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Xstox University Microfilms MO North Zwb Hoad Ann Arbor, Michigan 4S10S I t

76-3404 GQHEN, Join Arthur, 1939* AN Q C M m n O N OF POUR KEY MOTIFS POUND IN HIGH FANTASY PGR aOUKEN.

The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1975 Education, elementary

t i Xtrox Unlvtnlty Microfilm*, AmArtwr.MiohiewiaiM

© 1975

JOHN ARTHUR COHEN

ALL RISHTS RESERVED

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. AN EXAMINATION OP FOUR KEY MOTIFS

FOUND IN HIGH FANTASY

FOR CHILDREN

DISSERTATION

Presented* in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

John Cohen, B.A., M.Ed., F.T.C.L.

«««»**

The Ohio State University

1975

Reading Committee: Approved By

Charlotte S. Huck, Ph.D. Martha L. King, Ph.D. L. Jane Stewart, M.A.

Adviser College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to express his gratitude to those whose assistance was indispensable in the pre­ paration of this dissertation. Especially warm thanks are due to Dr. Charlotte Huck, the writer's major adviser, who first suggested this study, and who, in spite of incredible demands on her time, was still able to give freely of her fine critical mind. This writer's admiration for her will always be profound. The author also is indebted to Professor Jane Stewart for her continued academic and moral support. Miss Stewart has continually been ready to listen and respond. Finally to Dr. Martha King, the writer expresses his gratitude for she has always been interested in the author's work and has given much encouragement for him to continue his writing.

To my wife, Hilary, and our children Simon,

Katherine, Nicholas, and Patrick, I give my love.

Without their understanding and sacrifices this study would never have begun and certainly would not have been completed.

ii VITA

January 14, 1939...... B o m - Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia.

1957...... Graduated from Newcastle Teachers* College, N.S.W., 2 year General Primary School Teaching Certificate

1958-1967 ...... Teacher, N.S.W. Public Schools

196 5 ...... A.S.D.A. (Associate Diploma, Speech and Drama, Australia)

196 6 ...... A.T.C.L. (Associate Diploma, Trinity College of Music, London)

196 7 ...... L.T.C.L. (Licentiate Diploma, Trinity College of Music, London)

196 8 ...... F.T.C.L. (Fellowship Diploma, Trinity College of Music, London)

1968-1972 ...... Assistant Professor, Armidale Teachers' College, N.S.W.

197 0 ...... A.L.G.S. (Associate Diploma, with Honors, London Guild of Music and Speech, Australia)

197 1 ...... L.L.G.S. (Licentiate Diploma, with Honors, London Guild of Music and Speech, Australia)

197 2 ...... B.A. (University of New England, N.S.W.)

1972-1973 ...... Graduate Teaching Associate, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

197 3 ...... M.Ed (University of Saskatchewan)

1973-1975 ...... Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. 1975 P h . D. (The Ohio State University)

1975...... Assistant Professor, Armidale College of Advanced Education, N.S.W., Australia

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: Education

Studies in Children's Literature. Dr. Charlotte Huck

Studies in Elementary Language Arts and Language Acquisition. Dr. Martha King

Studies in Adolescent Literature and Aesthetics. Professor Jane Stewart

iv

* TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... ii

VITA ...... iii

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION...... 1

Statement of the Problem...... 8 Selection Procedures. , ...... 13 Significance of the Problem ...... 14 Review of Literature...... 16 Plan of Study ...... 43 Texts for Analysis...... 44

II. VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN FANTASY ...... 47

Introduction...... 47 The Water Babies ...... 49 At the Back of the North Wind ..... 56 The Golden Kay ...... 56 The Princess and the Goblin ...... 56 The Princess and Curdle ...... 56 Alice in Wonderland ...... 69 Puck of Pook's H i l l ...... 75 Rewards and Fairies ...... 75 Five Children and It ...... 81 The Phoenix and the Carpet...... 81 The Story of the Amulet ...... 81 Peter P a n ...... 89 S u m m a r y ...... 94

III. CREATED WORLDS ...... 98

Introduction...... 98 The H o b b i t ...... 100 The Chronicles of Namia ...... 107 A Wrinkle in T i m e ...... 114 The Chronicles of Prydain ...... 118 Elidor...... 124 The Cloud Forest...... 129 The Light Maze ...... 129 v Page The Tales of Earthsea...... 135 Journey Outside* ...... 141 Enchantress from the Stars ...... 145 A Castle of B o n e ...... 148 The Forgotten Be'asts of Eld ...... 153 Summary...... * ...... 157 C o n c l u s i o n ...... 160

IV. TIME DISPLACEMENT...... 162

Introduction ...... 162 The Chronicles of N a m l a ...... 164 The Children of Green Knowe ...... 168 Treasure of Green Knowe ...... 168 Tom's Midnight Garden...... 174 The Secret Friends ...... 179 A Wrinkle in Time...... 183 E a r t h f a s t s ...... 187 Charlotte Sometimes...... 192 The Light M a z e ...... 196 The Satanic M i l l ...... 198 The Way H o m e ...... 201 The Dark is Rising ...... 205 The Court of the Stone Children. . . . 210 Summary...... 214 C o n c l u s i o n ...... 217

V. Q U E S T ...... 219

Introduction ...... 219 The H o b b i t ...... 222 The Summer Birds ...... 228 The Chronicles of Prydain ...... 234 A Wizard of Earthsea ...... 240 Journey Outside ...... 243 The Walking Stones ...... 249 Enchantress from the S tars ...... 254 The Court of the Stone Children. . . . 258 The Way H o m e ...... 263 The Forgotten Beasts of Eld ...... 267 Summary...... 273 C o n c l u s i o n ...... 276

VI. COMBAT BETWEEN GOOD AND E V I L ...... 278

Introduction ...... 278 The Chronicles of N a m l a ...... 280 The Weirdstone of Brlslngamen...... 286 The Moon of Gomrath...... 286

vi Page The Owl Service...... 290 A Wrinkle in Time...... 295 A Wind in the D o o r ...... 299 An Enemy at Green Knowe...... 302 The Forgotten D o o r ...... 307 Over Sea, Under Stone...... 312 The Dark is R i s i n g ...... 312 G r e e n w i t c h ...... 312 Thomas and the Warlock ...... 319 The Haunted Mountain ...... 323 A Wizard of Earthsea ...... 328 The Tombs of Atuan ...... 328 The Farthest Shore ...... 328 The Satanic M i l l ...... 335 The Nargun and the Stars ...... 340 Summary...... 346 Conclusions...... 351

VII. CONCLUSION ...... 353

Summary...... 353 Conclusions...... 357 Specific Conclusions ...... 365 Recommendations...... 370

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 373

vii CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Although fantasy as a genre emerged over one hundred years ago, It has not been subject to Intense

literary criticism or analysis. Only since the latter part of the first half of this century have scholars

begun to take a serious look at this genre. To be sure

Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald, and William Morris

have always had their admirers, but criticism of their

offerings and those of later writers of fantasy have

mostly been embedded in general discussion of their lives

and works.

What is meant by fantasy, however, varies from

critic to critic, although there seems to be a subjective

understanding of the term. It will be the function of

this chapter to come to an objective and full statement

of the term fantasy so that selected motifs of the

relatively new sub-genre, high fantasy, can be examined

in depth.

Briefly, fantasy Is a term that is used for those

tales:

1 1) In which the natural laws of this world

are in some way broken or transformed,

2) the incidents which occur are so far

removed from "normal" human experience

that they are thought to be, If not

impossible happenings, at least extremely

Improbable.

From time-to-time a particular book may no longer seem to the reader to fit the classification of fantasy because new understandings of natural laws have brought the "impossible" Into the realms of the possible or commonplace. These books will only be fantasy in historical perspective. Jules Vernes* science fiction output would be in this category as his speculations have been proven possible.

Because of Its breadth fantasy can be divided successfully into sub-genres. The most common sub­ genres of fantasy at present are:

1) science fiction which Is generally based

on technological and scientific concepts

which although possible have not yet

occurred. As de Camp points out:

Science fiction...is based upon scientific or pseudoscientific ideas, such as revolutionary new Inventions, life in the future or 3

life on other worlds.1

2) nonsense fantasy which employs situa­

tional humor sometimes combined with a

magical person or agent who aids the

humor.

3) gothic and supernatural romance which

stresses spiritual horror and black

magi c.

4) beast tales which use animals as the

protagonists of the tale. The tone of

these tales will range from the very

serious such as Richard Adams: Watership

Down to the humorous which includes

E.B. White: Charlotte's Web. Rarely

do these tales contain magic as it is

generally associated with wizards and

sorcerers. Some books do, however, use

magical animals as in The Chronicles of

Prydaln. When this happens, the book

will be more accurately classified as

high fantasy.

5) the world of living and personified

toys take on human characteristics

^L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp. Three Thousand Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction. (New York: Lothrop Lee and Shepard "Co., 1972), p. 12. particularly as it relates to thinking

and speech. Collodl: The Adventures

of Pinocchlo and A.A. Milne: Winnie the

Pooh are the prototyoes of this sub-genre.

6) high fantasy which explores the nature

of the quest in time and/or space. There

is a seriousness of tone in such fantasy

often accompanied by mystical overtones.

It should be realized that some science

fiction can fit this definition. However,

whereas science fiction tends to be con­

cerned with the future high fantasy will

generally move into the past.

These six sub-genres do not cover all the writings that may be classified as fantasy. There are

some tales which because of the mixture of fantastic

elements used are extremely difficult to label. Some

Victorian fantasy, such as The Water Babies, fall

outside the more usual sub-genres of fantasy, while

Watership Down from the 1970fs is a mixture of chronicle,

romance, and biting satire. A new species of fantasy

for children.

The literary ancestors of fantasy, both the

folktale and the romance, have been subject to con­

siderable study. This is net surprising since the

body of material available is quite large. Fantasy, however, whether it has been written for the child or the adult has suffered to some extent because of the brevity of its canon. Frank Eyre suggests a possible reason for this brevity when he says: "...that they are the hardest to write." He goes on:

It is difficult to imagine a professional writer of fantasies, for the fire in the belly that warms a writer's imagination to create something that to him needed to be said and could be said best only in a fantasy, can rarely be rekindled after it has burnt Itself out.

It would seem, however, that the real problem relating to a lack of criticism in this area is that literary fantasy has been thought of as academically suspect.

Richard Purtill mentions the accusation laid on adults who read fantasy, that it is for children, and that grown-ups should read about "real life."3 This same accusation is directed at librarians, teachers, and parents when they suggest that their children read fantasy. Further the recent demand for "relevant books," that Is, books of social realism or personal problem books, suggests that contemporary fantasy is

"irrelevant." With the vast quantity of realistic

fiction for young adolescents and children on the

^Frank Eyre. British Children*s Books in the Twentieth Century. (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., Ltd., 1971)■ P. 115-

^Richard Purtill. Lord of the Elves and Elolls. (Michigan: Zondervan, 197T7, p. 15. market It might be suspected that some successful writers are seriously aligning themselves with those critics opposed to fantasy.

It is fortunate, however, that good fantasy continues to be written for people of all ages.

Further, support that is both sound and telling has come from critics and authors alike* The well-known

Russian poet Kornei Chukovsky, although writing with very young children in mind, offers valuable comment

on the educational significance of folktale and

fantasy:

The goal of storytellers...consists of fostering In the child, at whatever cost, compassion and humaneness— this miraculous ability of man to be disturbed by another being*s happiness, to feel joy about another being’s happiness, to experience another's fate as one's own...to teach the child in his early years to participate with concern in the lives of imaginary people and animals, and to make sure that in this way he will escape the narrow frame of his egocentric interests and feelings.^

Of course educational significance is not the only

reason why one reads literature in general or fantasy

In particular but Chukovsky's insights remain pertinent

to many aspects of literary, and indeed all aesthetic

experience.

Ursula Le Quin's defense of fantasy is also an

^Kornei Chukovsky. From Two to Five. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1^3), p. 1 3 8 . 7 important contribution to the subject:

A scientist who creates a monster in his laboratory; a librarian in the Library of Babel; a wizard unable to cast a spell; a spaceship having trouble getting to Alpha Centauri; all these may be precise and profound metaphors of the human con­ dition. The fantasist, whether he uses the ancient archetype of myth and legend or the younger ones of science and tech­ nology, may be talking as seriously as any sociologist— a great deal more directly— about huran life as it is lived, and as it might be lived, and as it ought to be lived. For, as a great scientist has said and as all children know, it is by the imagination, above all, that we achieve perception, and' compassion, and hope.5

The defense of fantasy as a means of stimulating the imagination, although of great importance, does very little, however, for an understanding of the nature of fantasy as a genre. The problem is com­ pounded as the available critical studies of fantasy are limited. What is available tends to center around the works of Tolkien and Lewis. At the same time the assumption appears to be made that the reader of these studies will be interested in them only in so far as they further his understanding of the fantasy written specifically for adult consumption. Studies on fantasy for children are few and scattered.

While it is generally accepted these days that the line between literature for children and adults

^Ursula Le Guln, "In Defense of Fantasy," Horn Book. June, 1973, p. 239* 8

Is very thin at best, there is an increasing number

of books of fantasy written with the young reader In

mind.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In this study the concern will be to examine

in depth four major motifs found In contemporary high

fantasy for children. Critical writings and commen­

taries about serious fantasy will be analyzed first

to provide an understanding about the nature and

delimitations of the genre. The motifs of high

fantasy will then be extrapolated from the field of

fantasy and examined closely.

The term high fantasy is a recent one apparently

having first gained general acceptance when used as

the subject for the New England Round Table of

Children's Librarians in October 1 9 6 9 . 6 Although

there are some books which live In the umbra between

high fantasy and the rest of fantasy it has not been

difficult, for the most part, to label a book, high

fantasy, intuitively rather than on the basis of

characteristic motifs. A concern for precise param­

eters to help objectify high fantasy is therefore

desirable, and the lack of precision is merely a

^Lillian Oerhardt said that she may have been the first to adopt the term "high fantasy" in her review of The High King," School Library Journal, Feb. 15, 1968, p. 86* reflection on the brevity of writing about children's fantasy as a whole.

There have been at least two writers, Gote

Klingberg and Charlotte Huck, who have attempted to categorize fantasy by the recognition of certain motifs which seem to run through the genre. Klingberg is specifically concerned with the fantastic tale as it was first recognized by Kruger and Koch.7 The fantastic tale is separated from the rest of fantasy and particularly nonsense fantasy on the basis of logic.

The distinction between fantastic tale and nonsense literature here proposed is that the fantastic tale is wholly logical, while in nonsense literature there is no, at least no ordinary, logic at all.®

Klingberg cites Doctor Dolittle and Mary Poppins as nonsense fantasy.

The second implication in the definition of

Klingberg is that primary (real) and secondary (other) worlds must co-exist and connect in some way. Kling­ berg then proceeds to list seven motifs, some of which are subject of this study. They are:

1) the living toys

2) the strange children

^Gote Klingberg, "The Fantastic Tale for Children: Its Literary and Educational ProblemsBookbird, No. 3 1967, p. 13. ------

8Ibld., p. 14. 10

3) the modern witches

*0 the "door" to the desired world

5) space and time displacements

6) the mythical worlds

7) the combat between good and evil.^

Where Klingberg is concerned to be specific so that he may focus in on one aspect of fantasy, Charlotte

Huck is more concerned to embrace all forms of the genre and so she includes nonsense and humorous fantasy. What is of interest, however, is that although both writers approach the subject of fantasy from different per­ spectives there is ultimately a considerable consensus of opinion as to the boundaries of the genre.

The concern therefore will be to examine in some depth specific elements of fantasy that are mentioned by both Klingberg and Huck. The focus, however, will be different, for although this study leans towards

Klingberg's definition it will also examine books where the action takes place mostly within either the real or created world rather than moving between both.

Unlike Huck, however, the study will not be concerned with animal tales, tales of personified toys, nonsense or humorous fantasy. Specifically this study will concern itself with a literary analysis of four key

^Ibld., pp. 15-16. 11 motifs found In contemporary high fantasy for children.

It is hoped that such an analysis will add to the under­ standing of how high-fantasy functions.

It is assumed that not all high fantasy will contain all four motifs although some are essential in terras of the definition of high fantasy. It Is further assumed that the nature of each element where it does appear, will be adapted by the author according to that author’s particular needs.

Specifically, the four motifs to be examined are related to:

1) Other Worlds

2) Time

3) Quest

4) The Combat Between Good and Evil

An explanation of each of these motifs follows:

1. Other or Created Worlds

One of the more usual attributes of high fantasy

Is to take the characters out of the ffreal world” for some or all of the story. Sometimes the action takes place wholly within a secondary or other world, e.g.,

The Hobbit. At other times the real world and the created world co-exist, e.g., the Narnia books. This study will analyze the nature and use of the secondary world and space-dlsplaceraent in high fantasy.

2. Time 12

The ability of characters to move about in time, other than in natural linear time, seems to be found only in fantasy* This study will analyze how time, in its many forms, is used as a literary device in high fantasy.

3. Quest

Quest is an ingredient of many ancient epics and romances. It also appears in fantasy. Quest takes on many forms. It can be in the nature of a physical Journey, or a spiritual searching after fulfillment, peace, and happiness. Quest can result

In psychological understanding of self, or be for the good of large or small groups of individuals.

This study will analyze how the notion of quest Is used In high fantasy.

** • The Combat Between Good and Evil

The struggle between good and evil In literature is a reflection of two sides of the nature of man.

Basic human values are often expressed through such combat. This study will concern itself with an analysis of how good and evil, as a means of portraying man's dual nature and expressing human values, are used in contemporary high fantasy for children.

Definition of Terms Used

Contemporary Books. Refers In this study to any book printed from the time of The Hobbit (1937) to the 13 p r e s e n t .

Children’s Books. Refers In this study to books that are most likely to be written for and read by children between the ages of nine and fifteen years.

It should be noted that such limits are to be considered circumspectly, because children are notor­ ious for being exceptions to any generalized rule.

High Fantasy. There are a number of elements- that may be present In fantasy which will put a book

Into the category of "high fantasy." The first ingredient Is a seriousness of tone accompanied by an air of magic or mysticism. Further, there Is usually either a sense of quest present, or some manipulation of linear time. Often, but not always, other worlds form the background against which the characters move.

Selection Procedures

1. Books for this study have been selected on the basis of meeting the definition of "contemporary high fantasy for children." As yet only two sets of books have been Identified in print by critics as high fantasy. These are:

Lloyd Alexander, The Chronicles of Prydaln

Ursula Le Quin, The Tales of Earthsea

These books, however, are surrounded by a cluster of other works of sufficient similarity to be also 14 termed high fantasy.

2. Books selected for this study are most likely to be written for and read by children between the ages of nine and fifteen years.

3. With the exception of a small number of books published too recently to be Included in the booklists consulted, all authors have been selected because they have been recommended in the following standard texts of children's literature or have had a book selected as a notable book by the American Library Association.

Selected Sources

Charlotte Huck: Children's Literature in the Elementary School. 3rd edition. (Head in manuscript)

May Arbuthnot and Zena Sutherland: Children and Books. 4th edition. Tlllinois: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1972).

American Library Association Notable Books, 1940-1973-

4. Books selected for this study will contain at least one of the four key motifs to be analyzed.

These are: created worlds, time, quest, and combat between good and evil.

Significance of the Problem

It has been less than six years since the term

high fantasy was given acceptance at the New England

Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969*

Nevertheless, since the publication of The Hobbit 15

(1937) a slowly growing number of children's fantasies might be thought to fit such a concept.

Unfortunately, many who use the term would appear to have a subjective understanding of its nature.

A precise definition of high fantasy has never been established.

In all the published critical literature only two writers have dealt with high fantasy as a critical literary term. These writers are Eleanor Cameron1® and Lloya Alexander,11 both of whom spoke on the same topic, at the Round Table, where the term was first used. Neither writer, however, was at pains to state exactly what the term high fantasy really means.

Nevertheless, the effect of their writing and the

Round Table in general has been to engender, in serious students of children's literature, an interest in what is now becoming a substantial part of fantasy for children.

Since critical analysis on the topic is minimal some discussion of the treatment of major motifs in high fantasy should lead to a clearer understanding

lOLloyd Alexander, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance," Horn Book. December 1971, pp. 577-584. 11Eleanor Cameron, "High Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea," Horn Book, April 1971, PP- 129-138. 1 6 of how this sub-genre functions.

REVIEW OP LITERATURE

C.S. Lewis points out that fantasy as a vehicle for exploring the concerns of man can be more useful than other modes of literary expression. Preed from conventions imposed on literature by obvious reality, the writer of fantasy can concentrate more fully on lii? theme, while at the 3ame time offering the reader intellectual satisfaction and stimulation through the highly imaginative setting of the story.

Cameron says of high-fantasy that:

...these works reveal a striking attitude regarding the human condition and our relationships with one another.12

Both critics highlight one aspect of serious fantasy; that of values in both physical and spiritual realms.

The fascination that this kind of fantasy holds for the reader, however, must lie partly in its ability to arouse the Imagination, through the use of magic.

The notion of divine discontent as expressed by

C.S. Lewis seems an appropriate concept of what this kind of fantasy leaves with the receptive reader.

The genius of the writer of high-fantasy has yet to be fully explored. Some critics have started

^ Ibld. * p. 130. in this direction, but as yet the field has been barely touched. An examination of the techniques

employed by the writers of high-fantasy should offer a deeper understanding of why the magic works.

