The Ten Thousand Doors of January Major and Minor Quotes

“If we address stories as archaeological sites, and dust through their layers with meticulous care, we find at some level there is always a doorway. A dividing point between here and there, us and them, mundane and magical. It is at the moments when the doors open, when things flow between worlds, that stories happen.” (Ch. 1)

– January Scaller

Analysis: This quote introduces the major themes of the rest of the novel. It sets up a series of dichotomies that are present throughout the novel and suggests that the current story has a series of layers that are meant to be systematically removed. Already we are shown the significance of mining and exploring the traditional in the face of the modern.

This sentiment also relates to the world Harrow creates for the reader. Worlds are layered, and their borders rest next to each other; they are connected through Doors. The idea of “us and them” also speaks to the persistent experiences of prejudice and discrimination that many characters experience. January often describes how she feels as she navigates the spaces that are not necessarily made for her. The end of the quote is also suggestive of immigration. Otherworldly magic and its impact on our world can only occur when the avenues that permit such exchanges are left open.

January’s quotation of her father’s text is also directly related to her own experience. January’s growth throughout the novel is a process of removing the accumulated influences that shaped her to act a certain way. As she incrementally abandons the influences of others and begins exploring herself, January realizes her true potential as well as her own special kind of magic. This identity, and the power that comes with it, is wholly separate from the white male power structure of Mr. Locke and his Society.

“Its name is Modernity, I am told, and it carries Progress and Prosperity in its coal-fire belly—but I see only rigidity, repression, a chilling resistance to change.” (Ch. 6)

– Yule Ian Scholar

Analysis: Told from her father’s perspective in one of the final chapters of The Ten Thousand Doors, this quote showcases the subjective quality of terms such as “Progress” and “Prosperity” while stressing the ongoing tension between the traditional and the modern. Here, Julian comments that what some powerful individuals might consider order, structure, and improvement are not equally applicable to everyone. The quote directly relates to Mr. Locke’s comments at the end of the novel, when he outlines his strategy to wrest control over this world and institute a system that primarily benefits him and his inner circle. Here, the effects of closing Doors and closing off avenues of exchange between worlds are neatly outlined. Also, the stakes of chasing concepts of “Modernity” by forsaking or sacrificing the past become clear. It is worthwhile to consider how the Doors to other worlds appear—they are often in abandoned sites that fade into the margins of society. One is left to wonder if “rigidity, repression, [and] a chilling resistance to change…” also relate to ways of engaging with the world. Can Harrow’s open Doors also speak to open-mindedness?

Julian is careful to note the relative nature of the concepts of Progress and Prosperity, which meaningfully appear with capitalized letters. Based on his phrasing, Julian notices the conflicting results of actions undertaken for the sake of these terms.

“I might be young and untried and penniless and everything else, but—I clutched the pen in my hand until my knuckles were white crests—I was not powerless. And now I knew no Door was ever truly closed.” (Ch. 10)

– January Scaller

Analysis: Nearing the end of the novel, January realizes her true power: her ability to express her intention. The quote begins by outlining all of those qualities that seem to work against her in her lived environment. Based on how others would perceive her, she lacks experience and wisdom. January’s comments speak to the odds that appear stacked against her and the use of “everything else” adds a weightiness to her realization. Innumerable factors might limit her in this world—her race, her gender, and her economic status. However, as January comprehends those qualities that others might consider weaknesses, she discovers her own resoluteness. She has her pen, which serves as her means of indelibly leaving her mark on the world.

In this moment, January exhibits her resolve and her independence. No longer does she need to rely on companions or guardians. She can make her own Doors, her own opportunities, and effect her own change by writing it. January here recognizes the power she can wield and that it is located within herself. Her power to open Doors—in all senses—begins with her and her ability to write the change she desires with conviction. This quote highlights the theme of the power of words while also importantly making the distinction that January recognizes the power in her own words and the impact they can have.

“Thresholds are dangerous places, neither here nor there, and walking across one is like stepping off the edge of a cliff in the na�ve faith that you’ll sprout wings halfway down. You can’t hesitate, or doubt. You can’t fear the in-between.” (Ch. 1)

– January Scaller

“Power, my dear, has a language. It has a geography, a currency, and—I’m sorry—a color.” (Ch. 2)

– Mr. Cornelius Locke

“Words and their meanings have weight in the world of matter, shaping and reshaping realities through a most ancient alchemy.” (Introduction)

– Yule Ian Scholar

“One does not fall in love; one discovers it.” (Ch. 4)

– Yule Ian Scholar

“You don’t really know how fragile and fleeting your own voice is until you watch a rich man take it away as easily as signing a bank loan.” (Ch. 6)

– January Scaller

“Because the place you are born isn’t necessarily the place you belong. I was born into a world that abandoned me, stole from me, rejected me; is it so surprising I found a better one?” (Ch. 8)

– Miss Jane Irimu

“I wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because it would be rude to interrupt it.” (Ch. 12)

– January Scaller

“Maybe all powerful men are cowards at heart, because in their hearts they know power is temporary.” (Ch. 12)

– January Scaller

“There is nothing quite like the anger of someone very powerful who has been thwarted by someone who was supposed to be weak.” (Ch. 13)

– January Scaller

“If you’re some stranger who stumbled over this book by chance—perhaps rotting in some foreign garbage pile or locked in a dusty traveling trunk or published by some small, misguided press and shelved mistakenly under Fiction—I hope to every god you have the guts to do what needs doing. I hope you will find the cracks in the world and wedge them wider, so the light of other suns shines through; I hope you will keep the world unruly, messy, full of strange magics; I hope you will run through every open Door and tell stories when you return.” (Ch. 13)

– January Scaller