The Sun Is Also a Star

Throughout the novel, Daniel and Natasha entertain the notion of multiverses, where they can live out different iterations of their lives. According to the novel, the multiverse theory claims that “every version of our past and future histories exists, just in an alternative universe” (79). As both Daniel and Natasha are at different junctures in their lives, the existence of alternative outcomes for their lives is an appealing concept. It is a resolution to the grandfather paradox, which proposes that any alterations to one’s history will cause the present to not exist at all. For Natasha, the multiverse theory is more appealing than the grandfather paradox as it permits her agency to navigate her life following her father’s exposure of their family’s undocumented status to the government. She imagines “a universe where Samuel Kingsley does not derail his daughter’s life. A universe where he does derail it but Natasha is able to fix it. A universe where he does derail it and she is not able to fix it” (79). For Natasha, it is more meaningful to imagine a range of favorable and unfavorable outcomes than a single path that can either lead to bad or good.