Kllngberg raises fifteen Issues about problems of genre research. Those that seem pertinent to this

study are:

1) that each genre be given a name

2) that the genre be given a definition

3) that boundaries are laid down between the

genre and other seemingly adjacent genres

that the genre be analyzed with reference to

its characteristic motifs

5) that its special literary outer form, if

any, is described.13

It would seem that the definition of a genre

hinges largely on being able to come to some terms about the last three issues mentioned. With this

in mind, it is the purpose of this study to look at

the nature of fantasy in the hope of arriving at some

understanding of the sub-genre, high-fantasy.

The concept of hlgh-fantasy as it has been defined

for this study is a slightly broader concept of the

•LJGote Kllngberg, "The Fantastic Tale for Children: A Genre Study from the Viewpoints of Literary and Educational Research," Research Bulletin. Ho. 2, (Sweden Gothenburg School of Education, 1970), p. 4. 18 fantastic tale as treated by Gote Kllngberg who says of the fantastic tale that a real world and a created world must always co-exist.^ Not all books to be analyzed in this study will therefore fit

Kllngberg's definition. Further, to be excluded, are those tales which contain created worlds but lack a seriousness of tone. Tove Jansson's Moomln series, for instance, will find no place in this study.

The main problem which arises is to examine the nature of fantasy and through it to explore the more important motifs found in high-fantasy.

It Is helpful to note that when critics discuss fantasy they usually concern themselves with those more serious works which offer insight into the human condition.

By exclusion, fantasy is that type of non-discursive prose which is neither realistic fiction or historical fiction. That which is left is commonly called fantasy.

Such a negative approach to a definition, needless to say, has satisfied few people who write about children's literature. Inhere is a lack of form in this approach and nothing of the elements of fantasy Is to be grasped from It. Generally critics have attempted to explore

^ Ibld.. p p . 13-1**♦ 19 the parameters of fantasy in their search for a definition.

Magic

John M o r r i s 1 ^ went to the Oxford English

Dictionary for help in a definition and observed two meanings of the root word from which "fantasy”

Is derived. These meanings are:

1) appearance — that which gives us a vision

of the unearthly such as a phantom or specter

2) Imagination -- the process of forming mental

representations of things not present.

To define the characteristic features of fantasy

in this way permits a distinction to be drawn between the genre, and fiction as a whole. Morris sees

fiction simply as a rearrangement of the ordinary rather than the extra-ordinary.

A fundamental characteristic of the literature of fantasy, therefore, is that it not only is imaginative but is in some way or other "not of this world."lo

James Higgins is more nebulous than Morris in

his definition when he says that:

...fantasy is the broad term most used to classify the stories that retain the

15John S. Morris, "Fantasy in a Mythless Age," The Great Excluded. Vol. 2, 1973* P* 77* 16ibia. 20

ancient quality of magic that is found in fairy tales.17

Higgins, however, never defines precisely the nature of magic. It can be guessed at, however, as relating to the unexplainable, or that which defies logical explanation. If this Is the case then Higgins adds a new element to the definition of Morris, for the unexplainable does not necessarily deal with the unearthly. Charlotte*a Web shows a relation between a spider and a pig which is quite unexplainable, from a number of viewpoints, but there is nothing unearthly about it. Nevertheless, such a book can be said to be magical In Its charm and treatment of talking animals.

Higgins1® also writes about mystical fancy which comes much closer to Morris' definition. According to

Higgins, mystical fancy (or fantasy) deals with spiri­ tual reality rather than physical reality. Higgins feels that the world of the spirit and the imagination is best understood through Intuition and emotion rather than through logic. This is similar to Morris1 idea about the unearthly having a power over the physical. Once again, however, there remains a dlf-

17james E. Higgins, Beyond Words. (New York: Teachers College Press, 1970), p. 15* l8Ibld., p. 5. 21 ference between the two writers. Morris concentrates on a separate spiritual force Impinging on us, while for Higgins the force primarily emanates from the imagination of the reader. There is, for Higgins, a unity between the physical and the spiritual which is central to all fantastic literature.

It Is interesting to see how each critic draws upon the writings of others to support his own argument.

Horris looks to the Platonic styled argument of Mlrcea

Elalde. Basically Elaide points to the idea that archaic man found reality In the spiritual, and unreality in the profane.

The man of the archaic societies tends to live as much as possible in the sacred or In close proximity to consecrated objects. The tendency is perfectly understandable, because for primitives as for the man of all pre-modern societies, the sacred Is equivalent to a power. and in the last analysis to reality. The sacred is saturated with being. Sacred power means reality and at the same time enduringness and efficaclty.19

The profane here is synonymous with the world of physical being. The nature of fantasy deals with a reality only found in the spiritual world. If this is the case it is not difficult to understand how the "real" or spiritual world can have power over the "illuslonary" or physical world. Further, such an idea suggests the primitive nature and perhaps the

l^Morris, "Fantasy in a Mythless Age," p. 78. 22 fundamental position In literature of fantasy.

Higgins, on the other hand, looks at the other side of the coin when he quotes Richard Le Galllene on fairy tales:

The wonder of the world! Perhaps that is the chief business of the fairy tale-- to remind us that the world is no mere dustheap, pullulating with worms, as some of the old-fashioned scientists tried to make us believe; but that, on the contrary, it is a rendezvous of radiant forces forever engaged in turning its dust into dreams, ever busy with the transmutation of matter into mind, and mind into spirit— a world, too, so mysterious that anything can happen, or any dream come true. One might even set up, and maintain, the paradox that the fairy tale is the most scientific state­ ment of human life; for, of all statements, it insists on the essential magic of living — the mystery and wonder of being alive, the marvelous happiness, the wondrous sorrow, and the divine expectations. 20

Lin Carter uses the same word as Higgins when he says that the essence of fantasy "can be summed up in one word— magic." His general focus regarding fantasy, however, is different for:

A fantasy is a book or story, then, in which magic really works— not a fairy tale, not a story written for children, like Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz, but a work of fiction written for adults— a story which challenges the mind, which sets it w o r k i n g . 21

^Hig g i n s , Beyond Words, pp. U-5.

2*Lin Carter, Imaginary Worlds. (New York: Ballintine Books, 19/3), P* 6. It is obvious that Carter and Higgins are at the opposite ends of at least one continuum. Although

Carter is a highly respected critic of fantasy he does not, however, really Justify his position. No doubt Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz are children's books but so are The Hobbit and the Narnla series which"Is the" focus of much of Carter's criticism.

It is puzzling, therefore, to make sense of Carter's statement that fantasy is only for adults.

In Carter*3 definition of "magic" he parallels

Higgins for the most part. Magic to Carter is not of this world or the supernatural but rather a created cr Imaginative world. For this reason Carter's proposition may be thought to be a literary Inter­ pretation of Higgins' position. Carter states:

To compose a fantasy, an author must construct a literary universe in which magic works.22

Magic Is the focus for many critics of fantasy.

Merla, perhaps, gives at once the most concise and broadest concept of what magic means In fantasy:

But the essential element of any true work of fantasy is magic— a force that affects the lives and actions of all the creatures that inhabit the fan­ tasist's world. This magic may be innate or manifest; it may be used by the characters who live with it, or

22Ibid 24

come from "gods" of the author's contrivance. Always it is a super­ natural force whose use, misuse, or disuse irrevocably changes the lives of those it touches.23

Of course Merla's primary issue is with the effect of magic on the characters of fantasy, but it is not stretching the interpretation too far to say that the reader also inhabits the fantasist's world.

In this sense the magic of fantasy acts in two ways.

A spell is cast that alters the perceptions and understandings of both protagonist and reader.

Created or Secondary Worlds

The concern for created worlds, like magic, is also central to fantasy. Tolkien, perhaps, is one of che most important critics on this subject.

Unlike Carter, Tolkien was more generous in his compass. Although as with Carter, Tolkien was not necessarily concerned with children, as a prime focus, he was speaking about fairy tales as well as fantasy. This gives him a much broader base on which to work.

Tolkien speaks of primary and secondary worlds.

The primary is this world and the secondary is the

created or Imaginary world:

^Patrick Merla, "What is Real? Asked the Rabbit One Day," Saturday Review, November, 1972, p. 47. 25

...the story-maker proves a successful "subcreator." He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is "true"; it accords with the laws of that world.

It would seem that Tolkien sees little that is different between the folk-tale and literary fantasy, at least where motifs are concerned, and perhaps even In basic form. The Kingdom of Faerie and the Kingdom of Fantasy are so inextricably tied for Tolkien that it is difficult to be sure if he is speaking of one or the other. It may be wondered

If Tolkien sees The Hobbit merely as an expanded folk tale. Even If this Is so there can be little dispute that in this book Tolkien succeeded In implementing his ideas about secondary worlds.

Fantasy is the richer for Tolkien's creation and in many ways acts as a norm against which later fantasies are Judged.

The secondary or created worlds that Tolkien speaks of are of two basic kinds. The first is where the action of the tale takes place completely within its boundaries. Tolkien's own created worlds typify this approach. The second kind usually necessitates more complex technical manipulations by the writer.

^ J.R .R . Tolkien, "Children and Fairy Stories," Only Connect» ed. Shiela Egoff, et.al., (Canada: Oxford University Press, 1969)» P* 11**. 26

In this form of fantasy the primary and secondary worlds co-exist. Frequently entrance to the secondary world requires the use of some kind of key such as the amulet in Nesbit; The Story of the

Amulet.

Keys and Doors to Secondary Worlds

The freedom of movement between the worlds varies.

In some instances it is almost at will and at other times It is only possible to use the key once. The use of a key Is usually accompanied by some kind of utterance which act as a catalyst in setting off the power of the key. Unlike movement from world-to- world in science fiction, the method in this instance

Is mostly instantaneous. Exceptions can be found such as Richard Parker: The Old Powder Line but even here the device, an old railway train, moves back through the past of the real world and so the secondary world is not created in the usual sense.

The source of the power that is vested in the key

Is rarely explained in fantasy. At best there is reference to universal forces that are now latent

In themselves but waiting to be woken from sleep.

If a key is not used then the mode of entrance to the secondary world will probably be by a door.

The door is a hole In space or time that the hero 27

stumbles upon in some way or another. The reason

for the existence of the door is never made explicit

by the writer and so must be accepted on faith.

Unlike the key there is little power In the door but the danger lies in letting through undesirable elements from one world to the other, or alternatively

closing unexpectedly and so trapping the hero.

Kllngberg says of the door in fantasy that it:

...is a concrete expression of the connection between the two worlds, it is the way to the world of wonders and the way back to the real world.*5

It should be realized that both the key and the door as devices for the transference of people, objects, or power need not be related to both primary and secondary worlds for there are occasions when the whole action takes place within the real world of the present such as Cooper: The Dark is Rising.

Eucatastrophe

Tolkien, as Ryan points out, writes of a further dimension of the nature of the fantastic tale:

Tolkien insisted that to be complete the fairy tale or myth must have the eucatastrophe, since in its highest form myth dealt with the universal or cosmic reality and that there must be progression, since myth is meant

^BGote Kllngberg, The Fantastic Tale for Children: A Gonre Study from the Viewpoints"of Q.terary~and . Educational Research^p. 19. to tell the whole story of its world from beginning to end. With the eucatastrophe comes Joy and that is really the beginning.2b

Ryan's footnote stresses how C.S. Lewis: The Last

Battle exemplifies this notion.

If Tolkien is correct, and children's fantasy generally seems to bear this out, the happy ending adds to any definition of fantasy, especially as it relates to the other form of the genre. It Is

Interesting to note that H a z a r d ^ 7 Implies that all quality children's books should meet this require­ ment of eucatastrophe but recent trends, at least in the so-called new realism, suggest that Hazard's philosophy needs rethinking. Only fantasy would appear at present to consistently support the con­ cept of eucatastrophe.

The Quality of Fantasy

Eleanor Cameron, in one sweep, casts her net wide and draws In many ideas in her consideration of the nature of fantasy. To do this she asks the searching question: "What qualities are inherent

WT. Ryan, Tolkien: Cult or Culture? (Australia University of New England Press, 19£>9)» p. 117-

27paui Hazard. Books, Children and Hen. (Boston: Little, Brown and (Jo.”, 19b2), p. lfl. pQ ‘- J in a lasting work of fantasy?^0

Fantasy, she says differs from stories of reality not in any of its fundamental elements but rather in its:

...imaginative virtuosity— the tossing up of ideas like brilliant balls of the most dazzling color and variety, changing before your eyes.29

At least two questions come readily to mind in trying to understand Cameron's statement. First, is the reader to be deceived by some literary sleight-of- hand? Second, is the reader ever meant to understand how the magic is performed? Cameron takes it for granted that magic is a part of fantasy but notes how private a word magic is. She says its definition

seems to vary from writer to writer. She wants, however, to test the relationship of magic to the reader. In answer to the first question, therefore,

she seems to feel that on first appearances, at

least, the reader should be dazzled. Fantasy in

the highest form of its art is breathtaking in its

beauty. The reader is spellbound by the writer's

agility and in this sense is taken in by it.

answer to the second question, reflection helps the

reader unravel the mysteries of the fantasy, although

^Eleanor Cameron. The Green and Burning Tree. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1962), p. I1*.

29lbid.* P. 15. 30 as in all good art there remains an intangible quality that cannot be wholly grasped. In a sense the problem is similar to that of Arren in The

Farthest Shore. who is always on the verge of understanding the "Speech of the Making," but never quite grasps its meaning.

The mysteries are dependent on two elements.

One is the quality of the style and tone of the writing itself and the other is the quality of the

Imaginative genius of the author. To gain an under­ standing of how fantasy affects the audience one quality must be constantly evaluated in the light of the other. The style must be in harmony with the fantastic nature of the story if the magic is to work successfully.

Cameron implies that the most important function of the writer in creating this harmony Is to maintain an air of reality amidst the fantasy. While the natural laws are broken In fantasy there remains an inner logic which will hold the fantasy within self­ created boundaries. To break the logic is to break the spell and ruin the creation. Magic then is not rife, and not only must the reader believe in the

logic but so must the protagonists. Mere puppetry is not a mark of good fantasy and least of all high- fantasy. The actors cannot call upon magic to aid them on mere whim. A hero's inner strength and personality is far more important in overcoming adversity than the magician's wand. Of course the writer of fantasy who sets the stage will establish the norms of the tale so that what is permitted to happen in one place cannot happen in another. The

laws of worldly time, for example, are disestablished in one book such as Tom* s Midnight Garden while in another such as A Wizard of Earthsea, magic and fantasy come through knowledge over nature. Cameron is ready to point out, however, that even when the writer sets his own stage, that in most of the enduring fantasies "there will be only one detail that is magical, or fantastic, upon which the whole ..30 story turns.

Tlme-Dlsplacement

There are many techniques by which the writer establishes that his work is fantasy and not realistic fiction or any other genre. Cameron treats a number of these but one which she treats at some length is time. Time is fluid in fantasy and so its incessant and sometimes insidious onward movement that normally remains constant, changes direction and pace, and

sometimes disappears altogether only to come up again

30Ibid., p. 23. 32 in an unexpected shape.

Although in the sub-genre of fantasy called science fiction time diffusion is governed by man's mechanical genius, in high-fantasy, in particular, it functions outside man's control. It is a force to be reckoned with and not controlled or manipulated by the protagonists. Lesley Aers raises a number of rhetorical questions as to why writers of fantasy use time-displacement. She asks:

Why do writers employ this strange machinery at all? Not out of curiosity about the past, for a straightforward historical novel can satisfy that. There Is another curiosity— the fantastic wish to know how someone would react If they could be transported to another age. How quickly could they adjust? What would they think of It? There Is also the fascination behind the idea of time itself when it is conceived In fluid layers In this way. Do the people who have gone back in time recall from their past things which are the other people's future? Can objects be brought back to the present? Behind these notions probably lie the writer's own preoccupations with the problem of time; some seem to feel it more intensely than others.31

Aers, then, sees two things about the treatment of time. The first, and seemingly most important, is that writers are interested in the reaction of people placed in fantastic situations. The second is that

^Lesley Aers, "The Treatment of Time in Pour Children's Books," Children's Literature in Education, No. 2, July, 1970, p. 69* 33 writers, such as Garner in The Red Shift. want to test its possibilities as a technical device. Under these conditions there is a fascination about time that occupies the writer's attention in much the same way as a toy construction kit does a child.

Although Aers draws attention to the reasons why writers work with timeshift Cameron attempts to crystallize how it is used. She perceives that the treatment of time in most fantasy is governed by an oriental rather than an occidental philosophy.

She explains how the past, present, and future merge into the "now." Eastern religious philosophies have far more of the mystical in them and are less concerned with linear time than the Western and perhaps this partially accounts for the mystical flavor of time fantasy.

Neocognomina

Except for the rare author, such as Tolkien, writers tend not to have any overall plan for allo­ cating names to characters or places. Neocognomina is more usually based on the sound and shape of the word than on any regular linguistic system. For this reason although naming of names is of importance to high fantasy, and has assumed Importance in the critical writings of both Eleanor Cameron and Lin Carter, it seems unprofitable to attempt any analysis of the subject in this study. Neocognomina accurately and sensitively applied adds flavor and authenticity

$ to fantasy. Carter is aware of this and cautions of the danger of weak or inappropriate naming.3^ Cameron on the other hand stresses the appropriateness of names that she has found in both folk-tales and fantasy.

Good and Evil

Of more importance to this study is the nature of the combat between good and evil. Gote Kllngberg says that it is an important element in the fantastic tale.3** As the notions of good and evil imply value

Judgment it is not surprising that those fantasies which deal with this motif are often thought to be allegorical in nature. One of the most outstanding set of fantasies on this point is C.S. Lewis: Narnia series, Lewis treates the problem of good and evil by placing them in a Christian context. The struggle between Christ and the Devil is only thinly disguised as combat between Aslan, the lion and the White Witch.

------J Carter, Imaginary Worlds, p. 193*

^Cameron, The Green and Burning Tree, p. 29.

3 1| Kllngberg, "The Fantastic Tale for Children: Its Literary and Educational Problems," p. 16. 35 Although some fantasies like those of Lewis

contain deliberate allegorical forms which are readily apparent to most readers, other fantasies have analogy

forced upon them by the reader who perceives some relationship to the condition of the real world. The

Lord of the Rings, therefore, is thought by many to be political in its struggles despite the rejection of such an interpretation by the author. Regardless of such pretestations by writers it does seem that

fantasy says something about universal truths in the human condition. As such fantasy has a myth-like quality about it.

Unlike the treatment of human values in other areas of fiction, human values in fantasy are rarely,

if ever, cast in shades of gray. The delineation between what is right and what is wrong is quite marked. The struggle between good and evil is, there­

fore, also clearly defined. Although good and evil are usually personified in some manner the combat is really a spiritual struggle with black and white magic pitting strengths against one another. The ultimate issues seem to rest in the strength of

character and faith of the hero. If the hero falters,

so too does the whole cause for good, for it almost goes without statement that the hero is aligned with

the forces of good or will be by the end of the tale. 36

While in fantasy the powers of good and evil have a primordial purity there is no suggestion that the protagonists are anything but men with all of man's virtues and weaknesses. Occasionally a magician or warlock will be placed towards one end of the spectrum of action but for the most part the real work for good is carried on by creatures who are very human in nature.

The combat between the forces of light and those of darkness serves, as much as anything, as a technical device in fantasy. This is one way of creating tension which of course is an important ingredient in any good story. What, however, seems to be unique to fantasy is the use of this specific motif. Other forms of fiction work in the primary world exclusively and cannot draw on spiritual forces which appear to be so much a part of the fight between the two forces.

There is, however, a fundamental morality

Inherent in fantasy. Unlike the new realism which is oriented towards situational ethics, the concern in fantasy is to stress the delineation between good and evil. Such a delineation may seem at times archaic and the treatment to be didactic. Jane Langston says that:

The...quality that sets apart some books of children’s fantasy is, of course, a second level of meaning— 37

significance, symbolism, allegory; a stab at a moral, a message, a lesson.&

Sometimes j .:-. author will become too obvious in his message, but although it is a reasonable assumption to say that the author wants to make a point about the value of good and righteousness it is not fair to assume that his main aim is to preach. Fantasy, if it attempts to emphasize anything stretches for that unreachable goal, universal Justice.

Quest

A motif which appears frequently in high fantasy but is infrequently discussed by the critics is the concept of quest. Merla mentions the existence of quest and love in fantasy but unfortunately does not elaborate on her statement.^ Quest seems to dominate those tales which echo the ancient sagas and epics.

With quest comes all the trappings of honor, courage, and chivalry that appear first to have come to a peak in medieval writings. The only thing missing as being inappropriate to children's fantasy and making it medieval in form is the notion of courtly love.

Such an omission gives this type of fantasy a strongly

3^Jane Langston, "The Weak Place in the Cloth, Part II," Horn Book, December, 1973» P* 575*

^^Merla, "What is Real? Asked the Rabbit One Day," p. H7. 38 masculine emphasis. Even when women do appear in

leading roles they have been very much less than

traditionally feminine in manner. Maybe a shift has

occurred in McKillip: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

which does not quite fit the concept of the saga but

leans in that direction.

Kelson says that the reason for the masculine

emphasis is related to the prevailing social climate.

Strange figures, like wizards and heroes appear,

"when people have lost their bearings and need a sense

of meaning and direction."37 por nelson, wizards

and heroes, inner journeys or quests are often closely

related:

A kingdom is divided or laid waste, or a treasure has been stolen, and the story recounts how a little band of peers, inspired and directed by the wizard, battles the forces of evil and rescues the treasure or unites the kingdom. In other words, the personality is in conflict; there has been a dangerous loss of energy to the unconscious. The little forces of the ego make contact with a sense of meaning and mission, and together they overcome the apathy, greed, dependence, etc., that were menacing the personality.38

While at one level the story deals with the indi­

vidual who is seeking an inner peace and balance, at

■^Ranenna HeIson, "Through the Pages of Childrenfs Books," Psychology Today, November, 1973, P* 112.

