Agency and Subversion of Genre in Diana Wynne Jones’S
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BETTER AND HAPPIER AND FREER THAN BEFORE1: AGENCY AND SUBVERSION OF GENRE IN DIANA WYNNE JONES’S HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, CASTLE IN THE AIR, AND HOUSE OF MANY WAYS by Janet Elizabeth Robbins Eastwood B.A., Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Children’s Literature) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) September 2014 © Janet Elizabeth Robbins Eastwood, 2014 Abstract This thesis examines the ways in which Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and House of Many Ways challenge and subvert the genres of fairy tale, Arabian Nights romance, and Victorian sensibility, respectively, and the ways in which the protagonist of each tale defies the constraints imposed by family and her or his own internal narrative to gain self-knowledge and agency. Jones’s protagonists, Sophie, Abdullah, and Charmain, are initially stifled by cultural and familial expectations and by their own internalization of these norms. It is not until they are forced into circumstances far different from those they are used to that Sophie, Abdullah, and Charmain begin to question their beliefs about their own potential and about the world around them. During their adventures, they apply pre- existing skills and gain new practical abilities and knowledge, developing a stronger sense of identity, a surer command of language, and the ability to perceive truth amid pretense. Sophie, Abdullah, and Charmain subvert their own expectations and genres to gain agency. Jones uses wordplay and humour throughout her protagonists’ journeys, and visually represents magic, creativity, and freedom through the use of colour, particularly blue and multi-coloured objects, and through flowers and gardens. ii Preface This thesis is original, unpublished, and independent work by the author, Janet Elizabeth Robbins Eastwood. iii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Preface .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Inspiration and Research Questions .................................................................................... 2 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 6 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................... 6 Key Terms ........................................................................................................................... 7 Agency .................................................................................................................... 7 Genre ....................................................................................................................... 7 Subversion ............................................................................................................... 8 Folk Tale ................................................................................................................. 8 Fairy Tale (in the Western European Tradition) ..................................................... 9 Literary Fairy Tale................................................................................................... 9 Fractured Fairy Tale ................................................................................................ 9 Motif ...................................................................................................................... 10 Companion Story ................................................................................................... 10 Endings, Closed or Open ....................................................................................... 10 Arabian Nights ...................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 13 Diana Wynne Jones ........................................................................................................... 13 Fairy Tales ......................................................................................................................... 17 Modern Fairy Tales ........................................................................................................... 23 History and Characteristics of Arabian Nights ................................................................. 25 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................... 31 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 31 Rationale for Primary Text Selections .............................................................................. 31 iv Criteria for Primary Text Selections ................................................................................. 33 Introduction to the Primary Texts ..................................................................................... 35 Chapter 4: “What Has That One-Woman Force of Chaos Done to These Spells?”: Disordered Fairy Tales in Howl’s Moving Castle ......................................................................... 37 Chapter 5: “Which Concerns Marriage and Prophecy”: Fate, Romance, and Storytelling in Arabian Nights and Castle in the Air ........................................................................................ 49 Chapter 6: The Boke of Palimpsest: Revelation and Rewriting in House of Many Ways ............. 71 Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions ........................................................................................ 85 Discussion and Conclusions .............................................................................................. 85 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research ............................................................ 89 Endnotes ........................................................................................................................................ 91 Works Cited .................................................................................................................................. 92 v Acknowledgements Warm thanks are due and gladly given to the many people whose care and support made possible my writing of this thesis – To Margot Filipenko, my advisor; Judi Saltman, my committee; and the late Judy Brown, my first advisor, for reassurance, guidance, and humour, thank you. To my teachers and friends at MACL and SLAIS, especially Yash Kesanakurthy, Steph Dror, Megan Harrison, Nafiza Azad, Aline Frederico, and Maggie de Vries, for encouragement, laughter, and inspiration, thank you. To my church family for prayers, kindness, and music, thank you. To Uncle Mark for his sharp eye and keen mind, thank you. To my almost-family the Overhills for cheer, sports, and baking, thank you. To Mum and Dad, Laura and James, thank you. I love you. vi Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction My parents, both keen readers, read stories to me before I was old enough to understand the concept of a book. I became a reader: to me it was perfectly normal to be so intent upon a narrative that I did not hear the call to come for dinner, to have character and plot details memorized to the nth degree, to enjoy reciting to myself (and anyone else who would listen) poems and songs and paragraphs from the stories I liked best. The books I read were of a wide variety, from puzzle picturebooks to fairy tales to survival stories to quest narratives such as Brian Jacques’ Redwall saga. I devoured stories set in modern North America, tales set in all regions of the globe, books about the past. I was introduced to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit because my Dad waved it in front of me and refused to tell me what a hobbit was. I reread my Mum’s much-loved copy of Pride and Prejudice until I learned to appreciate Jane Austen’s humour. Anything that any of my family had borrowed from the library and left in our enormous Library Book Box was fair game. As I grew older and my friends either ceased reading for pleasure, or moved on from children’s literature, I found that I was unwilling to abandon children’s books and fairy tales. It was slightly embarrassing, perhaps, but I preferred children’s books to the kinds of books I felt vaguely that I was supposed to move on to. The children’s books didn’t all have happy endings – some of them itched at me in the same dissatisfying way that certain