Fantasy is a significant genre that involves imagination and creative fiction writing. It is one which often demonstrates the supernatural world as the main setting of a story. This can be highlighted in Neil Gaiman’s quote where he states that fantasy is not solely focused on escapism alone but can also be experienced in everyday life. The novels Dragonkeeper written by Carole Wilkinson and the BFG written by Roald Dahl both relate to this quote as they demonstrate the key values of imagination in literature. The audience experiences unrealistic and creative circumstances through the lives of the characters and we are able to experience their lives through the narration and dialogue. The themes of adventure and trust are shown in the two novels as they both establish a strong connection between each other and support Neil Gaiman’s quote. Hence this quote explains that the reality we live in can be seen in a function of imagination by expanding ideas seen in the superficial fantasy world. …show more content…
Trust can be seen when someone decides that they can take upon someone’s confidence and dependence then finally feel comfortable about telling them something. Trust is shown many times in the novel, for example, during the scene when Danzi saved Ping from the dragon hunter Ping then began to have faith in Danzi and decided to ask if he wanted to go with her to escape from Huangling together. This scene also demonstrates that trust can be earned overtime as Ping originally didn’t have any trust in Danzi as she was afraid of him. The theme of trust relates to the real world as trust is seen in everyday life. Therefore, trust is a crucial theme within the chapters of Dragonkeeper and can also be linked within the next text, the
Stories with a hero’s journey can serve as an escape from everyday life, which is why these kind of stories are so popular and why they resonate so deeply with readers. In everyday life, people develop routines. The reason readers like these kinds of stories is the same reason why most people go on vacation: to destress, explore, and take a break from these mundane routines. The same goes for books with tales of fantastical lands and mystery. The opportunity to experience a whole new fantasy world with every book is an adventure in itself. Not only do the magical worlds add to the
“Fantasies express a ‘longing for an absolute meaning’, for something other than the limited ‘known’ world…the modern fantastic…focuses upon the ‘unknown’ within the present…” (Jackson 158). This message means that a fantasy story should be able to encourage the readers to immerse themselves in the story, and take the readers’ minds from the real world to the fantasy world. In other words, the readers must be able to suspend their disbelief when reading a fantasy story. According to our online course glossary, suspension of disbelief “occurs when a reader willingly forgets that they are reading a fictional story and get caught up in the plot, narrative, characterization, etc., to the point where they temporarily believe that it is all real”
Readers tend to idolize protagonists of stories. Atticus Finch, Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter – they are all characters that possess a positive tone from the author. In pieces of writing associated with fantasy, however, it would only be more suitable to call these characters, heroes. Particularly in high fantasy, the hero ventures on an aptly named “hero’s journey.” However, the hero will always discover the “call to adventure” at the beginning of the story. At that point, the protagonist realizes that he or she possesses a unique ability. In high fantasy, that ability generally involves magic. Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea serves as a prime example of this notion. The protagonist, Ged, goes on a journey to quench his thirst for better understanding of wizardry. Another example of fantasy would be L. Frank Baum’s “The Dummy that Lived,” in which a fairy’s mischievous acts lead to a chain of trouble for the victim. Both Le Guin and Baum use magic in high fantasy literature to symbolize the need for maturity in a protagonist, or the creature casting the spell, and therefore promote the importance of responsibility to those who hold great power.
Magical realism in literature is the incorporation of mystical and fantastical elements into realistic fiction. It is the ability to blend something realistic with fiction, usually common in American literature. This essay will analyze magical realism and how it is manifested in “Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman. Close reference will be derived from class lessons on what magical realism is and how it has been widely used in literature. Magical realism has been used extensively in fiction writing, with an example of Neil Gaiman’s work in “Chivalry”. “Chivalry” is a story about an elderly widowed woman, Mrs. Whitaker. The story revolves around her boring life and her encounter with sir Galaad, a knight of the round table. Neil Gaiman, through different
In the novel, Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, the main character Cimorene,the youngest daughter of the King of Linderwall, faced many problems.Cimorene has six older sisters, her hair is jet black, and is usually wore in braids.She thought being a princess was quite boring so she decided to give herself up to a dragon.Wizards were found on dragon territory and tried to take the crystal ball. They failed and Kazul was crowned the new king and Cimorene and her are moving.Although Alianora, Cimorene’s friend, is really in the middle she is justified but she doesn’t act like a true princess a hundred percent of the time..Cimorene does not follow the social norms like a proper princess and is not justified because a princess wouldn’t
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him”. This famous quote by J.R.R. Tolkien is applied in almost everything you do. So what exactly does this quote mean when it is unraveled, what was Tolkien referring to when he used this quote in the famous book The Hobbit. Tolkien writing is taken very seriously amongst many other authors and his fans. He has grown very popular due to the “lord of the Rings” book and movie and then “ The Hobbit” book and movie. This famous quote is one of the more popular quotes by J.R.R Tolkien and many people think about it or use it in their everyday lives without realizing it. People make plans but the never really stop to consider if their plan has faults or needs corrections. What will they do if their plans do not work, move on to plan B?