38Ibid. 39 another level such tales are reminiscent of the story of the Fisher King. If the hero succeeds in his personal quest then the land will also be restored from evil to peace and balance. There is a unity between the questor and the created world in which he functions.

The reasons for the quest are as varied as the books that report them but they usually fall into two classes. The first is to restore an object or person to its rightful place or owner and the second is to come to terms with oneself.

The writers of children’s fantasy seem on the whole to be aware of the need to have adequate action

In their books. Although the fundamental purpose may be to examine the restoration of the hero’s psycho­ logical balance the quest is actualized In more physi­ cally observable ways. Ursula Le Guin in A Wizard of

Earthsea has done this wonderfully well by the creation of the shadow to show how Ged needs to face up to his own shortcomings. The chase between the two has all the thrill and action of any Hollywood contrived chase and still has messages on deeper levels.

The progress of the quest is never a simple Journey.

The road is fraught with danger and as the hero becomes more involved, the powers of darkness, or the dangers become more Intense. There is every chance of the *10 questor being overcome by opposing forces. Through strength of character or the intervention of some white magic the hero reaches his goal and overcomes his difficulties.

In tales where a created world exists along with the primary world the questor is most likely to be returned to* the primary world In his original state for sometimes In moving to the secondary world he has been transmogrified. The Narnla series typifies this where the children return to this world as ordinary children after being kings and queens of

Narnia. Where the hero is originally part of the created world and therefore remains In it he is usually a wiser and more compassionate person by the end of the que3t.

CONCLUSION

Although high fantasy as a sub-genre of fantasy has existed for almost f ;rty years there was no specific recognition of that fact until 1969. Since that time there has been little attention to criticism, and what is available has not attempted to establish any over­ all perspective. Such neglect is perplexing as high fantasy is the most complicated of all fantasy and the form that offers the most challenging intellectual stimulation. High fantasy reaches beyond the mere Hi concerns of man to a land of dreams and Ideas: a land that brings reality to the imagination.

SUMMARY

All critics who write about fantasy would seem to agree that its most vital element is that of magic.

The precise definition of this word varies from writer to writer but two concepts come to the fore:

1. Magic in the form of extra-ordinary and

preternatural behavior is present in

fantasy.

2. The tale itself has a charm which haunts

and excites the imagination to an uncommon

degree.

The two concepts are interdependent and in one the magic is primarily imposed from the book and in the other the tale acts as a catalyst to release the magic

inherent in the reader's imagination.

These forms of magic are made explicit in fantasy and particularly in high-fantasy through certain tech­ nical devices at the disposal of the author. The writer of children's high-fantasy will use all or some of the following motifs:

1. Created worlds in which the protagonists

must solve tasks different in nature to

those found in the primary world. Keys or doors by which the hero will gain entrance to the created world or another dimension of the primary world such as the past. The key or door may also serve to let undesirable forces through to the primary world.

Time and space displacement by which the extra-ordinary is activated. Such dis­ placement usually signifies the release of forces which must be overcome if.the primary and/or secondary worlds are to be restored to harmony.

Combat between good and evil at both the physical and spiritual levels serves to highlight the human condition and problems relating to decisions about human values.

Quest. This serves as the physical representation of spiritual struggle. The victory over evil will bring harmony to both the questor and the world in which he operates.

Naming. The importance of naming will vary from book to book and may be directly related to magical forces or be used merely to add color to the tale. i*3

The separation of high-fantasy from other forms of the genre will be based on the occurrence of these motifs and the tone of the writing.

In this study only some of the techniques will be examined directly but all will be explored in

some measure. Those which will be treated fully

are: created worlds* combat between good and evil,

time displacement, and quest.

PLAN OF STUDY

While chapter one has been devoted to stating

the purpose of the study and a review of critical

literature, chapter two will analyze the approach

to children's fantasy as found in selected texts of

historical interest. Chapters three through six

will analyze fantasy motifs found in modern high-

fantasy for children. Specifically, chapter three

will treat other worlds; chapter four will treat

time; chapter five will treat quest; and chapter six

will treat the combat between good and evil especially

how it relates to human values. Chapter seven will

be devoted to a summary of the preceeding chapters

together with generalizations and conclusions that

may be drawn from the analysis of these books of high

fantasy for children. TEXTS FOR ANALYSIS

Chapter Two

Charles Kingsley: The Water Babies (1863)

Lewis Carroll: Alice In Wonderland (1865)

______: Alice Through the Looking Glass (1871)

George MacDonald: The Golden Key (1 8 6 7 )

______: At the Back of the North Wind (1871)

______: The Princess and the Goblin (1872)

______: The Princess and Curdle (1883)

Rudyard Kipling: Puck of Pook* s Hill (1906)

: Rewards and Fairies (1911)

E.B. Nesbit: Five Children and It (1902)

: The Phoenix and the Carpet (190*0

: The Story of the Amulet (1906)

James Barrie: Peter Pan (1911)

Chapter Three

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobblt (1937)

C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnla (1950-56)

Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

Lloyd Alexander: The Chronicles of Prydain (196*1-68)

Alan Garner: Elidor (1965)

Joan North: The Cloud Forest (1 9 6 5 )

______: The Light Maze (1971) 45

Ursula Le Guin: The Tales of Earthsea (1968-72)

Mary Q. Steele: Journey Out side (1969)

Sylvia Engdahl: Enchantress From the Stars (1970)

Penelope Farmer: A Castle of Bone (1972)

Patricia McKillip: The Forgotten Beast of Eld (197*0

Chapter Four

C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnla (1950-56)

Lucy Boston: The Children of Green Knowe (195*0

_ : Treasure of Green Knowe (1958)

Phillipa Pierce: TomTs Midnight Garden (1958)

Nan Chauncy: The Secret Friends (1958)

Madeleine L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

William Mayne: Earthfasts (1966)

Penelope Farmer: Charlotte Sometimes (1969)

Joan North: The Light Maze (1971)

Otfried Preussler: The Satanic Mill (1972)

Joan Phipson: The Way Home (1973)

Susan Cooper: The Dark Is Rising (1973)

Eleanor Cameron: The Court of the Stone Children (1973)

Chapter Five

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobblt (1937)

Penelope Farmer: The Summer Birds (1962)

Lloyd Alexander: The Chronicles of Prydaln (1964-68)

Ursula Le Quin: A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) 46

Mary Q. Steele: Journey Outside (196?)

Mollie Hunter: The Walking Stones (1970)

Sylvia Engdahl: Enchantress From the Stars (1970)

Eleanor Cameron: The Court of the Stone Children (1970)

Joan Phipson: The Way Horae (1973)

Patricia McKillip: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974)

Chapter Six

C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56)

Alan Garner: The Welrdstone of Brislngamen (I960)

: The Moon of Gomrath (1 9 6 3 )

: The Owl Service (1967)

Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle In Time (1962)

_ : A Wind In the Door (1973)

Lucy Boston: An Enemy at Green Knowe (1964)

Alexander Key: The Forgotten Door (1965)

Susan Cooper: Over Sea Under Stone (1965)

______: The Dark is Rising (1973)

______: Greenwltch (1974)

Mollie Hunter: Thomas and the Warlock (1 9 6 7 )

_ : The Haunted Mountain (1972)

Otfried Preussler: The Satanic Mill (1971)

Patricia Wrlghtson: The Nargun and the Stars (1974) CHAPTER TWO

VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN FANTASY

Introduction

The books that will be treated In this chapter have been chosen for two reasons. The first is that they were written during the first golden age of children's fantasy and the second and more important for this study is that the motifs that they have used are employed and further developed in contemporary high fantasy.

Although the history of fantasy Is a long one having Its roots in both folk-lore and romance, It was not until the last third of the nineteenth century that fantasies written specifically for children started to appear. Over the remainder of the century there were only a comparatively few titles that were published, but those that were had a remarkable staying power. Their strength is attested to by the fact that they are still of more than Just historical curiosity today.

This first golden age of fantasy was ushered

In with Charles Kingsley: The Water Babies In 1863

47 48 and seemed to have had its demise following the publication of James Barrie: Peter Pan (1911)- After

1911 the quality of published fantasy was generally poor and remained so for the next thirty years. It is not surprising, therefore, that the second golden age of fantasy beginning with The Hobblt (1937) and continuing to the present owes some literary debt to the early writers of the genre. Except where writers specifically state their indebtedness to earlier authors, such as C.S. Lewis with George MacDonald, it mu^t be assumed that modern works of fantasy draw from the genre as a whole for their form.

Other than At the Back of the North Wind it would be wrong to suggest that any of the books of fantasy published during this early time could be classified as high fantasy. Nevertheless, despite some humor which creeps into these stories a degree of seriousness is present Jn all of them. The earlier books strongly stress social and moral issues, which reflect general trends in children’s literature of the times, while the later books are much more oriented towards enjoyment for its own sake. What is significant about all the books of fantasy to be examined in this chapter is that they contain motifs that have been used in contemporary high fantasy. For this reason they can be said to serve as prototypes for these more contemporary 4 9 works.

Charles Kingsley: The Water Babies (1863)

Although Hans Christian Anderson may be thought of as the originator of modern fantasy through his creation of the literary fairy tale, it was Charles

Kingsley who produced the first of the novel-length tales of fantasy. The Water Babies published in 1 8 6 3 was ori­ ginally written for Kingsley's youngest child, Grenville.

The story deals with the trials and tribulations of a young chimney sweep named Tom. Tom, who is taken by Grimes, the master sweep, to clean the chimneys of a large country house, is mistakenly thought to be a thief. He runs away and falls into a stream and is presumed to be drowned. In fact he is transformed by the fairies into a water-baby. Until he learns obedience and kindness, he is repaid for his sins by the fairy "god mothers" but in the end finds happiness with others of his kind.

This story is a strange mixture of social commentary and fantasy, with much emphasis on cleanliness and sani­ tation, the latter being a more than passing interest of the Rev. Canon Kingsley. A theme which runs throughout the book, either overtly or obliquely, is a concern for physical purity. That Tom is a chimney sweep who Is metamorphized into a water-baby after his fall into the 50 stream is the most obvious example of Kingsley's preoccupation with the matter.

There is a marked contrast between the unwashed and pagan Tom, the chimney sweep, and the purified and innocent Tom, the water-baby. The interpretation of this contrast should be considered not only as a social concern but also be recognized for its impli­ cations of theology and fantasy. From a reformed

Christian position, especially the Anglican to which

Kingsley owed allegiance, the idea that Tom’3 sojourn in the stream with the water-beasts until he is a fit companion for the other water-babies is heretical.

Kingsley is evoking the notion of Purgatory, a place of refining, to which Tom is committed for a period of time. Kendall in commenting on this point says that:

The Water-Babies is rank heresy. Tom is supposed to die when he falls into the brook, and is required to undergo another period of probabion. In the orthodox view there may be education In the next life, but not further probation.^

A Catholic interpretation of Tom's plight might suggest that Tom'3 abode is more like the paradise to which unbaptized babies are assigned. This position, however,

^Guy Kendall, Charles Kingsley and His Ideas (London: Hutchinson, undated), p. lTBT 51

cannot be sustained for Tom ultimately progresses to

a higher state of being. What precisely this state

is cannot be ascertained from the book and could be

either a form of Heaven or a return to human but adult

existence. Perhaps it is a mixture of the two for as Mother Carey says:

You may take him home with you now on Sundays, Ellie. He has won his spurs in the great battle, and become fit to go with you and be a man, because he has done the thing he did not like.

Thus he goes with Ellie on Sundays and sometimes on v/eekdays, but where he remains the rest of the time remains a mystery.

To treat the book from the perspective of fantasy effectively eliminates any theological issues which might be raised. The control that Kingsley has over the fantasy, however, may be questioned especially as it relates to the adult fairies. There is nc satis­

factory explanation of the beginnings of any of them, and the best that Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid can tell of herself is that:

I work by machinery, Just like an engine; and am full of wheels and springs inside; and am wound up very carefully, so that I cannot help going.... I was wound up once and for all, so long ago that I forget all about it.3

^Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies (New York: Junior Deluxe Editions, 195*0* p. 219. 3lbid., p. 130. 52

Even the concept of machinery making the magic work breaks the magical illusion that reaches its peak in Mother Carey.

It is customary in contemporary high fantasy to avoid using technological devices to forward the movement of the action. Machinery serves its function in science fiction but not fantasy.

Mrs. 3edonebyasyoudid and her sister presumably are some kind of robots that lack true feeling. This type of mother surrogate does not seem to disturb the simple water-babies, but it fails to sustain the inner logic of the magic which began with Tom’s transformation into a water-baby. These sisters are merely puppets that do the bidding of Mother Carey and as such remain flat and uninteresting.

Mother Carey is the real magical focus In this story. She is an omnipotent parent figure who dis­ penses justice and love. It is apparent that not only the water-babies are the recipients of her powers but also Grimes and the rest of the adult world. Prom a child’s viewpoint she is a parent who has the magical ability to do what for the child is the impossible. There Is, then, in her a mixture of the strengths of both male and female. Nevertheless, her sex gives an indication of her matemalism and her name can surely be recognized as a variant of "mother- 53 care." This omnipotence alone is enough to call

Mother Carey magical, but there are two other qualities which add weight to the concept. The first is the Victorian idealization of both womanhood and motherhood. Mother Carey sits on a pedestal both literally and metaphorically. A3 a Victorian woman and mother she is removed from the rest of creation by physical and spiritual distance. She i3 cut off by the Shining Wall, she is pure and noble, and there is .something awe-inspiring and mystical about her.

All these qualities are in essence romantic, but this is precisely what gives her a magical aura.

There is the second and more overt quality of magic associated with Mother Carey. Kingsley points out that Mother Carey makes all things new.

And, when he CTonQ came near It, it took form of the grandest old lady he had ever seen— a white marble lady, sitting on a white marble throne. And from the foot of the throne there swam away, out and out into the sea, millions of new-born creatures, of more shapes and colours than man ever dreamed. And they were Mother Carey's children, whom she makes out of the sea-water all day long.

As well as considering the sexual mystery of creation, there is also the unexplainable ability of Mother Carey to physically regenerate the aged sea creatures. It

Is not stretching the interpretation too far to give,

Ibid.. p. 190. 54 also, this regenerative power the extra dimension of spirituality. For Tom the regenerative power of

Mother Carey is important, because The Water-Bables relates to Tom's quest and to his ultimate "salvation" through this magical woman.

The concept of quest in high fantasy is a sig­ nificant motif. In modern works the mission is usually known to the questor at an early stage. In this vfork the realization of what needs to be accom­ plished comes to Tom at a rather late point in the tale. In the early stages Tom merely feels a vague yearning for direction. As a result of all this the quest is played in low-key for much of the book. The symbolism of the stream and the sea as sources of life give context to Tom's quest. His journey is a search for the meaning of life and this meaning can be gained only by those who partake of life.

The world that Tom inhabits as a water-baby Is a fantastic one which meets the primary world on a number of occasions. The author seems to want the reader to believe that the life Tom lives as a water- baby is Just a natural aspect of real life. As such

It serves its function of taking the fear out of death, and so becomes an engaging and entertaining world for small children.

In The Water-Bables the primary and secondary worlds overlap to an unusual degree. Although

total entrance to the secondary world Is by "drowning,"

It Is possible for those in the primary world to dip

briefly into the secondary world. The fisherman who

catches Tom In his net, and the lady on the steamer, who clearly sees the water-babies as they play in the

ocean, are both able to capture a glimpse of the

created world. On the other hand the water-babies,

themselves, can also freely leave the water for the

perimeters of reality. The worlds divide sharply,

however, in the immediate precinct of Mother Carey.

A door motif becomes clear at this point, for exit

from within the land of the Shining Wall is only by

a stairway. Mother Carey says to Tom that if he

wants to get back to the land-world:

I will take you up the backstairs: but I must bandage your eyes first; for I never allow anybody to see those backstairs of mine.5

This stairway seems to be a pathway from death although

Kingsley becomes somewhat vague at this point for Tom

does not appear, in a human sense, to be truly alive

again. Nevertheless, the statements that Mother Carey

makes to Ton about the power he would have if he knew

the secrets of the backstairs strongly suggest resur­

rection from death even if she tantallzingly refuses to

p. 215. 56 be specific.

In this first long fantasy for children

Kingsley introduces two major motifs that will become important in later fantasy. They are those of created worlds and quest as well as a number of other motifs of significance such as magical people, talking animals, appropriate naming and physical transformation. The weakness of the book lies in the author's inability to handle the fantasy with total assurance, but its strength focuses in on the powerfully drawn figure of Mother Carey and the subtle, and at times complex, use of motif and symbol.

George MacDonald: At_ the Back of the North Wind (1871) The Golden Key (186T5 The Princess and the Goblin (1872) The Princess and Curdle TTS83)

A more serious book than The Water-Bables but one which at times touches on similar themes is George

MacDonald's At_ the Back of the North Wind. As in

Kingsley's book the protagonist is a young boy, but the circumstances that surround him are somewhat different.Diamond is a coachman's son who is named after the master's magnificent horse. Diamond, whether in dream or reality, sees the personification of the North Wind. She takes him with her on some of her missions which are either to bring comfort or destroy. In the end Diamond is guided by h?r to the 57 land at the back of the North Wind.

The book Is more serious than ^h£ Water-Bables not so mucn In its thematic concerns but In their treatment. Like The Water-Bables there Is a pre­ occupation with death, but the sociological Issues of poverty, drink, and human welfare are treated rather forcibly as well. MacDonald does not mince matters when It comes to examining social evils of the time. Jerome Buckley would believe that MacDonald was typical of his era. Buckley comments:

Violent and vituperative as It frequently was, Victorian self-criticism found direction in the implicit sense that the faults It assailed were remediable by individual and collective reform.®

An author of books was in a happy position of being

able to open any discussion by direct comment or by highlighting problems through characterization and p l o t .

It Is fortunate that as a writer for children

MacDonald rarely, if at all, lapses into the gross

sentimentality that characterizes adult novelists

like Dickens and to a lesser extent Thackeray. On

occasions his writings might cloy but not unpleasantly so.

&Jerome H. Buckley, "Victorianism," in British Victorian Literature: Recent Evaluations. ecT Shif K. Kumar (New York: New York University Press, 1969), p. 7. The religious humanism of MacDonald’s philo­ sophy of life seems to have influenced his writings; although, one might wonder if he did not have some kind of Oedipus complex. The symbolism of the womb in At the Back of the North Wind is so strong that

It is almost overwhelming. A more general, critical reaction is that the North Wind is a harbinger of death and that MacDonald, like Kingsley, was concerned to write about this subject with some gentleness. With the high Infant mortality rate in Victorian England many books emphasized children’s death and the need to prepare for It.

Although the chief protagonist of At_ the Back of the North Vilnd Is young Diamond, the fantasy gathers its energy from the powerful figure of the North Wind.

MacDonald personifies the North Wind as a wildly beautiful woman. In some ways her stature is remini­ scent of Mother Carey. More significantly, she is a figure who, through her double function, Joins the primary and secondary worlds. As the North Wind she is the zephyr who stirs the petals of the flowers and the gale which sinks ships. In her form as a magical woman she stirs the mind and soul of young Diamond. So powerful is she In this role that she is capable of giving to death a beauty beyond normal expectation.

Death is: 59

The land of vision It would seem, And still an everlasting dream.7

The North Wind is amoral in the work that she must do. She says:

I can do nothing cruel, although I often do what looks cruel to those who do not know what I am really doing.

To interpret any of her actions as good or evil is to place on them a value judgment that comes from a failure to understand the cosmic harmony of which she is a part.

The North Wind is the agent by which Diamond ultimately finds the land at che back of the North

Wind. This land presumably is Paradise or Heaven although Diamond's earlier escape from reality takes him to a place that is only a reflection of the true land. The first land has a remarkably Arcadian setting yet the people he saw there seemed a little

sad as though they were waiting for something greater to happen to them. The description of this land and its inhabitants is reminiscent of the land of the lotus-eaters.

The secondary worlds represent only a small part of the total book. Of much more importance is the actual Journey that Diamond takes to reach the land at

^George MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind. (Hew York: Junior Deluxe Editions, T9’5b p T 9?>. 8Ibid. 60 the back of the North Wind. While the vehicle for his journey is the North Wind, Diamond's exit from the real world is by both imagination and sickness.

Joan North uses a similar technique for leaving the real world in both The Light Maze and The Cloud Forest.

It Is Diamond's sickness which enables him to reach the back of the North Wind for the first time, and the effect is to foreshadow his death. Death marks the end of Diamond's journey but instead of this repre­ senting finality and oblivion It becomes fulfillment for the boy. The quest ends in victory and not defeat, and the movement from the primary to the secondary world becomes complete.

Diamond's return from his journey to the back of the North Wind to a consciousness of the primary world introduces the concept of time-shift. Diamond believes that he has been away for much longer than he actually has. When Diamond says to North Wind that he has been away for one hundred years she replies:

You've been away from here seven days; but how Hong you may have been in there Is quite another thing. Behind my back and before my face things are no different I They don't go at all by the same rule.9

This motif of tlme-warp has been used many times since in modern high fantasy with C.S. Lewis first developing it In the Narnia books.

9Ibld., p. 101. 61

The Golden Key (1867) was published earlier than At the Back of the North Wind. It is not a full length story yet it is far longer than most literary fairy tales. Its significance for this study lies in the fact that it embodies many of the motifs that are to be fonnd in modern works of high fantasy. As a work of literature It has stature In

Its own right for the style Is unadorned yet the mythical elements are handled with sophistication.

The tale has two protagonists, a boy and a girl, who enter fairyland. The boy has found a golden key at the end of the rainbow, and both children must then search for the lock that will be unlocked by the key.

