The Hobbit is the perfect example of a formulaic hero’s tale. Bilbo Baggins begins his journey as a painfully ordinary man, most comfortable in routine and unwilling to disband from it. Only through the supernatural persuasion of a mentor (Gandalf), does he feel the compulsion to embark on a journey, knowing fully well that he will never be the same afterwards. This “refusal to call” and “crossing...
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Aunt Maria: Witches in Power
Diana Wynne Jones’ Aunt Maria uses the witch archetype for many reasons. One reason was to establish this dystopian world with a great rift between sexes; a rift that is unnatural and should not be accepted as a decent way to live. This is almost revealed explicitly when the revived Antony Green speaks of the way life is at Cranbury. “They divided into men’s ways and women’s ways then, and they’ve...
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