Clayton begins the novel by positioning the worlds of the Marvellers and Conjurors as diametrically opposed. Their physical differences signal a disparity between their cultures and The Challenges of Integration from one culture to the other. Marvellers and Conjurors are cut off from one another geographically as well as culturally, with Marvellers living in the sky cities that can only be reached by magical transport devices. Conjurors remain close to the earth because their magic derives from the world of nature. More significantly, they carry a strong link to the Underworld and can communicate with the dead—an ability that frightens Marvellers. As Aunt Sera tells Ella, “Conjure is a bittersweet cross between rage and hope, but yet still full of love. We lived suspended. Every Conjuror from New Orleans to Havana to Cartagena to Bahía knows that” (174).

Marvellers perceive Conjurors, not only as different but as inferior to themselves, emphasizing Clayton’s analogy to racial discrimination against communities of color. Clayton roots her world-building in the conjure traditions that sprang up among enslaved Africans transported to the New World during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Her story centers the integration of the Arcanum with the admission of the first Conjuror student, paralleling the historical example of Ruby Bridges, the first Black student to attend the formerly segregated school in New Orleans in 1960.