The tale Is an allegory of the journey through life. The setting of the tale is predominantly in a created world which permits the author to explore his theme unfettered by the logic of the physical world.

Wolff suggests that the golden key has phallic significance and notes that the boy, Mossy, must find the key to his own sexuality just as his father did before him.^ This Interpretation is an Important one but represents Just one facet of the total allegory.

A dominant theme is the Journey through life

^Ibld.. p. 101.

lORobert Lee Wolff, The Golden Key (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961), p. TsT^" 62

and death to higher existence which was repeated

in At_ the Back of the North Wind. The journey is in

the form of a quest to find the door to this higher

life. The magical woman, the fairy grandmother, directs the children on the first step of this Journey.

Unlike Mother Carey in The Water-Babies, grandmother

does not have complete control over fate. She is more

of a seeress or wise-woman. This type of character

has been recently used by Patricia McKillip in The

Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

During their Journey the children meet three

old men: the Old Man of the Earth, the Old Man of

the Sea, and the Old Man of the Fire. Each of these

personages appears to be physically younger than his

predecessor which supports the idea that the child

is father of the man. MacDonald deliberately structured

the pattern in which these three figures occurred so

that the oldest of the mythic elements appears last.

It was out of fire, or at least fiery gases, that earth

and sea originated. While the old men get younger, the

children age as they Journey through life to death.

Only on passing through death do they regain life and

youth.

For they were younger and better, and stronger and wiser, than they had ever 63 been before.11

The effect of time distortion functions more forcibly earlier in this tale. When both

Mossy and Tangle move from the primary to the secondary world they also move through childhood to adolescence. The haven of the sexual and intel­ lectual stability of childhood is swept away, and in its place comes the realization that life is a fast flowing river and not a mere still-water pond.

Man is carried along whether he wishes it or not, and the only way in which the meaning of life can be found is to seek positively for it.

Literary parallelisms give texture to this story as well as highlight some of the elements of fantasy. The act of metempsychosis12 when the air- fish is boiled is paralleled twice. The first is when the grandmother has Tangle bathed on entering fairyland which signifies her movement from child­ hood to adolescence and, hence, rebirth. The second is when she bathes at the bidding of the Old Man of the Water and is refreshed and healed. Water makes a

11George MacDonald, The Golden Key. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967), p. 7*1.

Transmigration of the soul from one body to another, often at death, is a mark of Oriental religions. 6k complex symbol with Its sacramental overtones and MacDonald uses it again In the stories of The

Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdle.

Parallelism is most significantly used in the symbol of the golden key. At the beginning of the tale it represents Mossy's Journey into the adult world, and at the end of the tale it is used to unlock the door to Paradise.

The created world in The Golden Key is not important in itself but serves as a setting to play out MacDonald's ideas. In this sense the book is reminiscent of Bunyan's Pilgrim* s Progress. True to most created worlds some of the inhabitants take on different physical form and others serve specific functions not found In the real world.

MacDonald furnished more fully his created world in The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and The

Princess and Curdle (1 8 8 3 ). In both these tales the action takes place wholly within the created world.

It depends on one's point-of-view whether It Is to be considered a primary or secondary world, although there might be an excuse to separate the two in The Princess and the Goblin. The primary world might be thought of as the world of the Princess and the secondary world as the land of the goblins. 65

The stories are sequential and treat Curdle*s

relationships with the young princess, Irene. In

The Princess and the Goblin Curdle, a miner*s son, rescues Irene from the goblins partly by his own skill and partly through the help of Irene's magic grand­ mother. In The Princess and Curdle, Curdle receives much more direct help from the grandmother in restoring the king to his throne and disposing of those who would wish to deprive the king of his rightful position.

In these stories the created world Is both romantic and middle European In setting and tone.

The mystique of Middle Europe has been strong for

the English speaking world and vestiges of it remain

today In the more lurid tales of horror. It is a

land that has always been thought to be full of intrigue and inhabited by strange and baleful creatures. MacDonald

exploits this mystique when he introduces the goblins and other grotesqueries Into the tales.

Goblins, as opposed to d/arves, have traditionally been Interpeted as malevolent towards humans, and In

The Princess and the Goblin this idea is developed into the basic conflict of the plot. This conflict is the

closest that Victorian children's fantasy comes to representing combat between good and evil. A further dimension of the conflict is apparent when the mine entrance that the prepubescent Curdle enters"Is recognized 66 as having psycho-sexual connotations. Curdle must fight to protect his innocence from the darker side of his nature as represented by the goblins.

Nevertheless, the portrayal of the goblins is not without humor especially when they argue amongst themselves about the Queen*s shoes and if she is so malformed as to have toes.

Another set of creatures who inhabit the

Curdle books are the grotesqueries. They make their appearance fleetingly in The Princess and the Goblin and become an integral part of The Princess and Curdle.

In the second of the stories these creatures, despite their repulsive appearances, are agents for good and are at the call of the grandmother. They are, however, human degenerates. Curdle says to Irene about the main one:

I believe from what your grandmother told me, that Lina is a woman, and that she was naughty, but is now growing good.13

These creatures are suffering a form of purgatory and must suffer for their earlier sins. The metempsychosis that has taken place in these books is the reversal of the air-fish-aeranth^ evolution. The transformation

,n 15 .... -™ — ^George MacDonald, The Princess and Curdle, (New York: MacMillan, 19J>4), p. 150.

14 This is a creature of the air, but not a bird or insect. 67

of human to beast looks back to the Yahoos of

Gulliver* s Travels and forward to Golluro In The

Hobblt and The Lord of the Rings.

The third strange creature to inhabit the world of the Curdle books is the magical grandmother.

MacDonald constantly uses this motif in his children*s fantasies. Here she becomes a powerful figure but either cannot or will not use her powers directly.

They are used only through human agents such as Curdle or the princess. She is powerless when she is forgotten,

so at the end of The Princess and Curdle she does not miraculously appear to save the city from destruction.

She spins, however, the thread of fate, and the way along the line cannot be reversed as Irene discovers in the caves of the goblins:

Forwards, it led her hand up to the heap of stones— backwards it seemed nowhere.^

The grandmother is a personification of the earthmother figure who takes care of her children if they are willing to extend to her the appropriate oblation: in this case obedience and faith in her existence.

Although the spinning wheel is one of the signs of her power she has at least three others. The power to transform her physical appearance is the most charming

3 3 ------George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin, (England, Puffin Books, X?73J, p. 139. 68 but least Interesting. Of the two, her fire of roses and her globe of light, the latter seems to have been taken by Le Guin and given to the wizards of Earthsea as were light. The meaning of the fire of roses can only be guessed at. It does seem, however, that is serves as a symbol of her fimlninity because it emits a powerful perfume, traditionally a feminine adornment. Secondly, as a fire it serves to forge and transform as Curdle finds out when he places his hand In It and gains the power to feel the inner character in any creature. The fire also is capable of renewal and Is used to restore the king to full health.

In both stories the grandmother helps Curdie with his tasks. In The Princess and the Goblin it

Is to overcome the goblins, and in The Princess and

Curdie the quest takes on a more traditional form.

There are vague overtones of the Fisher King story but there is no suggestion of the quest representing a journey through life to death as in The Golden Key or At the Back of the North Wind.

Perhaps more than any other Victorian writer of fantasy MacDonald has laid the groundwork for contemporary high fantasy for his fantasies are rich in symbols that are almost Inexhaustible In meaning.

MacDonald seemed to use his fantasies to express his ideas about both social and metaphysical Issues.

As a writer in the first golden age of children's fantasy he successfully developed created worlds and filled them with creatures ranging from powerful and magic women to grotesque and troublesome beasts and goblins. His main metaphysical preoccupation seemed to be with the concept of life beyond death and the need for rebirth which can only be achieved through a willingness to enter an a quest for the meaning of life. MacDonald of all the early writers of children's fantasy also comes closest to raising the issue of the combat between good and evil.

Generally MacDonald only pays slight attention to the displacement of linear time although in The Golden

Key it becomes of prime importance as a technique for exploring life's journey.

Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland (1865) Alice Through the Looking Glass (1871)

Charles Dodgson's (alias Lewis Carroll) Alice in

Wonderland (1865) and Alice Through the Looking Glass

(1871) are probably the two best remembered children's stories from the nineteenth century. As fantasy they appear to stand apart from the works of Kingsley and

MacDonald for they lack the seriousness of tone of their contemporaries. Their sophistication and logic

Is belled by the seeming nonsense of the characters, 70 who except for Alice, herself, function in animated

cartoon fashion. The Alice books are no doubt the rightful parents of much of the nonsense fantasy of

the first half of the twentieth century, but it would be wrong to say that Carroll's works are completely

droll.

Alice in Wonderland takes Alice down a rabbit

hole into the enchanted world of the Queen of Hearts.

Alice's main problem in this land is to remain physically

stable for her changes in height cause her the most

anxiety. Through the Looking Glass takes Alice into

a world of reversals and, rather than bodily space

being distorted, the normal rules of motion are some­

what suspended. In conversing with the Red Queen,

Alice says:

Well in our country you'd generally get to somewhere else— if you ran very fast for a long time as we've been doing.

The Red Queen replies:

A slow sort of countryl Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get some­ where else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.I®

Perhaps the whole conversation Is a wry comment on

the proverb "more haste less speed" but at least part

of the meaning of the dialogues must relate to the

lbLewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice, ed. Martin Gardner (New York: The World Publishing Co., 1972), p. 210. 71

context of the story.

If the created worlds of Carroll do not Invite

suspension of belief by the reader in the Colrldgean

sense, they are accepted totally by Alice. Only in

Through the Looking Glass does she express concern on

this point.

Only I do hope it's m£ dream, and not the Red King*si I don't like belonging to another person's dream...17

Alice does not dispute the credibility of her existence

but merely notes that her existence has altered. Thomas

Fensch questions this position and says that In these

books, "truth is meaningless, Illusions are everything"

for all that Alice encounters Is merely within a dream.1®

The dream, however, is exceedingly real to Alice

for as Donald Rackin comments:

She has reached the stage of development where the world appears completely explain­ able and unambiguous, that most narrow­ minded, prejudiced period of life, where, paradoxically, daring curiousity is weeded to uncomprlmising literalness and priggish, ignorant faith is the fundamental sanity of all things.19

The created worlds that Alice so willingly accepts

17Ibld.. p. 293*

!®Thoraas Feusch, "Lewis Carroll— The First Acldhead" in Aspects of Alice. ed. Robert Phillips, (New York: Vanguard Press, 1971 )j p. *12*1.

^Donald Rackin, "Alice's Journey to the End of Night," In Aspects of Alice, p. 39^- differ markedly from each other. The world of

Through the. Looking Glass is governed by the rational rules of chess. Although the rules are not always interpreted as might be expected none of them are actually broken. To support the rationality of the great chess game in which Alice becomes involved there are certain mathematical curiosities and para- dignms such as the enantiomorphic2® nature of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the division of the plum cake, and most obviously the total reversibility process that occupy the whole story. Within the seeming illogic of the

Looking Glass world there is complete internal con­ sistency .

On the other hand the Wonderland world lacks any internal consistency that has come to be expected of a secondary world in more serious fantasy. But elements of the folk-tale appear in profusion. As Leach points out there are no elves (although Alice Among the Elves was a tentative title for the book):

but there are changes in size and trans­ formations (the baby into a pig), haughty royalty (albeit playing cards), an abundance of talking animals, and such details as magic objects and the tiny golden key opening the door into the garden.2^

20Tweedledum and Tweedledee are not only Identical twins but are also mirror images of one another. 21 Elsie Leach, "Alice in Wonderland in Perspective," in Aspects of Alice, p. 8 9 . Both Alice stories would meet Klingberg's

definition of the fantastic tale, for primary and

secondary world co-exist. Yet the primary world remains an excuse for beginning and ending the stories

plausibly. Although the dream is the vehicle for

transporting the protagonist to the secondary worlds

each world has its own doorway. The rabbit-hole of

Alice in Wonderland is a ready symbol for psycho­

analytic interpretation, even if the looking glass in

Through the Looking Glass has evaded such treatment.

The looking glass "door" was a fortuitous idea of

Carroll. Many children have looked in a mirror and

wondered if the world they see reflected could possibly

have an existence of its own. Carroll gives it an

existence and gives a child from the primary world

an opportunity to explore it. What has been cleverly

done is to link that world with a remnant of Alice's

consciousness, i.e., the chess pieces and so give

psychological continuity to the two worlds.

Neither 3tory has the sense of urgency that

relates to the quest concept of more serious fantasy.

The pace in both tales is hectic but particularly in

Wonderland It seems uncoordinated. There is frenzy

but not exigency. Alice engages on no real mission

and the adventures come to her rather than she to them.

There is more ordering of events in Through the Looking 7*1

Glass so Alice gives some appearance of attempting to reach a goal. This is perhaps supported when she cried:

The Eighth Souare at Lastl...as she bounded across, and threw herself down to rest on a lawn as soft as moss, with little flower-beds dotted about it here and there.22

There is, however, more of a suggestion of relief than any sense of achievement.

Carroll has created two fantastic worlds that are populated with strange creatures engaged in strange activities. What is most seriously lacking, as it relates to this study, is direct application to the problems of the real world.

For high fantasy strikes a chord in the minds of its readers which says in the words of John Bradford:

"There but for the grace of God go I." For this reason Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking

Glass although part of the first golden age of fantasy may not have as much significance for modern high fantasy as others of the time. They cannot be neglected from consideration, however, as they contain elements that are to be found in high fantasy. More pragmatically, they are so well known to the writers and readers of middle twentieth century that they must have made their

22Carroll, The Annotated Alice, p. 315. 75

Influence felt to some degree.

Rudyard Kipling: Puck of Pook1s Hill (1906) Rewards and Fairies (1910)

Puck of Pookfs Hill (1906) and Rewards and

Fairies (1910) by Rudyard Kipling have been over­ shadowed by the fantasies of other early writers in the genre. Yet C.S. Lewis, for one, has drawn directly on them and Tolkien appears to owe a debt as well. The two books are written In a clean and vigorous style and bring with them a youthfulness and masculinity that is missing In the works of

Kingsley and MacDonald.

Both books tell what happens when two young

English children, who Puck, the faun, calls "son of

Adam" and "daughter of Eve" accidentally bring forth the power cf Midsummer. Puck appears to them, and through his magic they are brought face-to-face with history. Of the two books Puck of Pook*3

Hill is less fragmented, containing only three tales, while Rewards and Fairies Is far more episodic. The result Is that the first sustains a literary tension lost to the latter. The elements of fantasy are most noticeable and profuse early in both books when

Midsummer is at its highest. The magic dissipates with the onset of Autumn which proves to be a satisfactory device for bringing each book to its conclusion. The choice of using Midsummer as the magical focal point in the books has the effect of linking the children to the past. Midsummer festivals are among the earliest of man. In the British Isles the Celtic Druids sacrificed men and animals to ensure the fertility of England. The two children in these books are found playing amongst the lush vegetation of the summer pastures suitably associating the festival with them.

As the children rehearse part of Midsummer

Night’s Dream "three times over, on Midsummer Eve, in the middle of a Ring, and under— right under one of (the) oldest hills in Old England. Pook's Hill—

Puck’s Hill— Puck’s Hill— Pook’s H I 1 1 ! m 2 3 They provoke the old magic and break the Hills, which as

Puck says: "hasn't happened in a thousand years."24

Puck is the oldest Old Thing left in Old England and makes his appearance to the children with the breaking of the Hills. Within the first few pages of Puck of Pook* s Hill Kipling has conjured up magic that is wholly English and equally a3 ancient.

Unlike their predecessors, Kipling's fantasies take place totally within the primary world. This

23Ruayard Kipling, Puck of Pook* s Hill, (New York Dover Publications, Inc., 19687T p . 7.

24Ibid., p. 8. 77

quality remained unique during the first golden

age of fantasy but it has had its influence on

contemporary high fantasy. Alan Garner and Susan

Cooper are two authors who explore what happens

when the powers of old magic are released Into

the real world.

The masculine tone of all Kipling1s fiction

finds no exception in the Puck stories. Gone are

the magical and dominating women, and in their place

is the impish figure of Puck, the faun. Puck comes

from the past and brings with him all its wisdom

and magic. He tells the children that other Old

Things:

couldn’t abide Salt, or Horseshoes over a door, or Mountain-ash berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of Church Bells. But I'm Puck!25

He establishes his age saying that he:

came into England with Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and when Oak, Ash.-and Thorn are gone I shall go too.2b

As the oldest Old Think he has seen come and go:

Giants, trolls, kelpies, brownies, goblins, imps; wood, tree, mound, and water spirits; heath-people, hill-watchers, treasure-guards, good people, little people,

^ I b l d .T P. 9.

26Ibid., p. 10. pishogues, leprechauns, night-riders, pixies, nixies, gnomes and the rest. 27

The figure of Puck has been freely adapted by

C.S. Lewis as Mr. Turanus, the faun, while Puck*s

"brown, square, hairy" feet sound suspiciously

Hobbitlike. However, except for Puck, Kipling does not make direct use of all this English mythology.

He uses it chiefly to establish a mood of delight, mystery, and magic which helps support the historical episodes that fill most of the books. Only in the first chapter of Rewards and Fairies does Kipling leave the main idea of conjuring up the historical past. This chapter deals with the mythological past and tells the story of a human child who is brought up by the fairies. Kipling it would appear has attempted to Justify his introduction of the Old Things by creating this tale of Sir Huon, the Lady Eselairmonde, and the foundling child who on contact with cold iron comes into his mortal heritage.

This episode is significant as it touches upon, if it does not explore, a number of motifs and tech­ niques that are employed in contemporary high fantasy.

The power of iron to ward off the immortals is a strong one. The Golden Bough states that such a superstition probably came into being when iron was a novelty and

2 y - _ _ as such as viewed with suspicion and dislike.28

In the context of this tale it is the focal motif.

The mortal boy is protected from iron by the fairies.

When once he contacts It, however, his future will be in relation to the use to which the iron has been put. Here It Is a slave ring which will bind the boy to a life of service to mankind. The fairies because of the power of the metal cannot help the boy.

The boy learns and uses while with the fairies the arts of high, low and middle magic. He acquires the power to create visions and shadows in the same way as does Ged In A Wizard of Earthsea. The power to use magic brings with It its own responsibilities and dangers as people like Ged find out. In "Cold

Iron" Kipling merely hints at this danger.

"There's Magic fighting Magic over yonder," the Lady Eselairmonde cried, reining up. "Who is against him?"29

The vision that the boy has conjured up is a visible sign of the inner conflict that goes on not only In his soul but in that of everyman. The combat between good and evil in contemporary fantasy is intensified by the use of magic, synthesized with the strength of will and courage within the protagonists.

28sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough. (New York Macmillan, 1958), p. 262.

29Rudyard Kipling, Rewards and Fairies, (USA: Doubleday, Page and Co., 191*1), p. 80

Although Kipling's books are episodic they nevertheless contain elements of the heroic romance.

Particularly in Puck of Pook1s Hill there is a sense of knightly high-mindedness and adventure. This can­ not be interpreted as quest, however, for the episodes

lack the mythological and fabulous overtones generally associated with the subject. Still there remains personal satisfaction in a Job well done and a serious­ ness of intent which is related to the quest motif in high fantasy.

Kipling successfully experiments with time displacement. He anticipates such writers as Eleanor

Cameron, Lucy Boston, and Phillipa Pearce. The figures

from the past are completely at ease in their strange

setting while the children, Dan and Una, in their turn, accept them without question. Puck has bewitched them all. Time plays a double role in the Puck books for

it not only dissolves to bring historical figures into

the present but also serves to give the children an historical perspective. They are made aware of the vast historical changes that have occurred before

their own existence.

The creation of the figure of Puck gave a new

dimension to fantasy. Through him Kipling was able

to establish a respectability for English fairyland.

The two books are unashamedly moralistic and nationalistic 81 and contain all the strength of a vigorous England that is at once both old in years and young in hope.

Fantasy serves Kipling as a literary device for linking the past and the present to his own values, but within the fantasy there are glimpses of motifs and symbols that have been developed more fully in the current upsurge of children’s high fantasy.

Edith Nesblt: Five Children and It (1902) The PFoenix and the Carpet (1904) The Story of the Amulet (1906)

Edith Nesbit was a contemporary of Kipling but her **antasies for children are very different from his.

There is the same vigor of style that Kipling uses and the books generally lack the multi-layered sym­ bolism of earlier authors, but Nesbit’s preternatural characters are not the traditional English fairies, goblins, and elves. In their place has been put the most outrageously funny creatures who, although they do not lack for magical power, are made credible by the familiar display of human vanity and weaknesses.

There is the cantankerous Psammead who ungraciously grants wishes but who bitterly complains at the thought of getting wet, and there is the utterly conceited Phoenix who comes complete with a magic carpet.

Nesbit wrote three fantasies that have remained 82 popular with children: Five Children and It (1902);

The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and The Story of the Amulet (1906). Each of the books features five children, or rather, four who can act independently and their two year old brother. The stories are episodic, each chapter generally being a new adventure but loosely connected to the others by the children*s wishes and exploits.

Nesbit has actualized the waking dreams of children. The children find that their wishes are granted by an appropriate magical agent such as the

Psammead, and they discover that they are in the middle of a new adventure whether It be travelling through time or space. There are built-in safeguards, however, so that the adventures do not become too much of a good thing. Each wish brings with it its own dangers and responsibilities. Also, being young, the children never consider all the possible conse­ quences that may occur as a result of the wishes being granted. They, therefore, end up in more scapes than might be thought normal for a group of children. Of course, such manipulations by Nesbit add to the delight of the adventures. Only when the wish is unselfish do the children find that it can be wholly satisfactory.

