Magic 8 Ball Analysis

The play Magic 8 Ball by Kimberly Pau follows the dialogue between two girls and a Magic 8 Ball. The protagonists of the play, Melissa and Elizabeth, repeatedly ask the Magic 8 Ball a variety of questions regarding their present and future relationships with their respective boyfriends while receiving answers ranging from “outlook not so good” to “reply hazy, try again later”(Pau 1075). The Magic 8 Ball’s answers are subsequently met with mixed reactions from the girls, ranging from delight to despair depending on whether or not the ball’s answers were in favor of the girls’ desired outcome. The central conflict in Kimberly Pau’s satiric comedy Magic 8 Ball is that Elizabeth values the Magic 8 Ball’s predictions more than common sense, which results in a moral conflict between

Elizabeth takes the opportunity to ask if “Bradley [is] desperately in love with her”, and the Magic 8 Ball replies “as I see it, yes”(Pau 1075). She then proceeds to ask “is he going to propose”, and the ball repeats its initial answer. While many literary works use repetition to emphasize, Melissa doubts the Magic 8 Ball’s predictions despite its supposed credibility. In response to the Magic 8 Ball, Melissa provides her own answers and claims that Bradley is “very non-committal” and asks Melissa “did you shake the ball hard enough?” (Pau 1075) The rift between Elizabeth’s belief in the ball and Melissa’s dismissal of the ball’s predictions illustrates the opposing views that could be held towards a belief system. While Elizabeth wholeheartedly believes in the Magic 8 Ball’s ability to predict the future, Melissa criticizes Elizabeth’s belief system and makes an attempt to appeal to Elizabeth’s sense of logic by reminding her of the possibility that the ball could provide repeated answers if they didn’t shake it hard