had rescued herself—I had written only a single wild wish. One day, I’d written, I will be a mother.”

Delia reveals a lot about herself in this quote. First, she illustrates her wild and adventurous childhood. Delia also reveals an unfortunate misunderstanding that being an adventurous tomboy somehow precludes her from the more traditionally feminine role of mother. She is so embarrassed about this wish that she hides it from her best friends. Hiding important information is a running theme throughout this work, and this is the first time Delia does it.