All ends well, for instance, when the children in The

Phoenix and the Carpet try to help Miss Peamarsh at 83 the local church bazaar. Even the dour Mrs. Biddle becomes more pleasant.

In each of the stories the children are con­ veniently left in the charge of servants, the parents being well away on long vacations or business trips.

As anyone lower than the middle class is treated with vague contempt, because of the lack of reasonable intellectual or cultural capacity, the children find no difficulty in dominating the servants to their personal satisfaction. The result Is that the children are left free to do almost anything they choose. It

Is their basic good breeding that prevents them from wishing or doing anything intentionally wicked.

Nesbit, however, does not paint the children as angels. They think as children and so they act like children.

The humor that Is apparent in the books is on two levels. Situational comedy permeates a good deal of Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet. One of the early wishes of the children is that the servants cannot observe the visible signs of the wishes although others can. When the two year old is turned into an adult as a result of a further wish, Martha, the servant, can still only see him as a baby and attempts to treat him appropriately. The incongruity of the situation is delightfully funny. A more intellectual and sometimes vicious humor is a result of the adult characterization and the general observations about society. The Phoenix's discovery of the insurance firm and all that ensues from that is a satiric jibe at business loyalties.

None of the books, however, sinks to that mundane level of humor that finds a place in later fantasies such as Dr. Doolittle.

The magical agent in two of the fantasies is the Psammead, or sand-fairy. This un-English creature is a zoologist's nightmare.

Its eyes were on long horns like a snails's eyes, and it could move them in and out like telescopes; it had ears like a bat's ears, and Its tubby body was shaped like a spider's and covered with thick soft fur; its legs and arms were furry too, and it had hands and feet like a monkey's.30

The children are able to adjust rapidly to the

Psammead who points out to them that It has not been disburbed in thousands of years. Just how it is able to speak modern English and is aware of current technological advances is never explained in the books but the assumption must be made that it is all part of the magic.

_ E. Nesbit, Five Children and It, (Great Britain Puffin Books,. 1973), p. 127. Once the children discover that this perverse little creature is able to grant wishes of the most extraordinary kind by merely blowing himself out, they try a variety of wishes which more or less end in disaster or disgrace. Fortunately for them the visible signs of the wishes disappear at sundown. Taken one at a time the episodes are internally logical in the working out of the magic. From episode to episode, however, inconsistencies are noticeable. The Psammead says that tangible wishes, such as money, turn to stone at the end of the day, but the wings of another wish disappear altogether.

Nesbit is more in control of the magic in The

Story of the Amulet than in the other two. The children find a magic amulet which is really a door to the past.

When the magic words are spoken the amulet grows large enough for the children to walk through to the past or back again to the present.

The Story of the Amulet is more complex in that

Nesbit uses more elements of fantasy. Although the quest motif is present at a low level, it is there. The quest involves the children in searching for the lost part of the amulet through both time and space. The need to search for the missing half of the amulet is not a vital one in that the safety of a land or a world is not the issue. Nesbit Is really looking for another approach 86 to crystallize the children’s waking dreams because the total amulet "can give you your heart's d e s i r e . " 3 1

This prompts the children to take up the challenge to look for the lost piece.

Movement in time and space is generally to the past and to foreign lands. Both are exotic and on occasion dangerous. To change the pace of the book Nesbit reverses the trend and has the Babylonian

Queen brought back to London. The results are both hilarious and disastrous. The social Innuendos are obvious when the Queen talks about the lack of care for the servants as she looks at the blank faces of the working population of London. This disgruntled

Psammead is obliged to grant the Queen's wishes and havoc is created as all the "Babylonish objects float out into the Museum yard." In some ways the Queen's visit to London anticipates a more evil queen created by C.S. Lewis in The Magician * s Nephew.

The Story of the Amulet ends with an intensity which is in many ways close to the tone found In high- fantasy. When the amulet Is Joined and the magic words are uttered for the last time but one there is silence and darkness greater than any imagining:

Then out of that vast darkness and silence came a light and a voice. The

-----5117 Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet (Great Britain: Puffin Books, 1 9 7 1 ) » P- 39* 87 light was too faint to see anything by, and the voice was too small for you to hear what It said. But the light and the voice grew. And the light was the light that no man may look on and live, and the voice was the sweetest and most terrible voice in the world.32

Nesbit has brought an element of the mystical to her stories which till then was absent. The mysticism Is heightened as the voice speaks:

Nobody can continue to live in a land and in a time not appointed.... But a soul may live, if in that other time and land there be found a soul so akin to it as to offer it refuge, in the body of that land and time, that thus they two may be one soul in one body.33

The two are Rekh-mara, the priest, and the learned gentleman who choose to become one. As the two merge into the body of Jimmy, the learned gentleman, all that remains of "the evil in the soul of Rekh-mara" is a horrid centipede.

The Phoenix and the Carpet is the second of

Nesbit*s three fantasies and it introduces the hope­ lessly conceited Phoenix. Despite all his apparent sophistication and beauty there is something ludicrous in his inability to adjust completely to the children*s world. His wisdom is counterbalanced by his amusing credulity. His search for his temple and priests in

32ibid., p. 276.

33Ibid., p. 277. 88 the twentieth century leads him to the Insurance office bearing the sign of the phoenix. There the manager and staff sing the company's song which the

Phoenix takes to be a hymn of praise in his honor.

The Phoenix unlike the Psammead is reasonably good humored and takes offence only if his praises are forgotten.

The second magical agent in this story is the carpet. Although it has little if any character or personality, it does do the children's bidding with almost a sense of humor. To bring the Persian cats and the cow into the nursery might be no more than the children deserved, but to do so was the carpet's choice. When the children use the carpet as a means of transport they have more success than when they request objects to be brought to them.

The success of Nesbit's fantasies is a result

"of a mind capable of throwing off in an instant all the shackles of adulthood while yet retaining all the skill of experience."3^ she has been able to capture well at least one human yearning which she applies to a childhood setting: that of giving live to one's daydreams. The novels become progressively more

3^Doris Langley Moore, E;_ Nesbit: A Biography, (Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 19bb)» P- lb7. complex, while at the same time the writer manages to obtain better control over the elements of magic which she employs.

The actualization of wishes permits an explor­ ation of time, space, and quest which are marks of contemporary high fantasy. The introduction of all four magical agents: the Psammead, the carpet, the

Phoenix, and the amulet gives Nesbit a wide choice in how she is going to bring adventure to the children.

Only the amulet may be said to have any depth of symbolism but it would be difficult to build a full case for this. For example, an obvious but incomplete interpretation is to perceive the amulet in psycho- sexual terms.

Only in The Story of the Amulet does Nesbit attempt to reach the intensity and mystical tone that sets off high fantasy from other more serious works of fantasy. Although it is brief it succeeds partly because of its brevity and partly because of the gradual preparation for it.

James Barrie: Peter Pan (1911)

Peter Pan (1911) marks the end of an era in fantasy for after that time the quality of children1s fantasy diminished markedly for some decades.

Peter Pan is the story of an English boy who never grows up. His whole existence Is a material!- 90 zation of childhood wish fulfillment. As such there is an affinity with the writings of Edith Nesbit yet the writing of George MacDonald, especially At the

Back of the North Wind seems to have had an influence.

The flight of the Darling children to the created world of Neverland parallels Diamond's flight to the back of the North Wind. Both worlds are partly imaginary and partly real, and both sometimes need a guide to this land. In At the Back of the North Wind it is the spirit of the North Wind while in Peter

Pan it is Peter.

Peter Pan bears little relation to the ancient god Pan in terms of physical attributes, but there Is an Arcadian quality about him because of his eternal childhood. When Hook cries: "Pan, who and what art thou?" Peter replies: "I'm youth, I'm joy."35

Peter Is the magical agent by which the children reach Neverland. Like Neverland he is both real and ephemeral. He is real to the children and those adults who refuse to give up belief in the created worlds and beings of childhood, but he is ephemeral for the same reasons. He is real only while there remains a belief in him. What Peter says of the fairies is also true of him:

357 .M. Barrie. Peter Pan. (England: Puffin Books, 1972), p. 188. 91 ...every time a child says, "I don't believe in fairies," there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.36

Peter helps the children crystallize their

dreams about Neverland. He is the link between the

imagination and their faith in that imagination.

Children are able to create reality out of illusion that is lost to most adults. Only those with child­

like simplicity of faith can sustain such illusion.

Perhaps the ability to accept the created worlds and creatures in any fantasy is a natural extension of this faith.

Because he ran away from home when he was a day old, Peter has cut himself off from his parents and the real world. To enter Neverland requires a separation from adult reality. When the Darling children choose to go with Peter they also sever their ties with reality and their parents recognize this.

Whether this severence is symbolic of death or merely the gap between childhood and adulthood is not clearly explained by Barrie, but perhaps there is an element of both in the book. The parents can only hope that the children will return and wonder if that return will be a permanent one.

To the adult reader the created world of Neverland

36Ibld., p. *15- lacks the rationality of contemporary fantasy.

It is somewhat similar to the secondary worlds of the Alice books. The children have furnished Never- land with their own creations and It all synthesizes logically for them. None of the children find any­ thing extraordinary about Neverland although at times it does become frightening. That the make- believe Neverland Is transformed in its "real" state suggests the danger of giving oneself up totally to the world of dreams. Yet Barrie realizes that young children fail to differentiate between reality and the imaginary. They are constantly In a dream-world or one which only dimly delineates between fact and fancy. Of the three Darling children, Wendy Is the only one who can see the difference clearly, and even she starts to lose some of her hold on reality when she is firmly established in Neverland.

Wendy takes great delight in becoming a mother to the lost boys of Neverland. They in turn crave the security and warmth of a mother’s love. As

Geduld points out this need for a mother exemplifies the theme of r e b i r t h : 37 the boys lose their real mothers and find a mother substitute, while Peter

Is continually losing and finding a new "Wendy" for

57HarryM.Geduld, Sir James Barrie, (New York: Twayne, 1971), p. 6 9 . 93 a mother. This theme of rebirth is supported by the womb-like underground home with its mushroom chimney that the boys first live in and the above ground home which they finally build.

Only Peter, however, is finally incapable of leaving behind the fantasy world of childhood for adult life. The lost boys unconsciously anti­ cipate sexual maturity when they use their arrows to shoot W e n d y . 3® peter, however, is terrified not because Wendy will die but that he will loose his "mother." Although at this point they do not realize it the children are launched on a quest for fulfillment which will come if they are even­ tually able to see their past existence in mature perspective. Those who lose sight of their childhood will loose the joy of adulthood. Peter is neither happy nor unhappy for very long because his emotions are as transitory as childhood itself.

The creation of Neverland is an actualization of both the conscious and unconscious desires of childhood. As such it must be considered successful in terms of its function. Its relationship with con­ temporary high fantasy, however, is tangential. Where

It succeeds is in the presentation of a fresh approach

^Barrie, Peter Pan, p. 83. 9* to the construction of a secondary world.

SUMMARY

In this chapter thirteen books of fantasy from

1863 to 1911 have been subject to analysis. These books do not account for all the fantasies for children written during that period but they do represent a source from which contemporary high fantasy has both drawn and built upon.

The Water Babies (1 8 6 3 ) marks the beginning of fantasy for children. Although meant to be read for enjoyment It still contains the moral and reli­ gious overtones that were a familiar part of Victorian literature for children. The fantasy motifs that

Kingsley employs did add a new dimension to children's books, however. The most outstanding element of The

Water Babies is the creation of a new world. Unlike later fantasies the secondary world overlaps and merges with the primary world which detracts from the onward movement of the plot. The reader will also find dissatisfaction with the awkward handling of

Tom’s drowning as entrance to the created world.

Kingsley's main concern is Tom’s quest, but

Tom does not recognize that he is on a quest even by the end of the story. His spiritual growth is guided by Skinnerian type conditioning rather than any under- 95

standing of what he is about. Contemporary high fantasy on the other hand generally places

the nature of the quest before the protagonists

early in the story. Nevertheless, within The

Water Babies is found three of the four key motifs used in contemporary high fantasy, those of the created world, the door, and the quest.

Created worlds are used by five out of the six authors examined in this chapter. Carroll estab­ lished dream worlds with their weird convoluted logic.

Over the last decade both Joan North and Penelope

Farmer have taken the dream world concept and developed it further.

George MacDonald uses two approaches to creating worlds. In At the Back of the North Wind he mixes the techniques of Kingsley and Carroll to give a dream world that in some measure co-exists and overlaps with the primary world, while in the Curdle books he has established new lands that are complete and separate in themselves. In the Curdle books he also carefully delineates between the powers of good and evil as he introduces the goblins. These creatures are to be seen again in the works of Tolkien and Lewis but transformed into somethin more repulBive.

Only one book of Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet, uses created worlds. There is no attempt to develop a 96 single world in any depth but rather there are a series of episodes each in a different setting.

Nesbit's influence is most obvious in C.S. Lewis's

The Magician*s Nephew where the evil queen coming to

London is patterned after the Babylonian queen*b appearance.

Barrie's Neverland is an effort to create a play world in much the same way as would a child.

It exists only within the believer's imagination rather than as a world established in its own right. Paith in the eternal youth of Peter Pan is the magic that Is required to reach Neverland.

The quest motif plays an Important function not only in Kingsley's book but also the works of

Nesbit and MacDonald. Quest in Nesbit*s books becomes more of an adventure rather than wrestling with moral, psychological, or spiritual issues. In

MacDonald's works, however, there is more complexity.

The Golden Key recognizes the search for both spiritual and sexual fulfillment while in At the Back of the

North Wind the stress is wholly on the spiritual quest. Sexual questing is not a part of contemporary high fantasy to the present time but it Is now recog­ nized in realistic fiction for the adolescent. The

Curdle books perceive quest more in terms of the fight between good and evil although there is also the sense 97 of self-fulfillment as seen in Curdle*s growth to maturity and self-reliance.

Time as a motif is examined by three authors:

MacDonald, Kipling, and Nesbit. The most experimental book is The Golden Key. In this book time functions

simultaneously In two different directions. As Mossy and Tangle move forward In time they age rapidly and

in so doing they meet with various old men who per­ sonify aspects of creation. The oldest of these old men is a child which supports the maxim that "the child Is father of the man." Kipling and Nesbit are more conventional In their use of time displacement.

Kipling always brings historical figures forward into the present while Nesbit is willing to move backwards and forwards as she finds appropriate to add spice to her tales.

Not only are the key motifs of time, created worlds, quest, and the combat between good and evil a recognized part of the first golden age of fantasy but the authors of the period with perhaps the exception of Charles Kingsley had firm control over the skills needed to use them appropriately. Of these four motifs the least developed Is that of the combat between good and evil which in more contemporary high fantasy assumes an equal role. CHAPTER III

CREATED WORLDS

Introduction

Not all fantasy for children makes use of a mythological or secondary world as a total or partial setting for the plot. Yet it is difficult to think of any book of high fantasy that does not hint at the existence of life beyond the confines of the real world. The use of the preternatural and supernatural,*- both of which are woven into the fabric of high fantasy, by definition are not part of the normal order of life.

An author of high fantasy will make use of the concept of the secondary world in at least one of three ways: 1) he will bring parts of the created world into the real world as does Alan Garner and Susan Cooper, or 2) he will have the real and mythical worlds co­ existing as does C.S. Lewis, or 3) he will work wholly within a created world as does J.R.R. Tolkien ana Lloyd

Alexander. The degree to which the mythical world will resemble the real world will vary according to the

*While supernatural relates to things of the spirit, preternatural refers to the extraordinary.

98 prelidictions and needs of the author. At the farthest end of the continuum the created world will bear little or no resemblance to the primary world. In children's high fantasy as against that of science fiction this has not occurred, for even in the worlds of Ursula LeGuin and Joan North the reader will still be able to find touchstones of reality. The worst excesses of "space opera" are avoided in the landscapes of high fantasy. If at times the worlds are evil they are not incredible, and the inhabitants, for the most part, are not meant to give thrills of horror for its own sake but exist to highlight some high moral struggle.

The development of a secondary world offers a writer the opportunity to add flexibility and flavor to his story. Released from the laws governing the real world the author is free to create new systems of logic, introduce myth and mysticism, and stress magical and spiritual elements. The magical is frequently subservient to the spiritual for high fantasy above all else concerns itself with exploring moral issues. Through the use of the created world moral abstractions can be made more concrete. What in realistic fiction could appear as being obviously didactic and occasionally trite, in high fantasy can assume philosophic proportions of some depth. 100

Those books In which the created world is brought into the real world will be analyzed only

if sufficient use is made of the created world motif

to have a major impact on the progression of the plot.

Where the created world Is a representation of a past era of the real world It will be treated in the chapter on time displacement. Within this chapter the nature of the created world will be explored where it either coexists with the real world, or is established as the total setting for the tale.

J.R.R. Tolkien; The Hobblt (1937)

The publication of The Hobbit marked the beginning of contemporary high fantasy for children. The tale is set in MIddle-earth and the chief protagonist, Bilbo

Baggins, a hobbit, is morally coerced Into assisting a group of dwarfs to recover their wealth from the lair of Smaug, the dragon.

Tolkien's choice of name for his created world,

Middle-earth, Is an interesting selection, for as the

Oxford English Dictionary points out it is an ancient term applied to the real world in contradistinction to

Fairyland. Middle-earth is the place halfway between heaven and hell, that is, planet Earth. It might be thought then that Middle-earth would serve as the

setting for a tale about men. Men, however, form only 101 a small part of the total population of this land.

Instead It is filled with many creatures from ancient mythology plus a totally new form of life, the hobbit.

The fact that the term middle earth is now considered archaic does give an aura of romance and magic to the setting which Tolkien capitalizes on In his develop­ ment of this created world. It would seem then that the choice of name, Middle-earth, implies that in some ways the land of faerie and the land of men are not so greatly different.

Physically Middle-earth Is a mixture of landscapes. The Shire although never fully described is suggestive of nineteenth century rural English gentility. There is basic goodness In this peaceful land as It is reflected in its inhabitants, the hobbits, with their fat stomachs, brightly colored clothing, good-natured faces, and deep fruity laughs.2 The hobbit-holes, or homes, are womb-like In their warmth and security and are filled with everything that is needed for a tranquil and comfortable existence. All of this shows nature with its most domestic and benign face.

The tale soon moves from the Shire, however, and

------J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, (New York: Ballantlne Books, 1974), p. 16. 102

Is replaced by the craggy heights of the Misty

Mountains, which separates the western and civilized lands from all else. To approach these mountains the traveller must move Into the foothills at the edge of the Wild and leave civilization as he knows

It behind. Although there are some friendly souls such as the good elves of Elrond, it Is not safe to travel during the dark hours as the occasional wandering group of tolls find their way from further east.

More consistent danger Is to be encountered

In the unfamiliar Misty Mountains than in the edge of the Wild. The treacherous, snow-covered peaks and the biting winds which blow off the surrounding ice are far different from the summer warmth of the

Shire with its haymaking, picnicking, harvesting, and blackberrying. Even If these mountains are safely negotiated there is always the possibility of being captured by the goblins who live within the mountains or destroyed by the wolves. Tolkien's goblins are closely patterned after those of George

MacDonald but are far more evil and ally themselves with the forces of wickedness.

The only haven for frightened and weary travellers is the House of Beorn which lies between the Misty Mountains and the forests of Mirkwood. 103

Beorn "Is under no enchantment but his o w n " 3 and

he has carved out of the Inhospitable land a place

of relative tranquility. Yet It does not have the

calm of the Shire for despite the cultivation there exists a careless grandeur that does not so much reflect nature but the personality of Beorn, himself.

Beyond Beorn's farm is Mlrkwood which is more frightening than even the Misty Mountains. If the mountains are dangerous because of their snow and treacherous paths, Mirkwood is evil because of the inhabitants and frightening because of the dense and oppressive oppulence of its foliage. As the travellers discover:

There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still and dark and stuffy. **

A n d :

The nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark dense cobwebs with threads extraordinarily thick, often stretched from tree to tree, or tangled In the lower branches on either side of t h e m . 5

Only by remaining on the enchanted Old Forest Road is there safety. As the travellers find out to their horror, digression means being caught by gigantic spiders.

3ibld.. p. 118.

**Ibld., p. 1*11.

5I b l d .. p. 1*10. 104

Further to the east beyond Mlrkwood lies the

lake with its human population. As the land roads

fall into disuse, the waterways serve as trade routes between the men of the lake and the wood elves who

inhabit the edges of Mlrkwood. North of the lake is the Desolation of the Dragon. This land is not only mountainous but also bleak and barren although once it had been fair and green. There is little grass and neither bush nor tree, only broken and blackened stumps.6

The physical geography of Middle-earth neatly divides into two parts: the Shire and everything else.

Interestingly enough, all the inhabitants of Middle- earth, both good and evil, except the hobbits come from beyond the Shire. The Shire with its peaceful existence is not likely to be the place where great works are to be done for a life which does not encounter some suffering or turbulence will lack Intensity. Bilbo finds that it is in the Wild that both the horrifyingly evil and the noble deeds take place.

Of the creatures who inhabit Middle-earth the hobbit is the most fully developed as a character. Ryan points out that:

As a group, the hobbits stand for the great force of simple goodness, for

6Ibld.. p. 195. while domestic rather than heroic by nature, they can rise to great heights when the occasion demands it. They suggest, although they do not epitomize, what Tolkien conceived of as an ideal personal behavior.7

The other creatures including man come from beyond the boundaries of civilization. They divide roughly into the followers of the Light and the followers of the Dark. Gandalf, the wizard, is most closely identified with the Light, while the necromancer, whose presence dominates the Lord of the Rings, is totally evil. The other creatures, drawn mostly from Saxon and German mythology, move towards these figures. Only Beorn, the shape-changer, and Smaug, the dragon, are laws unto themselves. The dwarfs, though avaricious and self-centerd, can prove to be loyal friends, while the goblins are supporters of the Dark. The elves are mainly concerned with their own affairs, but like the dwarfs will come out on the side of good if it can be seen to be to their advan­ tage .