In general, I have learned that every fantasy story affects a reader’s suspension of disbelief in different ways, and it depends on the fantasy setting and on Rosemary Jackson’s concept of ‘known’, ‘unknown’ and the ‘longing for an absolute
What is fantasy? Fantasy is an element of literature that pulls away from reality; it takes away from what the readers know to be true. It can be unrealistic, creating a story with the stereotypical fantastical element; however it can also be a more realistic setting - such as a Midwestern town - and have elements of fantasy intertwined. The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell is a realistic story focused on a professional hunter, Rainsford, and his journey through a mysterious island after he falls off his ship. The fiction elements in this story show fantasy and affect the reader’s thoughts in persuasive ways. The majority of the elements are left to the reader’s interpretation, and allows the reader to think of the story in a variety
In life it is necessary to have fantasy, because without it, life would be dull and meaningless. Life would be so different without dreams, since they are what motivate humans to keep on moving forward in order to achieve their goals. This is what Jorge Luis Borges is trying to explain to the reader in the book Ficciones which is very confusing, but also very deep in meaning. These stories demonstrate a theme of reality vs. fiction which is fascinating because in many of the readings fantasy is required at some point to accomplish a purpose or goal. Each unique story hides a meaning in the text which is a lesson to be learned. The confusion that is caused is similar to a labyrinth in which the reader gets lost. The message is hidden within the story so; it causes confusion to the reader. Events in the story suggest that the story is fiction, because most of the stories have existent scenery. The timing in some stories is from an event or tragedy that has occurred around that date. The reader realizes later on in the stories that unrealistic events began to occur which are impossible to take place in real life. This is when our minds become entangled with facts from our world and others form the impossible.
Neil Gaiman uses magical realism in the novel “Neverwhere” to engage the reader in a coming of age story. gaiman distorts many elements in the book from reality into fantasy. The magical elements in the book symbolize adulthood for Richard, and the realistic elements in the book symbolize childhood for Richard. The unrealistic elements in the book keep the reader enthralled in the tale.
Gaiman's silver-tongued narration richly takes this production into life. Even though it is a slight tale, Gaiman carefully gives his characters real depth as well as humanity, even the inhuman ones, permitting readers to participate in their stories. Readers became trusted to append their disbelief as well as just go through concepts such as the witches who are able to turn people into goats as well as goats into people or a fantasy realm past the wall. It also does it with style, wit and a sense of poetry.
At a young age, everyone is told that imagination is one of the most important skill that a human being should develop. The reason why imagination is because it cannot be controlled. It is one of the things that the government cannot own or control. Due to that reason, it brings fear to the government because imagination does not have any limits or any boundaries. However, the American society does not consider imagination to be a necessity as a skill but they have converted this skill into a commodity or considers imagination to be childish. Le Guin, who is an American author who specializes in writing fantasy stories stated in her article, Why are Americans Afraid of Dragons that Americans are hesitant to accept fantasy because they are afraid of confronting reality rather than forcing themselves to endure it. Since the American society’s mindset is only focused on producing for mass consumption and mass profit, nobody has the proper mindset of disciplining their imaginations but rather the Americans
Trust is a pretty big subject to expand on, but now we need to move on to the aspect I
We need to understand fantasy in at least two ways, the literary and the psychological. As discussed elsewhere, in literary terms “The fantastic is a quality of astonishment that we feel when the ground rules of a narrative world are suddenly made to turn about 180°” (Rabkin41). The fantastic does not arise simply out of the inclusion in a text of something not of our world. Stephen Daedalus, despite James Joyce’s memorable “portrait of the artist as a young man,” seems never to have existed.
Fantasy may not need dragons to be considered fantasy, but it does need a bit magic. Contrary to popular belief, the presence of magic does not necessarily come into use to make things easier for the protagonist in a novel. Magic is simply a built-in set of complications that contradict and foreseeable reality. Sabriel, by Garth Nix, is a spectacular indoctrination into the world and rules of fantasy and magic.