To deceive the eye

"To deceive the eye" is the third chapter in the first book of The Starless Sea. It is the third story in the book Sweet Sorrows and the third chapter overall.

Summary
The son of a fortune-teller (Zachary, though not named) walks through an alley on his way home from school. There, he finds a door painted onto the wall of the alley. He feels drawn towards the door, although when he touches it, he can tell that it is only paint on a wall.

He does not touch the doorknob, however. The narration indicate that if he had touched it, everything would have changed, and he would have found his way to the Starless Sea. The story ends with the words "not yet", implying that he will go there at some point in the future.

Major Characters

 * Zachary Ezra Rawlins (as, "the son of the fortune-teller")
 * Madame Love Rawlins (mentioned, as "the fortune-teller")

Minor Characters

 * None

Trivia and Connections

 * The door was painted by Mirabel, an event depicted in Interlude I.
 * The door is marked with a bee, a key, and a sword, the three symbols associated with the current Harbor.
 * The French phrase that Zachary cannot remember is trompe-l'œil, which translates literally as "deceive the eye."

Analysis
This is the first story set in the "real world" and the "present day." Even so, the fairy-tale narration is preserved. Neither Zachary nor his mother are mentioned by name, nor is the setting of New Orleans, Louisiana.

If we view Zachary as the hero of the story, then this event fits neatly into the Hero's Journey.The door represents the "Call to Adventure", and his choice not to open the door is the "Refusal of the Call." Given the mythic nature of this story, it is unsurprising that Morgenstern would have structured Zachary's plot arc on the archetypical hero myth.

Quotes

 * This is what his mother would call a moment with meaning. A moment that changes the moments that follow.
 * A boy at the beginning of a story has no way of knowing that the story has begun.