Tolkien uses the wolves as servants of evil, but other authors, notably Lloyd Alexander, have them as agents for good. Apart from the hobbit the only unfamiliar creature is Gollum, a degenerate creature

^J-S. Ryan. Tolkien: Cult or Culture? (Australia University of New England Press, 19&9)» p. I****. 106

who was once a hobbit himself. If he can be traced

to a prior literary source then It is most likely to

be the Yahoos of Gulliver1s Travels. Of all the popu­

lation of Middle-earth he Is the most despicable for

he has lost any sense of self respect or honor.

As a created world Middle-earth derives its

power and magnificence from both the landscape and

its Inhabitants. Although the land and its people

are developed more fully in the Lord of the Rings,

Middle-earth as It is pictured in The Hobbit needs

no apology. There is close Interaction between the

land and its people: the nature of the inhabitants

is reflected in the land in which they live and in

reverse the people reflect the countryside. This

highlights the fact that there is need to move beyond

the confines of one’s own ordered existence to find meaning in life. Unlike the created world of Earthsea,

Middle-earth is not painted in great detail. Although

Tolkien uses more than impressionism to paint his scene

the reader Is expected to fill In much of the detail

from the samples that are offered. It is the successful

blending of land and people that permits the reader to

do this. 107

C .3. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnla

pie Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1951) Prince Caspian (1951') The Voyage ol’ the Dawn Treader (1952) Tiie Silver £Eair (1953) pie Hor:»e and ril’s Boy (195*0 ^he Magic 1'an1 s Nephew (1955) The Last Battle (195b)

The seven books of the Narnia chronicles here written by C.S. Lewis during the years 1951-56.

Although each book may be read as a separate entity,

all of them relate to some period of Narnla history

and how children from the primary world are Integral to the quests and tasks of delivering Narnia from

Its enemies,

Narnia, unlike Middle-earth, coexists with the

primary world. The door motif Is employed as a link between the two worlds although the specific nature of the motif changes from tale to tale. In The Lion,

the Witch and the Wardrobe the children move between worlds through an old wardrobe, In The Magician's

Nephew it is by ring and water, while In The Last

Battle a train crash pushes the children into Narnia.

Lewis' debt to Edith Nesbit, at this point, is an obvious one. Both authors have Invested inanimate objects with magical properties that permit escape from the confines of the primary world. The technique

is a simple one which when used can be quickly passed

over without interfering with the body of the story. 108

Lewis, on occasion, does develop his motif some­ what further than Nesbit. This is particularly noticeable in The Magician1s Nephew where both the rings and the pools of water occupy, if not a central place in the theme, a rather important place in the actual adventures.

The world of Narnia reflects Lewis1 concept of

Nature. As Kathryn Lindskoog points out:

Lewis* wonder at the fresh exuberance of nature is expressed in his first description of the real Narnia, as the great thaw occurs in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The sucTden rejuvenation of the forest is recorded with great delicacy and sensuous detail. Finally, as the trees begin to come alive, the larches and birches in green, the laburnums in gold, a dwarf stops and announces with horror, "This is * no thaw; this is spring" (pp. 97-98).

This wonder is so intense that a romantic picture of nature is inevitable. In The Magician*s Nephew as the new Narnia is clothed with vegetation Lewis* description becomes ecstatic:

There was certainly plenty to watch and to listen to. The tree which Pigory had noticed first was now a full-grown beech whose branches swayed gently above his head. They stood on cool, green grass, sprinkled with daisies and buttercups. A little way off, along the river bank, willows were growing. On the other side

^Kathryn Lindskoog, The Lion of Judah in Never- Never Land. (Michigan: Elramans Publishing-^)., 1973), pp. 29-30. 109

tangles of flowering currant, lilac, wild rose, and rhododendron closed them in. The horse was tearing up delicious mouthfuls of new grass.9

At times Lewis* control of his style becomes shaky as Keatsian sensousness gives way to exaggeration:

You could almost feel the trees growing. The pool he had Just got out of was not the only pool. There were dozens of others— a pool every few yards as far as his eyes could reach. You could almost feel the trees drinking the water up with their roots. This wood was very much alive.... It was a rich place: as rich as plum-cake.lO

As Lindskoog again suggests:

Here Lewis is apparently reverting to "the older conception of Nature... tingling with anthropmophic life, dancing, ceremonial, a festival not a machine.

Lewis is aware that even evil can be superficially attractive. It certainly appeared this way to Edmund when he first came in contact with it in Narnla.

The reindeer were about the size of Shetland ponies and their hair was so white that even the snow hardly looked white compared with them; their branching horns were gilded and shone like something on fire when the sunrise caught them. Their harness was of scarlet leather and covered with bells. On the sledge, driving the reindeer, sat a fat dwarf who would have been about

9c.S. Lewis, The Magician1s Nephew, (New York: Collier Books, 1973), p p . T(J5-T 07T

10Ibld.. p. 29.

^Lindskoog, The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land, p. 31* 110

three feet high If he had been standing. He was dressed In polar bear's fur and on his head he wore a red hood with a long gold tassel hanging down from its point; his huge beard covered his knees and served him instead of a rug. But behind him, on a much higher seat in the middle of the sledge sat a very different person— a great lady, taller than any woman that Edmund had ever seen. She also was covered in white fur up to her right hand and wore a golden crown on her head. Her face was white— not merely pale, but white like snow or paper or icing sugar, except for her very red mouth. It was a beautiful face in other respects, but proud and cold and stern.12

This description of evil invites comparison with

Milton's description of Pandemonium In Paradise Lost.

Although Milton's work is much grander, in both

Instances evil viewed in isolation has an alluring opulence. Yet both lack any spiritual beauty and In perspective are overshadowed by the purer beauty of uncorrupted nature.

Although the population of Narnia is more varied than that of Middle-earth, three major groups of creatures native to Narnla are discernible. Lewis not only draws from Saxon and German mythology, as does Tolkien, but also includes Greek as well. To western and northern

European magic, Lewis has brought classical beauty in the form of the Dryads, Nymphs, Satyrs, and Centaurs.

s • Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (New York: Collier Books, X 9 7 3 )$ P * ^7■ Ill

Of all the forms of life in Narnia only this part of creation cannot be separated into good or evil.

They remain pure and noble and even holy. There is recognition of this holiness in The Last Battle at the beginning of the destruction of Narnia. As the

Dryad comes to Tiran for aid she calls out:

Woe for my brothers and sisters! Woe for the holy trees! The woods are laid waste. The axe is loosed against us. 13

The greater number of other mythological creatures are evil although this does not include some of the dwarfs and giants. The influence of both Qeorge

MacDonald and Rudyard Kipling on Lewis is recognizable.

MacDonald successfully used villainous goblins in the

Curdle books although Lewis* Germanic creatures are far more terrifying than those found in the world of

The Princess ard the Goblin. Kipling*s influence is to be seen in the variety of Old World creatures that

Lewis presents. At this point it should be noted that both Lewis and Tolkien belonged to the same literary circle and that Tolkien*s influence on Lewis has yet to be fully recognized by the critics.

The talking beasts are the second major group of creatures who inhabit Narnia. To a select group

13c.s. Lewis, The Last Battle. (New York: Collier Books, 197^), p. lBC 112 of animals, Aslan has given the power to think and use human language. Generally these beasts are gentle and good although, as with the wargs of Middle-earth; however, the talking wolves and eventually the ape, shift sides with the forces of evil. While all the talking beasts offer a nursery- world delight to the readers of the Narnian tales they do not serve any function that could not be done equally as well by the other creatures. Lewis, however, recognizes the popularity of animals with young readers, and, therefore, includes them for this reason if no other.

The most important section of the Narnian popu­ lation is the human. As in the primary world their true function is to rule and govern the rest of creation. It is for their sake that Narnia really exists. Lewis has separated the human population

Into two groups. The Narnian's themselves look like fair, northern Europeans and are fighters for Aslan and the powers of good. The Calormenes, on the other hand, are darker in color, dress vaguely like the

Moors of Northern Africa and live very materialistic lives. Even their religion is different, and the reader might be excused for suspecting that C.S. Lewis is racially and religiously prejudiced. For all that, taken in context the Calormenes are not a particularly 113 attractive group. Bowed down by their lust for power, they are not to be trusted by the Narnians.

Even their god, Tash, is evil, power hungry, and demands human sacrifice. In some ways he is reminiscent of Baal of the Canaanites. Physically,

Tash is similar to Nlsroch in E.B. Nesbit1s The

Story of the Amulet. The link between Nesbit and

Lewis, at this point, is even more apparent when it is realized that the Calormene leader is known as the Tlsroc.

One of the more unusual aspects of all the

Narnian stories is the use of children from the primary world as necessary agents in the war against evil in the secondary world. Given the titles "Sons of Adam" and "Daughters of Eve," lifted directly from Kipling's Puck of Fook's Hill, they have a charismatic following amongst the

Narnians. Like the talking animals their function could have been easily taken over by other Narnian creatures but Lewl3 uses them as a technical device to bridge the gap between realism and fantasy. What it does suggest to the young reader is that If the children In the tales can get to Narnla then he, the reader, also might succeed, and in his imagination he will. 11H

Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

Like C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L*Engle's interest in religion is apparent as her characters battle against spiritual wickedness within the Universe.

She sets three children, Meg and Charles Wallace

Murry and their friend Calvin, against an evil which is destroying the Cosmos. Because the Universe becomes the setting for the plot, the created world is not one specifically located place as is either

Middle-earth or Narnia; instead, it is made up of a number of widely separated planets.

In all literature there are some books which are difficult to classify In one distinct genre or another. A Wrinkle in Time is such a book containing elements of both science fiction and high fantasy.

As the prime emphasis Is on metaphysical and psycho­ logical issues rather than scientific concerns the book can justifiably be treated as high fantasy.

Science fiction is apparent only in as far as tesser- actlng Is based on the scientific theories of time and space. As a means of having the characters move rapidly from planet to planet, L'Engle Introduces the concept of the tesseract. According to L*Engle this is a process whereby the linear distance between two places is removed so that there can be an instan­ taneous transition from one point to another. The 115

precise nature of how a person actually tesseracts

Is not explained and It is at this point that fantasy

overrides the elements of science fiction. Only a

few experienced souls such as the three guardian angels have this esoteric ability to tesseract. They are able to help the children move in similar fashion by going first and taking the children "afterwards

in the backwash.1,1 **

The tesseract is L'Engle's response to the door motif. Instead of using an inanimate object with magical powers as the agent to move characters between the primary and secondary worlds she makes use of modern scientific knowledge and creates from this. As such her book represents a departure from the work of Tolkien and Lewis. She establishes a new mythology filled with new creatures and new worlds.

The created world divides into those planets which are under the shadow of evil and those which are clear. The first planet to which the children are taken is Uriel which is clear. This planet is like the best that is to be found on Earth. As Meg observes:

They were standing in a sunlit field* and the air about them was moving with the delicious frangrance that comes

■^Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time. (U.S.A.: Farrar* Straus and Giroux,”T972), p. 79* 116

only on the rarest of spring days when the sun’s touch Is gentle and the apple blossoms are Just beginning to u n f o l d . 15

This is a Garden of Eden unspoiled by evil. It is in marked contrast to Camazotz which is under the power of evil. Camazotz is represented as a totali­ tarian state where individual liberty and freedom of choice are removed, while the minutest deviance from the existing norm is a punishable offense.

The description of Camazotz and its inhabitants is a mixture of the societies depicted in George Orwell’s,

1984 and David Karp’s, One.

What is noticeable about both worlds is that they have recognizable references to our own planet.

Earth. Uriel is represented In terms of physical geography while Camazotz is viewed from a religio- political stance. While L'Engle separates both her worlds by a brief digression, she has not dealt fairly with her readers. It must be assumed that she has meant the worlds to be compared; therefore, it would have been more honest to have spoken In similar terms about both Uriel and Camazotz.

The third world bears no significant resem­ blance to Earth, Uriel, or Camazotz. It is a clear planet in that it is not shadowed by evil, but there

15Ibld.. p. 59. 117

Is no color In the vegetation, everything Is either

gray or white. As the Inhabitants cannot see this does not matter. The lack of color Is more than com­

pensated for by the frangrance In the air and the

Implied sense of peace. The planet’s inhabitants

are also gray In color and look like walking sea

anenomes.

They had heads, and they had faces. But where the faces of the creatures on Uriel had seemed far more than human faces, these seemed far less. Where the features would normally be there were several indentations, and In place of ears and hair were more tentacles, Meg realized as they came closer, far taller than any man. They had no eyes. Just soft indentations.1®

These creatures are aware of evil although they themselves are untouched by it. Their greatest ability is their power of healing and in that they stand against the disharmony and agony which emenates from the evil and hate of "IT."

The created world of A Wrinkle in Time is a representation of good and evil rather than a world established in its own right. What exists is not a world Integrated with its inhabitants and their problems, but a visualization of moral, religious, and political concepts. For this reason there is

*6Ibid.. pp. 173-7M. 1X6' little that Is captivating In the description of this world. What the reader does remember Is the broader Issue of the spiritual warfare. As

Marcus Crouch comments, however:

4 Wrinkle In Time remains an experiment, an uneasy ^Tending of physics and meta­ physics, but an experiment entirely In the spirit of the age in which It was conceived.

Lloyd Alexander: The Chronicles of Prydaln

The Book of Three (196*0 The Black Cauldron (1965) The Castle of Llyr (1966) Taran Wanderer (1967) The High King (1968)

Lloyd Alexander’s chronicles of Prydain were called by Lillian Gerhardt in 1968 "the finest world of fantasy for children ever produced by an American author" and "the strongest high fantasy written for children in our times.”1® Marcus Crouch would dispute this all embracing statement for he sees

Lewis’ Narnla chronicles as having both greater vision and depth of bathos.^ Despite Crouch's comments,

■^Marcus Crouch, The Nesbit Tradition: The Children’s Novel 19**5-1970. (London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1972J, p. 56.

^Lillian Gerhardt, "The High King-a Review." School Library Journal. 15, February 1968, p. 8o.

^Crouch, The Nesbit Tradition, p. 125. 119 however, Prydain has been magnificently conceived and must take its place in children's literature as does the Lord of the Rings in adult literature.

The five books trace the history of Taran.

Marion Carr sums up the idea which runs through the books.

Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper hero of the Chronicles of Prydain, at the outset merely dreams of heroic glory; but he is also, like all heroes, an opportunist. He knows precisely what kind of hero he wishes to be: one of noble birth and unquestioned valor; a comrade of kings and great knights; and one worthy of the love of a princess. Heroic glory seems a long way off, but by seizing every opportunity to perform valiantly, Taran begins to assume the proportions of the classic hero of Western literature.2®

Probably the best statement about the setting of the tales comes from Alexander, himself. He says:

This chronicle of the Land of Prydain is not a retelling or retranslation of Welsh mythology. Prydain is not Wales— not entirely, at least. The inspiration for it comes from that magnificent land and its legends; but essentially, Prydain is a country existing only in the imagin­ ation.2*

While the landscape of Prydain has been carefully developed so that the reader knows exactly where the

^Ma r i o n Carr, "Classical Hero in a New Mythology," Horn Book. October, 1971, p. 508.

2*Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three. (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc. 197*0» author's note. 120 action Is taking place, Alexander chooses to bring his created world alive with flesh and blood rather than vegetation. Where the land itself takes on meaning it is most frequently the result of perceptual interpretation. The exceptions are few, as for example, when Taran chases Magg across the Isle of Mona:

Taran clambered blindly over Jagged stones, trying his best to be both swift and silent. Despite the clear night the way was difficult to follow, boulders loomed to catch him unawares and break his s t r i d e . 22

More often the impression Is visual rather than physical:

Taran followed. Ahead, the forest rose up dark and threatening.23

As a created world Prydain*s success lies not in what it looks like but In the variety of its

Inhabitants. Alexander draws heavily on Welsh myth­ ology, especially from the Mabinoglon, rather than from traditional European sources. The exception is the fair-folk. Like dwarfs everywhere they are true friends once they can be won over.

Alexander is most successful in his depiction

22Lloyd Alexander, The Castle of Llyr, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1973), P- 46".

^Alexander, The Book of Three. p. 21. 121 of evil. The dreadful cauldron-horn are particularly terrifying for they alone in all

Prydain do evil without their own consent or knowledge.

These are the stolen bodies of the slain, steeped in Arawn1s cauldron to give them life again. They emerge Implacable as death itself, their humanity forgotten. Indeed, they are no longer men but weapons of murder, in thrall to Arawn forever. 2**

Even though it is with Taran that the reader identifies It is the forces of evil that give

Prydain its leaven. Arawn, the lord of the Land of

Death, creates for himself an atmosphere generally found only in Gothic novels. He is spoken of with awe and fear and remains an abstract being almost to the end. The shape-changer materializes only at his own death.

Taran looked up as the girl pointed to the cloven serpent. Its body writhed, Its shape blurred. In its place appeared the black-cloaked figure of a man whose severed head had rolled face downward on the earth- Yet In a moment this shape too lost Its form and the corpse sank like a shadow into the earth; and where It had lain was seared and fallow, the ground wasted, fissured as though by drought. Arawn Death-Lord had vanished.25

2**Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1973T7 P •

25Lloyd Alexander, The High King, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1973)* PP- 273-7**. 122

Generally Arawn works through his servants and agents. It is they who hound and haunt the country­ side as Horned King, cauldron born, huntsmen, and gwythaints.

Although not evil in the sense of willful destruction, but nevertheless evil because they are both amoral and unashamedly powerful, are the three enchantresses: Orwen, Orgoch, and Orddu. As Orgoch mutters:

Enemies, friends, it all comes to the same in the end.26

Having allegiance to no one but themselves they are, therefore, to be treated with great caution.

In character they are a mixture of the witches from

Macbeth and the Greek Fates, but unlike the Fates they are fully aware of the consequences of their actions. Physically they are alike and as Taran first sees Orddu so he sees them all.

Facing him was a short and rather plump little woman with a round, lumpy face and a pair of very sharp black eyes. Her hair hung like a clump of discolored marsh weeds, bound with vines and ornamented with bejeweled pins that seemed about to lose themselves in the hopeless tangle. She wore a dark, shapeless, ungirt robe covered with patches and stains. Her feet were bare and exceptionally large.*7

26Alexander» The Black Cauldron, p. 126.

27Ibid., p. 120. 123

Like Arawn they are shape changers at will. Their chief function, however, Is not to change shape, or to cast spells but to oversee the weaving of the patterns of life as Taran finds out at the end of his quest. They give to him a magnificent but unfinished tapestry from their loom which as they point out is Taran*s own work and life.

One other extraordinary creature inhabiting

Prydain is Gurgi. The reader's first impression might be to liken him to Gollum of Middle-earth, but Gollum is a degenerate hobbit while Gurgi seems to be a creature left over from an early period in man's evolu­ tion. As Taran first sees him "he could not be sure whether it was animal or human. He decided it was both."

Its hair was so matted and covered with leaves that it looked like an owl's nest in need of housecleaning. It had long, skinny, woolly arms, and a pair of fg&t as flexible and grimy as Its hands.28

Mentally Gurgi Is like a young child for he is simple- minded, affectionate, and loyal. He manifests much that is desirable in the character of man and on occasion affords some comic relief with his chattering. Rather then being a figure of pity he has an unadorned nobility that is a result of his childlike innocence.

The Prydain Chronicles are primarily concerned

2®Alexander, The Book of Three, pp. 36-7* 12H with the trials and adventures of both Taran and the House of Don, Summer People. Alexander, however, has not been as concerned in developing all these characters as fully as he has been with describing the evil protagonists. Except for the hero, Taran; the tom-boy princess, Eilonwy; and Fflam, the bard, whose exaggerated tales cause his harp strings to snap, the rest of the human cast move in and out of the Chronicles in the manner of Hollywood spec­ taculars. The names are famous but the parts are small. Rather than detracting from the picture, however, they embellish Prydain. The breadth and variety of this segment of the population gives balance to the depth of all the rest.

Alan Garner: Elldor (1965)

Elidor is Garner's only book in which he has made an attempt to develop a secondary world. Four children while exploring a demolished area of Manchester suddenly find themselves transported into the world of

Elidor. There they discover that their coming has been foretold in a legend which states that they would save

Elidor from darkness. This salvation is accomplished partly through removing the four treasures of light and taking them back into the primary world for safety.

Garner's created world lacks the depth and sophistication of authors such as Tolkien, Lewis, Le Guln, 125 and Alexander. This is Just one of a number of disturbing weaknesses within a book that has so much initial potential. As Watkins points out

Garner has drawn upon Celtic mythology, made reference to the Grail legend, and rewritten the Scottish folk­ tale of Childe Rowland and the dark tower of the King of Elfland.^9 gut Garner fails to develop his source material particularly well and Crouch says: "The scenes in Elidor are unconvincing. "3° Further comments by Crouch give an insightful estimate of the overall quality of the book:

The book picks up when the children return to their own world with their Treasures. In Elidor these were a spear, a golden stone, a sword and a chalice; back in Manchester they turn into a bit of iron railing, a cracked cup, but they retain their magic potency. Much of the interest lies in Garner's use of technology, not to explain away but to make the magic credible. The Treasures, buried in the Watson's back garden ruin reception on television, start the family car, and make Mrs. Watson's washing machine churn all night with the plug out. These are effective devices, but neither they nor the clear presentation of the Manchester and Cheshire scene and its inhabitants make the central theme sufficiently important to Justify the book.31

29Tony Watkins, "Alan Garner's 'Elidor'," Children's Literature in Education, Vol. 7, March, 1972, p. 59.

