Symphony of Secrets

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and analyzes the source text’s depiction of racism and institutionalized racist violence.

“Was she his secret muse, like Shakespeare’s Dark Lady?”

The rumors surrounding the extra champagne glass in Delaney’s dressing room inspire music scholars to ask this question. This passage is therefore an allusion to the mysterious woman that appears in some of Shakespeare’s sonnets. At this point in the novel, however, it is not yet clear that Delaney’s “secret muse” was laboring under duress and without credit for her work.

“Would they call in a SWAT team to pry loose his fingers?”

This passage serves as a moment of foreshadowing. When Bern isn’t allowed to take his copy of Red out of the Foundation’s building, he wonders about the practical consequences of ignoring this rule. Much later in the novel, a member of the Foundation’s board hires police officers to jail and assault him when he refuses to give them Josephine’s papers.

“This was the only example in existence of a Delaney working document.”

This quote develops the theme of Evolving Methods of Preserving Media. Bern is describing the handwritten marginalia in a draft of sheet music that shows the process of editing. It has yet to be revealed that Delaney destroyed the working documents because he stole his music from Josephine.