Content Warning: This guide and the source text contain references to police violence, rape, anti-gay prejudice and violence, antisemitism, and the persecution of Jewish people by the Nazi regime.

The question of “What is magic?” is woven throughout the text and develops themes of Escape and Freedom as well as The Healing Power of Art. Magic first enters the story in Joe’s younger years in Prague and through the Bernard Kornblum character, but magic, as a thematic element, is not solely relegated to the tricks and illusions that magicians perform; the magical motif often blurs with science and phenomena. Kornblum finds the workings of the universe to be “magical,” and later, Joe uses the term “magic” to describe the ability that art gave him to forget for several moments all his cares and worries.

A golem is an anthropomorphic being created from mud or clay and brought to life through “magical/religious” incantation. The Golem of Prague is a legend and one of the better-known golems in historiography. The Golem of Prague’s creator, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, imbued the Golem with certain magical abilities so it could protect Jews against the antisemitic actions of the Holy Roman Emperor.