3®Crouch, The Nesbit Tradition, p. 127.

31ibid 126

Garner*s main thesis in Elidor is that

secondary worlds coexist and overlap with the primary

world and that action within one world will have a

reaction in the other. Malebron, the maimed and

embattled "fisher king" of Elidor 3ays to the children:

Remember, I have said the worlds are linked, .... And what you have done here will be reflected in some way, at some time, in your w o r l d . 32

Although Malebron is aware of the children*s

world, having entered it as a fiddler, they obviously

are not aware of Elidor prior to finding themselves

there. How Malebron has become aware of other worlds

beyond his own is not explained by Garner and appears

to be a weakness in this fantasy.

The entrance to Elidor, in the first instance,

is made when the four children, Helen, Nicholas,

David, and Roland, are exploring a partly demolished

part of Manchester. They find their world disappearing about them and being replaced by the secondary world.

Roland, the youngest of the children is the last to

enter this strange sword and sorcery world but he

finds out that he has a power of will and mind stronger

than his siblings, which can be used to rescue the

stolen treasures of light. In essence his quest will

32Alan Garner, Elidor, (New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1967), pp. 5 7 - W . 127 echo the tale of Chllde Rowland.

Elidor Is a waste land but it Is newly wasted for Roland notes that the castle:

Although It was a ruin, the scars were fresh. The tumbled stone was unweathered, and all the windows held traces of glass.33

He leaves the castle and sets out on a road:

For a while...passed charred stumps of buildings, and fields rank with nettle. Dust, or ash, kicked up under Roland's feet, muffling his walk and coating his body as arldly that his skin rasped. Flies whined around him, and crawled in his hair, and tried to settle on his lips. The sky was dull, yet there was a brittleness in the light that h u r t . 3 1*

The visual description of the dead Elidor is the most complete aspect of Garner*s whole creation, and has the same evocative power as Eliot's The Waste Land:

Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water If there were water we should stop and drink Among the rock one cannot stop or think Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand If there were only water amongst the rock Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit There is not even silence in the mountains But dry sterile thunder without r a i n 3 5

The dark tower that Roland Watson eventually

31*lbld.. p. 32.

35t .S. Eliot, "The Waste Land,” The Complete Poems and Plays 1909-1950, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., t5?2T7pt vrr 128 enters Is the Mound of Vandwy which was *t)uilt for blood," and was Supple to evil."36 Joseph Jacobs notes the similarity of the pre-Aryan mounds found in England and the Elfland that Childe Rowland enters.37 This similarity is closely paralled in Garner's description of the Mound of Vandwy. The furnishings of the mound in Elidor, however, are unique to Garner's imagination:

A thread hung from the dome, and at the end of it was a branch of apple blossom. The branch was silver, and the blossom of crystal. The veins in the leaves and petals were like spun mercury.3o

After the children rescue the stone, the sword, and the cauldron from the mound, they and the treasures are transported back into the primary world. From that point on Elidor becomes important not for itself but only in so far as it impinges on the lives of the people of Manchester. The treasures act as energizers causing disruption to electrical appliances, while the powers of Darkness from Elidor attempt to move into the primary world to recapture the treasures.

The unicorn, Findhorn, also enters the primary world but where he has been prior to this appearance is as vaguely treated as Malebron*s knowledge of other worlds.

^ Garner, Elidor, p. ***!.

^Joseph Jacobs, ed., English Fairy Tales, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc7, T $ 6 j ), p. 24B.

3®Qarner, Elidor, p. 50. 129 Elidor suffers from Garner's inability to give it a more important place within the framework of the whole story. What is seen of Elidor is vividly presented but in contrast to the primary world it is underplayed. Garner has many imaginative ideas but appears unsure of exactly how to control them.

Joan North: The Cloud Forest (1 9 6 5 ) The Light Maze (1971)

The Cloud Forest

As a created world the Cloud Forest is an interesting departure from the worlds developed by earlier authors. Instead of being a world which is both substantial and external to the protagonists, as in Narnia, the Cloud Forest is an ephemeral and mystical land which can exist only as an extension of the minds of two people, Andrew and Raymond

Annerlie who, unknown to Andrew, is his uncle.

The entrance to the Cloud Forest, at least for

Andrew, is by physical contact with an ancient ring that has remarkable powers for good. The story centers on an attempt by the evil Sir Edward Annerlie to gain possession of the ring by first gaining control of

Andrew's mind. Fortunately for Andrew the ring not only protects him but 13 capable of destroying those 130 who are Intent on misusing It.

The ring has both the power of protection for those placed under its guardianship and the power to actuate the abstract essence of a thought or object.

This results in a bowl of wax fruit being transformed into real fruit but more Importantly it results in the materialization of the Cloud Forest. The Cloud

Forest is the home of the psyche, the true self, and it is only able to remain in a physically viable state as long as Andrew Is capable of escaping from his conscious self.

When Andrew questions the identity of the naked boy whom he meets in the Cloud Forest the boy says:

...you're speaking to yourself— your True Self, that is, and not all those others who keep popping in and confusing the issue... 39

Andrew finds difficulty in sustaining this world of the Cloud Forest for at twelve years of age he has gone beyond the normal stage of childhood where the self can move readily between the worlds of fantasy and reality. It is only through the power of the ring that he is able to enter into the Cloud Forest at all.

The Cloud Forest is described by Joan North

39Joan North, The Cloud Forest, (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1966), p. 3b. 131 in terms meant to establish the ephemeral nature of its existence and at the same time to hint at the pristine innocence associated with true being.

Andrew:

observed a large white cloud which seemed to be floating toward him. It hovered in the blue air above him and he sat down on the grass to watch It. In a moment it had enveloped the sun and was bright gilt round the edges. Somehow it seemed to be slowly and softly pulsating and growing brighter and brighter and brighter and moving gradually toward him. He rose to his feet— nearer and nearer drew the cloud until suddenly he was lost in whirling white mist; his body felt cool, trans­ lucent, and most sweetly refreshed; there was a sound like a most musical plot and he was drenched In the lightest of rain, and then the mist cleared. He was In a Forest. It was, he supposed, a Cloud Forest. Everything about him was white, the trees, the grass, the earth and the fallen leaves on the earth and the small pine cones. A little milky stream ran by at his feet, rippling over white stones in a snowy foam.**0

It is also through the Cloud Forest that Andrew is able to communicate with his invalid uncle Raymond

Annerlie. Why this should be so is not explored by

North but it might be that at the purest level of being kindred souls are capable of spiritual contact.

North has also used the created world to contrast good and evil. The Cloud Forest stands for spiritual purity while Sir Edward Annerlie represents corrupt

40Ibld.. pp. 36-37- 132

nature that lusts after power associated, if not

with the flesh, at least with the world and the Devil.

The Light Maze

Despite the difference of six years between

the writing of The Cloud Forest and The Light Maze

the two books closely relate in style, type of

character portrayed, and the nature of the created worlds. Thematically there is greater variation,

for while The Cloud Forest treats the problem of good versus evil The Light Maze deals with ah ancient religious principle of the unity of oppositeB.

The light maze is set in a spiritual land of rare beauty. At the heart of the maze lies the light- stone which contains powers that help keep creation in equilibrium. The story focuses on a group of people who find an earthly echo of the true lightstone and what happens when they are transported into the land of the Light Maze.

As with The Cloud Forest. entrance to the secondary world in The Light Maze is partly the result of physical contact with a magical agent.

Like the ring, the lightstone has the power of transforming abstract essence into reality. Its power is demonstrated in the transmutation of the setting of Francis Leland's nativity play Into a substantial 133 world. The other necessary ingredient for entrance into the Light Naze is a desire to move there. In this sense the Light Maze, like the Cloud Forest, is an extention of the mind which can only be entered by the true self.

In many ways Joan North has taken the concepts that were introduced in The Cloud Forest and extended them in The Light Maze. As with The Cloud Forest there is an exploration of the Platonic theory of a greater reality beyond the physical. This is parti­ cularly noticeable in the treatment of the two light- stones. One is to be found in the primary world but its true substance exists only in the Light Maze which is firmly fixed in the secondary world.

The new element in The Light Maze is seen in the unity of opposites. Francis Leland observes as he looks at the earthly lightstone:

Those two fishlike shapes fitting together make a perfect circle. One is usually depicted black and the other white— light and darkness, masculine and feminine, positive and ^ negative— the unity of the opposites. 1

A most Interesting example of this concept is the evil shadow in the Light Maze. The evil is a manifestation of the evil within those who enter the Maze but It is

^ J o a n North, The Light Maze, (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1971)7 P* 13* inevitable, and as St. Hugh says:

Where the darkness Is strongest... so too is the light, if people did but perceive it. That is the law. All things must b a l a n c e . ^2

The only way to dispel this shadow is not to run from it but to face it. A similar realization is to be found in A Wizard of Earthsea when Qed must face the evil within himself.

The Light Maze is more integral to its books than is the Cloud Forest to its book. Joan North has more control over the difficult concepts with which she is working and the tongue-in-cheek ending of The Cloud Forest is replaced in The Light Maze by the more serious philosophical question about the nature of death. When Francis' body is found

Tom says:

He's not asleep.... He must have stayed behind in the Maze. This is only his body. You mean he's dead?, asked Harriet, horrified. Whatever death may mean, said Barney. And I don't think somehow it means very much.^3

Such comments bring home the striking resemblance between Joan North's worlds and the created world in

George MacDonald's book, At the Back of the North Wind.

^ Ibld., p. 168.

**3Ibld. , p . 185. 135

Ursula Le Guln: The Tales of Earthsea

A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) The Tombs of Atuan (1970) The Farthest Shore (1972)

Although each of the Earthsea tales can be

read without reference to the other two there Is a

common thread of wizardry which runs through them all.

The main character in all there stories is Ged who

becomes Archmage of Roke. The tales tell of Ged's

war against the powers of evil.

Earthsea is an archipelago divided into a

number of principalities. Despite the fact that all

the inhabitants speak Hardic, the common language, of the island, the dialects, customs and occupations of the people vary from island to island. There are

the simple and unsophicated people of Gont who work as farmers and goatherders; there are the fisherfolk of the Ninety Isles; and there are the sophisticated urban dwellers of Great Port, Havnor, to name but a

few of the citizenry of Earthsea. Le Guin has been particularly careful In her creation of Earthsea to avoid a vaguely generalized culture and way of life.

The variety makes for credibility and at times literary tension.

As with most created worlds in high fantasy the land is devoid of modern mechanical tools and transport.

This is compensated for by the wizards and sorcerers of Earthsea who have the power to direct the winds, cure illnesses, and give aid in many ways to the needy. Many of the inhabitants of the archipelago live close to nature and understand their dependence on its regular cycles. The power of the wizard to change these patterns places him in a position of great awe and reverence.

The school for wizards on Roke is very like a medieval monastery or university. Young boys from all over Earthsea who show signs of adeptness go to

Roke to study under the masters. If Roke is not the political capital of Earthsea it certainly is the spiritual center. The status of the wizards does not come form economic affluence but through their power over nature. A boy enters Roke as an apprentice and spends at least four years studying to become a sorcerer further study will gain him his wizard's staff.

Roke is governed by the council of master wizards whose leader is titled the Archmage. Each of these masters, except the Doorkeeper, devotes his life to the continual study and teaching of his profession. Each is responsible for one area of wizardry. There is the

Master Windkey, who controls the weather, and there is the Master Namer who searches for the true name, not merely the use name, of everything In Earthsea from the smallest pebble on the beach to the faintest star 137 in the sky. Others of the masters specialize in studying shape-changing, healing, summoning, and illusion.

To have pure power ungoverr._*d by any moderating force is dangerous, so the apprentices of Roke must also concern themselves with questions of morality.

There is a responsiblity that must be taken for one's choice and as Ged is told when he asks the Master Hand how to turn a pebble permanently into a diamond:

To change this rock into a Jewel, you must change its true name. And to do that, my son, even to so small a scrap of the world, is to change the world. It can be done. Indeed It can be done. It is the art of the Master Changer, and you will learn It, when you are ready to learn it. But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is In balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard's power of Changing and of Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power. It is most perilous. It must follow knowledge, and serve need. To light a candle Is to cast a shadow...1^

The essence of the wizardry that emanates from Roke is to be humble enough to understand the danger of disturbing the equilibrium of the world and responsible enough to disturb It when there Is need.

Permeating the culture of Earthsea is the concern

^Ursula Le Quin, A Wizard of Earthsea, (Berkeley: Parnassus Press, 1968), pp. 56-577 138 for naming and recognition. To have power over

another person or object requires knowledge of its

true name. While much of the time spent in studying

on Roke is devoted to learning true names there is

also great concern not to disclose one's own true

name for fear that opposing forces will use it to do

personal harm. The taboo associated with naming is

one that has been the concern of many primitive groups

throughout history. It is a bi-product of associating

the word with the object. Frazer states:

Unable to discriminate clearly between words and things, the savage commonly fancies that the link between a name and the person or thing denominated by it is not a mere arbitrary and ideal association, but a real and substantial bond which unites the two in such a way that magic may be wrought on a man Just as easily through his name as through his hair, his nails, or any other material part of his person. In fact, primitive man regards his name as a vital portion of himself and takes care of it accordingly. 5

The power of words in both religion and magic is not

only associated with names. Even today prayers are repeated in the hope that the repetition of certain

words spoken in a specific order will evoke an immediate

and perhaps magical response from the Diety. Spells

of wizards and witches have been thought, in the past,

to function in a similar way. With the wizards of

James Frazer, The Golden Bough. (Mew York: Macmillan, 1958), pTTSlT 139 Earthsea there Is In their spells this mixture of gnomic phrases and gnostic religion.

Le Guin does not use mythological and fabulous creatures to the same degree as Tolkien and Lewis.

With the exception of the dragons, Earthsea is a human world in the same way as is Prydain. Perhaps even the dragons might have been deleted successfully but their presence does bridge the gap between the creation of Earthsea and the world as It exists. The dragons are great and wise creatures but are dangerous to man.

The dragons described by Tolkien, Lewis, and

Le Guin are similar in appearance and manner. Ab a concept they have had a long religious and literary history beginning with the serpent cults of the ancient Near East. According to Encyclopaedia

Brlttanica the Chaldaean dragon, TIamat, physically resembles the current stereotype. It had four legs, a scaly body, and wings. In more recent history it seems to be derived from Saxon and German epics ranging from Beowulf to Siegmund. The dragon:

...is a power of evil, guardian of hoards, the greedy withholder of good things from men; and the slaying of a dragon is the crowning achievement of heroes— of Siegmund, of Beowulf, of Sigurd, of Arthur, of Tristram-- even of Lancelot, the Beau ideal of 140

medieval chivalry.^6

Chivalry In Earthsea extends beyond dragon hunting and the whole archipelago Is oriented to the primacy of the male. Where women are represented they assume subservient roles or they are evil.

Those that have power generally are self-taught. The chief exception is Arha, the priestess in The Tombs of Atuan. She has been trained carefully for her position but even so she is bound to serve the old forces of evil who demand human sacrifice. Mostly it is the men of Earthsea who assume the leadership roles whether they be for good or evil.

Earthsea is more interesting as a cultural world than it is geographically. The main emphasis is on the power of magic to govern the lives of the population but as Wendy Jago says:

There is much honest reality in the book, too— indeed the moral qualities would be cold and abstract if they were not deeply inwoven with the characteristics of dif­ ferent folk, the concern for patient craftsmanship, whether in magery or in boat-building, and the sense of warm human relationships. Security and even cosiness are there, but seen in relation and some­ times contrast to the necessities arising ations. They do not provide an escape. **'(

^ Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1957, ed., s.v. "Dragon."

**7wendy Jago, "A Wizard of Earthsea and the Charge of Escapism." Children's Literature in Educa­ tion, Vol. 8., July 1972, p. 2$. 1*11

Mary Q. Steele: Journey Outside (1969)

In the strictest sense of the term High Fantasy,

Journey Outside does not qualify for inclusion In the genre. The element that is most lacking Is the use of magic. Yet Mary Steele's development of a created world

Is so vivid, and the sense of quest Is so strong that the book must be given ad eundum status within thegenre.

Even If magic does not exist either preternaturally or supernaturally the story can be said to be magical In its power to evoke in the mind of the thoughtful reader questions about the meaning of life. The story focuses on Dllar's journey from his home on the underground river Into the outside world but it may be read as adventure, allegory or fantasy. On a metaphysical level Journey Outside has an affinity with George

MacDonald's The Golden Key. Questions about the meaning of existence are raised by both books and the method of doing this is to send the characters forth on a

Journey through life.

The physical world in Journey Outside Is divided

Into two sections, that of the underground river and that of the world above ground. Steele then proceeds to further subdivide the surface world into a number of cultures. These cultures are probably best inter­ preted as representations of philosophical positions in life instead of societies in their own right. 1142

Because of the allegorical nature of the book, there­ fore, it is more useful to perceive both the above and below ground cultures as parts of one created world rather than divide them into primary and secondary worlds.

The life on the underground river is an existen­ tialist one based on both hope and fear. There is hope amongst the raft people that one day they would arrive at "a better place than where [theyj were before.’1^

There is also fear that this might not be so, for when

Dilar comments to his grandfather that he does not believe that they are going anywhere he is told to

"hush, hush"^9 because it is a wicked thing to say.

That the raft people do not know they are going around in circles is immaterial to them while even their

faith sustains them. For them there is truth in the cliche that "It is better to travel than to arrive.”

To some extent the underground existence has a prenatal quality about it. The river is the mother figure that sustains the raft people while the consistent temperature of the tunnel and Its dim light

Is a womb. Yet the raft people live In a fool's paradise for the river life is not really a mother but

4^Mary Q. Steele, Journey Outside, (New York: Dell Publishing, Co., Inc., 1972), p. 15.

i,9Ibid. 143 a self-made prison.

Dllar breaks forth from the womb-prlson Into the outside world. Initially he likens his new experi­ ences to the old so that birds are flying fish, and he wonders if the trees are alive. Dilar*s adjustment to this new world Is not only cognitive but also physical for the sun badly burns his virgin skin and so very nearly kills him.

The new cultures that Dilai" enters must be seen in the light of his changing perceptions of life. In this sense it is difficult to separate the cultures from the quest that Dilar has engaged upon.

The world of Dorna and Norna at first appear like

Paradise for after the underground river It is in an explosion of light, color, and life. Dilar comes to realize, however, that this new land is no better than the old. If the raft people refuse to recognize the fact that their life Is futile, then the people ✓ of this new land are equally as blind In their unwillingness to accept responsiblity for their existence, or to work for the future. They have not learnt from their past experi­ ence nor are they prepared to extend the boundaries of their lives to learn from others.

Dilar next meets WIngo, the hermit. Although this man Is materially comfortable, for he has plenty of food and clothing, his life is only partly fulfilled. His n u energies are exerted to look after mountain creatures but he has lived away from humanity for so long that his sensibilities are warped. His

"nature is so tender he can't bear to notice how cruel he is being."50 Like the raft people and the valley folk he also is blind to the demands of total involvement in life.

The third new land that Dilar enters is that of the desert. Although the other cultures, including the raft people, were partially blind to life the people of the desert are totally blind.

Theirs is a nihilistic existence whose continual questioning about life stops them from ever listening for answers. They live in a state of almost continual inertia which feeds back on itself to produce life as barren as the desert that surrounds them.

Journey Outside is divided into four cultures that offer some Interpretation of man's varied existence.

It Is the Inhabitants who are of interest rather than the land Itself. The people, however, are not to be divorced from their environment for In some measure the land and the people are one. Regardless of the knowledge that the people have about the existence of life else­ where the land hedges them in. Few people are willing to take the same step as Dilar.

5°Ibld.» p. 139.. 1*5

Sylvia Engdahl: Enchantress from the Stars (1970)

Elana, a young girl from an advanced civili­

zation comes to Andrecla, a planet with a medieval

culture. She is thought by Georyn to be an enchantress

for Elana is capable of superior mental capabilities.

Elana helps Georyn destroy a fire-spitting dragon, in

reality a machine, employed by an invading power who

wants to subdue Andrecla.

Like Journey Outside, Enchantress From the Stars maybe classified differently according to the percep­

tions of the reader. The book becomes high fantasy when the events that take place on Andrecla are

viewed through the eyes of Georyn or his fellow

Andrecians. When seen by them, Elana is as true a magical person as is to be found in Middle-earth,

Narnia, Prydain, or Earthsea.

Though the Enchantress in no way resembled any woman the woodcutter's sons had seen before, she was in her own manner quite beautiful. She was tall, as tall as Georyn himself, and she was clothed all in silvery green; and her garments were not women's garments nor yet men's either, but were unique. Dark and shining was her hair, and it fell not to her shoulders, but rather made a soft halo of waves around her face. And that face was a strange elfin face, yet radiant, and Georyn knew without question that whatever magic she practices was good magic.51

51sylvia Louise Engdahl, Enchantress From the Stars, (U.S.A.: Atheneum, 1970), p. Elana*s power of telepathy anticipates another woman In a more traditional work of high fantasy, that of Sybel In The Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

Although this power Is commonplace to Elana It

Inspires awe In Georyn and highlights the expec­ tation of the medieval mind to find magic present in anything not readily explainable.

Elana*s power Is only a single example of magic, for the fire-spitting dragon of the

Imperials is not a symbolic dragon only, but is also a dragon In reality as it is perceived by the Andrecians. The same is true of the cup and the stone for faith invests common objects with the power of homoepathic magic. What is thought by the Anthro­ pological Service to be a psychological trick assumes preternatural proportions to the Andrecians. When

Elana*s father searches for a focus to sustain Georyn*s faith In himself he looks for "some small object, a talisman. Something like a magic ring." It does not have to be magic "but if he believes it can that's all that matters."52

The medieval culture with its belief in the power of magic together with Georyn*s quest to destroy the dragon gives epic status to Enchantress From the ------Ibid., p. 151. 147

Stars. Engdahl has translated archetypal symbols of heroism into a setting that is a mixture of the past and the future. In so doing she has given support to Kingsley Amis* hypothesis that fantasy is Just science fiction dressed up in different clothes.53

Andrecia is not only medieval In culture but it is also rural In setting. The choice of a non-urban society makes it easier for Engdahl to suggest that Elana's magic will be accepted. City life tends to be more sophisticated and cynical about the unusual. Georyn, a woodcutter's son, although both brave and intelligent, has a sufficient degree of naviety to accept unquestionally Elana as an enchan­ tress and the fire machine as a dragon. Further, the magic becomes a natural part of the order of existence and does not assume political overtones as might be

xpected of city based magic.

Enchantress From the Stars when seen as high fantasy takes on the characteristics of heroic romance, but the dramatic irony which permits the book to be interpreted in a number of ways shows that genre Is an artibrary assignation.

-^Kingsley AmiB, New Maps of Hell, (New York: Ballantine, I960), p. 17. X48

Penelope Farmer: A Castle of Bone (1972)

An old applewood cupboard that Hugh acquires for his bedroom is more than it seems. Objects that are placed within the cupboard are returned to earlier stages of their existences. When Hugh's friend Penn accidentally falls into the cupboard he reappears as a baby. Also while the cupboard is in

Hugh's possession he begins to dream of a strange castle. Ultimately to save Penn, all the children, including the sisters of Penn and Hugh, must enter the cupboard and move into the land of the castle.

Of all Penelope Farmer's books A Castle of Bone is the most complex. To come to some understanding of what the fantasy is about there is need to turn to Farmer's own critical writing. From her article

"Jorinda and Jorindel and other stories" two very useful ideas emerge. The first is that Farmer makes a distinction between folktales and fantasy. Of the former she says that they "all relate to general experience and come from the mass subconscious" while fantasy:

...though it may use universal symbols, springs from purely private experiences — it is psychological image coloured and transformed by the workings of a single raind.51*

-^Penelope FarmerJorinda and Jorindel* and Other Stories." Children's Literature in Education, Vol, 7, March 1972, p. 23- 1H9

The second point is her comment about:

the fluid, illogical, totally dreamlike shlftings of Lewis Carroll's naratlve ^Alicej 55

Both ideas apply to A Castle of Bone for there is

in it a dreamlike and psychological Incoherence.

This is not to say that the book lacks structure,

but there is an experimental quality about it that

as yet has been seen only in realistic fiction.

Parmer has brought to contemporary high fantasy for

children the concept of stream of consciousness or

even subconsciousness.

The created world in A Castle of Bone occupies

only a very small part of actual space but its

influence is the focal point of the whole book. Like

other books by Farmer A Castle of Bone stresses the

theme of identity, but in this book it is explored through a consideration of immortality. In keeping with Farmer's Ideas about fantasy the created world

is constantly changing shape and perspective. It

is not a created world as has been developed by

Tolkien or Lewis, but it does have some similarity

to the worlds in Joan North's books. The world is an

extension of Hugh's mind, and It is so vivid that the

imaginary becomes reality. The realization of the

55ibid.. p. 2*1. 150 meaning of the castle comes to Hugh as the

children leave the created world for the last

time.

Walls had closed round Hugh, confining him, imprisoning him in the narrowest of castles; a castle of bone, he thought. But this castle of bone was himself.5o

The link between Hugh’s mind and the real world is made by investing the applewood cupboard with the power to reverse time. Once the children discover its properties they accept it quite naturally, but

Hugh is unsure of both himself and the cupboard and feels a strange ambivalence towards its powers. Part of him wants to enter the cupboard and part does not giving the reader insight into Hugh's uncertainty about the desire for immortality.

The created world itself initially reached through Hugh's dreams or visions mixes readily with the real world, and the activities of Hugh's day become part of the created landscape. As Hugh continues to see the castle his uncertainty and fear mount, for the building is in ruins. This is the decay of mortality, and in particular Hugh's mortality.

The scene changes when Hugh accepts the challenge to achieve immortality and enters the land of the castle

5&penelope Parmer, A Castle of Bone, (New York: Atheneum, 1972), p. 1M6. 151 through the cupboard. Now the castle:

...was whole, no longer ruined, no longer forbidding, wrapped in sun­ light, slumbering, peaceful.57

But even while yearning for immortality there is the hint of negation, for Hugh does not eat the apple of life that he has plucked from the tree. Finally the two parts of his personality, that which wants immortality and that which does not, fuse as he enters the hallway of the castle. The fight is not over, however, for there is beauty in immortality, as is seen in the apple tree.

There was an apple tree at the centre of the hall, curiously austere and stern, its leaves and trunk and branches made of a dim, silverish metal like pewter and its apples of fine gold. A soft light came from these. It was more like electric than candle power, in that It seemed less particular to its source than a candle flame would be, spreading itself further and more evenly, like light from electric bulbs. Yet It was also more mobile than electricity; ebbing and flowing within the fruit and within the hall, as living flames would m o v e . 5°

For a time Hugh feels that he will lose his Identity, but even then he Is prepared to give in to his desires.

Thl3, at last, was the decision he had to make, and he could not make it. Even if his brain had been working properly

57Ibld., p. 135-

58Ibld., pp. 140-141. 152

his body was rooted, paralysed, Just as the willow tree had paralysed It. And his mind had taken on the change­ ability, the volatile nature, of the fire itself. It was struggling in his head as if with an enemy, changing, changing.59

As Calypso enticed Ulysses to take Immortality so Hugh's desires entice him. It is only with a supreme effort of will that he is able to destroy the power that would subsume his identity and those of the other children in immortality. When the decision is made then the power of the castle and the applewood cupboard disappear.

While the created world can be described

In visible terms, It lacks meaning unless the link between Hugh's search for identity Is coupled to it. The cupboard may have independent power, but in its ultimate sense the world can exist only as an extension of Hugh's desire for immortality.

Man's yearning for eternal life is as old as man himself, but his will to live and to do is the ultimate test of the God within him.

A Castle of Bone is a mixture of much that belongs to man's collective consciousness and sub- consciousness, and Farmer has attempted to show that each man must make his own choice to live or die. At ------Ibid., p. 11*3. 153 times this decision Is Incoherent, but it can be seen that only death brings immortality and very few willingly choose this path.

Patricia McKillip: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (197*0

Sybel, as the name implies, is a woman of magic who since her father died has lived on Eld Mountain.

To her she has called a collection of fabulous beasts.

One day she is asked to take charge of a baby who is destined to become king of a land that has been the traditional enemy of Sybel's future husband.

To support a rather simple love story Patricia

McKillip has built a romantic and at times mystical secondary world. Occasionally the author's style may seem strained as she attempts to evoke visual images of the land:

The winter closed around them with a cold, strong grip. Great peaks of snow drifted against the house; the swan lake froze until it lay like the crystal face of the moon amid the snow. Ice ran in bars across the windows of the white hall, dropped downward in frozen tears before the door.60

McKillip, however, does not allow her writing to become turgid, and she is able to achieve a fine balance between the full description of her created world and the stark dialogue of her characters.

The most fascinating aspect of the created world

kOpatricia McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, (New York: Atheneum, 197**), P~ 15* is the collection of fabulous animals that surround the wizard, Sybel. Their roles are not always clearly identified but they are responsible for a greater part of the mystical nature of Eldwold. Myk, Sybel's grandfather, began the collection:

From the wild lake country of North Eldwold, he called to him the Black Swan of Tirlith, the greatwinged, golden eyed bird that had carried the third daughter of King Merroc on its back away from the stone tower where she was held captive. He sent the powerful, silent thread of his call into the deep, thick forests on the other side of Eld, where no man had ever gone and returned, and caught like a salmon the red-eyed, white-tusked Boar Cyrin, who could sing ballads like a harpist, and who knew the answers to all riddles save one. From the dark, silent heart of the Mountain itself, Myk brought Gyld, the green-winged dragon, whose mind, dreaming for centuries over the cold fire of gold, woke deepily, pleasurably, to the sound of its name in the half­ forgotten song Myk sent crooning into the darkness.ol

Sybel's father, Ogam, had also called some of the beasts to him when Sybel was a child:

Ogam coaxed out of the Southern Deserts behind Eld Mountain the Lyon Gules, who with a pelt the color of a king's treasury had seduced many an imprudent man into unwanted adventure. He stole from the hearth of a witch beyond Eldwold the huge black Cat Moriah, whose knowledge of spells and secret charms had once been legendary in Eldwold. The

61Ibld., p. *. 155 blue-eyed Falcon Ter, who had torn to pieces the seven murderers of the wizard Aer, shot like a thunderbolt out of the blue sky onto Ogam's shoulder. After a brief, furious struggle, blue eyes staring into black, the hot grip of talons loosened; the Falcon gave his name and yielded to Ogam's great p o w e r .

Sybel, like her forebears, has the power to call

living creatures to herself. She uses this power

as a guard against loneliness and as a protection

against possible enemies. Her power to call has

not extended, however, to the LIralen, "a great

white bird with wings that glided like snowy pen­

nants unfurled In the wind.63 What she does not

realize Is that the Liralen, a creature of love,

and the Blammor, the fear In man, are part of the

same being. To call the one might to be to summon

the other. This, If anything, is the theme of the whole tale.

Magic in The Forgotten Beasts of Eld does not

function as extensively as it is to be found in

Earthsea nor with the same propensity for evil as

In Prydain. Instead the magic in Eldwold is limited to

the power of calling. The winds do not change direction

nor do the dead rise, but the power of one mind is pitted

against another with sometimes fatal results. It is

62Ibld., p. 5. 63Ibid., p. 6. 156

Sybel's power that binds the animals to her, and it is also her power to call both animal and man which can put mortal fear into the human mind.

The emphasis on Sybel as the leading protagonist is an interesting one for it may herald a shift in direction for future high fantasy. Not since Victorian times has a magical woman been so forcibly presented in children's fantasy.

Despite the role that Sybel plays, Eldwold is a land which is medieval in both spirit and culture.

Such a setting gives to The Forgotten Beasts ofEld part of its romance, for there is a strong emphasis on nobility and chivalry. The rest of the romance and enchantment of the tale comes from a different source, however. McKillip has been careful to build up a visual picture of the countryside. Particularly successful is the description of winter in Eldwold.

Its effect is cumulative, for the author sets a gentle, almost wistful tone to Sybel*s life by Juxtaposing her story against that of the winter world. This is parti­ cularly obvious as Sybel returns home to Mt. Eld after defeating Drede's wizard:

She rode home slowly through the snow, the Falcon circling above her head, sometimes soaring to heights where he looked to her like a faint dark star in the day sky, then dropping down to her, lightning swift. She spoke to no one, her eyes black, blind, and 157

no one she passed stopped her. She reached the mountain path at twilight. Evening lay silvery against the snow; stars began their slow ascent over the great, dark head of Eld Mountain. The trees were motionless around her, stars caught in their snowy branches. 6*1

But while the created world contains enchantment and romance in its own right its main function is to support the mood of Sybel*s love story.

SUMMARY

The works of eleven authors of contemporary high fantasy for children were analysed in this chapter. The works range in chronology from Tolkien’s The Hobblt which established high fantasy as a genre to Patricia

McKillip's The Forgotten Beasts of Eld one of the latest offerings.

The particular concern of the chapter has been to examine the nature of created worlds in high fantasy which have either independent existence, or in some way coexist or overlap with the primary world.

The Hobblt develops an independent secondary world filled with a variety of mythological creatures drawn particularly from Saxon, Scandinavian, and Germanic sources. Generally there is a marked contrast between the forces of good and evil, while magic plays a small zrn------Ibid., p. 108. 158

part In changing the outcome of the action.

The Chronicles of Narnla like The Hobblt employs mythological creatures, but It also uses men as the focus of the action. The contrast between good and evil is stressed and when magic is used it tends to be evil with the questors relying on more overt supernatural help. Lewis shows Narnia as one of many worlds which coexist with the real world but which needs a magical door for entry.

A Wrinkle in Time pushes high fantasy to the edge of science fiction. Technology is deemphasized in favor of a new mythology and an exploration of metaphysical issues. The created world

°? A Wrinkle in Time represent the contrasts between good and evil. Uriel is a Garden of Eden symbolic of man's primeval innocence. Camazotz is a totali­ tarian society with all the dangers and evil of intellectualism that is devoid of aesthetic and affective counterbalance.

The Chronicles of Prydaln. Like Middle-earth,

Prydain is an Independent secondary world. It is primarily a land of men with a strong emphasis on heroism. Magic Is important, but it is generally viciously evil.

Elidor. Elidor coexists with the real world 159 and like Narnia needs the services of children from Earth to help destroy the evil which is threatening It. A new element is present for whereas Narnia Is Independent of the primary world the events in Elidor will echo on Earth. The author has drawn on heroic and romantic legends such as the Grail story and Childe Rowland as source material.

The Cloud Forest and The Light Maze take a different direction from earlier high fantasy. Both created worlds have Platonic overtones and offer an

Interesting paradox that reality exists as an extension of the mind. Particularly In The Light Maze good and evil are seen as merely two sides of the one con­ cept .

The Tales of Earthsea. As with Prydain this is a strongly masculine world. Here magic permeates a world of men but is used by the forces of both good and evil.

Journey Outside. This is an allegorical tale stressing the foolishness of men. The created world is divided into societies each limited by its blindness to the real meaning and responsibilities of life.

Enchantress from the Stars. Like A Wrinkle in

Time this book borders on science fiction but when

Interpreted as high fantasy shows a sword and sorcery 160 world not unlike Narnia and Prydain. Engdahl has put before the reader the suggestion that

"things are not always as they seem."

A Castle of Bone. This created world is another example of reality emanating from the mind.

There is no sense of external good and evil but only that which is found in oneself. Farmer has given flesh to the universal subsconscious but done it in a unique and personal manner.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. This is an inde­ pendent world that uses a woman as the chief protag­ onist. The author has stressed both the romantic and mystical elements of a medieval culture.

CONCLUSION

The created worlds which have emerged from con­ temporary high fantasy for children have been varied but classifiable. The categories which have emerged from the analysis of books in this chapter are:

1. Worlds which are filled with creatures and symbols from mythology, particularly Germanic,

Scandanavian, and Celtic.

2. Worlds portraying medieval or earlier cultures in which men are susceptible to the uses of magic and often are pitted against spiritual or super­ natural enemies. l6l

3. Worlds which are mystical in nature either because they are extensions of the mind or because they are representations of Platonic-like reality.

Books using these ideas tend to be complex because of the philosophical Issues raised.

4. Worlds of an extra-terrestial nature.

Books developing these worlds border on the sub-genre of science fiction. They remain within high fantasy, however, either because of the absence of mechanical means of transportation or because of the perception of certain protagonists who interpret mechanization as an aspect of the supernatural.

5. Worlds of an allegorical nature which are meant to highlight various philosophies of existence.

It is evident that many created worlds do not fall discretely into one category. Many have elements of two or more categories. CHAPTER IV

TIME DISPLACEMENT

Introduction

Man's PascInatIon with time Is a natural one.

He Is born, lives and dies In an element over which he has no control. At best he can relive his past through his memories and anticipate the future through speculation. The only thing of which he can be certain

Is the present. The question arises as to whether man is to fight against time or to accept the inevitability of its passing. The writers of children's high fantasy choose to believe that time Is not Just a one way linear progression. Such an interpretation moves away from traditional Western and scientific thought towards Oriental understanding. Eleanor Cameron explains:

...that the concept of the Eternal Now, holding in equilibrium all tenses, had been part of Buddhist belief for centuries. In other religions, past, present and future are set In a straight line, with the present seeming to be the only con­ sciously experienceable moment, but in Buddhism they are simply names in an endless circle. The Everlasting Now is at the heart of Oriental philosophy, with its emphasis on a direct perception of the unity of man and the universe and the identity of life and death, as opposed to Western emphasis on the processes of 162 Intellectualizing, In other words, the East intuits the whole; we take things one step at a time and tussle with each step.l

To accept the proposition that time is a unity, or

that it is fluid in some way, may be philosophically

and even religiously satisfying, but it suggests

a notion of fatalism or at least resignation.

Writers who use time-displacement as a motif

probably do so not because they are Oriental in their

philosophic heritage but because they are Western.

They are both repelled by and attracted to time.

They are repelled by the passing of time and attracted

to the possibility of time being flexible. They are

curious about how people moved out of their own time will adjust to another era, or alternatively how they will react to a time that functions differently from

their own. To divest oneself of time Is to achieve immortality, and so literature in which time barriers are dissolved permit both the writer and reader to experience immortality vicariously.

This chapter will examine the nature and function of time displacement as it occurs in contemporary high

fantasy for children.

^Eleanor Cameron, The Green and Burning Tree. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., iy62), p. 72. 16k

C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956)

The use of time in C.S. Lewis*, Chronicles of

Narnia bears a marked similarity to the way that

time functions in Edith Nesbit*s The Story of the

Amulet. This is not surprising for as Lewis said

of Nesblt's book:

It first opened my eyes to antiquity, the “dark backward and abysm of t i m e . " 2

Both Nesbit and Lewis use time to have children explore other periods and places without disrupting the physical flow of their natural existence. While time stands still in the real world it is perceived by the children to move at normal speed in the created world. This permits the children to engage on a fully developed adventure in the secondary world, and then return to their original condition in the real world without there being an appreciable passage of time.

The children In both books find It difficult at first to take in their extraordinary experiences with time shi^t. In Nesbit*s The Story of the Amulet the Fsammead tries to explain what is happening:

...the Fsammead put its head out of its basket and said, "What's the matter? Don't you understand? You came back through the charm-arch at the same time as you go through ------C.S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy, (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 19^5)* P* l1** 165

It. This isn’t tomorrow!11 "Is it still yesterday?" asked Jane. "No, it’s today. The same as i t ’s always been. It wouldn't do to go mixing up the present and the past, and cutting bits out of one to fit into the other." "Then all that adventure took no time at all?"3

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lucy is not believed and the children appeal to the Professor for help:

"But there was no time," said Susan, "Lucy had had no time to have gone anywhere, even if there was such a place. She came running after us the very moment we were out of the room. It was less than a minute, and she pretended to have been away for hours." That is the very thing that makes her story likely to be true," said the Professor. "If there really is a door in this house that leads to some other world (and I should warn you that this is a very strange house, and even I know very little about It)— if, I say, she had got into another world, I should not be at all surprised to find that that other world had a separate time of Its own; so that however long you stayed there it would never take up any of our time

Unlike the children in The Story of the Amulet, those in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe spend a lifetime In the created world. Before they return to the real world they have become adults. When they do return they take up living the instant following their departure. Although the children entering Narnia do not always spend years in that country the return

3e . Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet (Qreat Britain: Puffin Books, 19717, p. 88. **C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (New York: Collier Books, 1973)* p. **6. 1 6 6 follows an Identical pattern In terms of the elapsed time within the real world.

While Nesbit suggests that her characters move into a particular period and place because of their own desires, the children who enter Narnia have no control over their movement in time. These children must accept the particular time in Narnia as they find it. There is a certain amount of dramatic irony present in the Chronicles for the reader comes to realize that the children are only called into Narnia at a time of crisis for that world. The transportation of the children occurs in an historical progression according to Narnia chono- logy but there is no regular correlation between the times of the primary and the secondary worlds.

Three distinct sequences of time can be iden­ tified in the Chronicles as a result of the movement between worlds. The first is that of the real world which is governed by the natural laws of its Universe.

The second is the irregular relationship between time in the real world and time in the created world.

Although a year may have passed in the real world hundreds of years may have gone by in Narnia. As

Edmund points out:

...once you're out of Narnia, you have no idea how Narnlan time is going. Why shouldn't hundreds of years have gone past In Narnia while only one year has passed for us in England? "By Jove, Ed," said Peter. "I believe you've got it." In that sense it really was hundreds of years ago that we lived in Cair P a r a v e l . 5

The third time sequence is that which occurs in

Narnia. Although it seems to the children to function the same as Earthly time they really cannot be sure of its nature. As they always come back to the same point in time as they leave the real worldthere can be no real knowledge of how rapidly time is moving in Narnia. The effect can be likened to the passenger in a ship. Although the linear moves forward there is no sensation of this to the man in his cabin. He moves at his own speed which is quite unrelated to the additional progression caused by the ship's movement.

The most remarkable aspect of time shift as It

Is used by Lewis is that the children have had vast experiences in the secondary world which they are able to absorb into their minds. From the position of verisimilitude It is disturbing that their lives

In the real world are so little changed as a result of these experiences. Unlike the children In The Story of the Amulet whose activities in others times have some effect on their actions in the real world, the

5c.S. Lewis. Prince Caspian, (New York: Collier Books, 1973), P. 2B": 168 children who enter Narnia are only capable of uttering banalities on their return to Earth. After helping save Narnia in Prince Caspian Peter on his return can only muster: "We have had a time." while Edmund comments: "Bother1 I've left my new torch in N a r n i a . "6 The only person who seems visibly affected by Narnian experiences is Eustace. This rather disagreeable child after his voyage on the

"Dawn Treader" does start to become more tolerable to most people.

Lewis uses time as a convenience to move his characters from one place to another without the need to explain prolonged absences of children to worrying parents or guardians. Time supports the main story rather than being a vital ingredient. Although Lewis copied Nesbit's ideas on time he used it far more sparingly than his turn-of-the-century colleague.

Lucy Boston: The Children of Green Knowe (195^) treasure of Green Knowe (l$58)

While all of Lucy Boston's Green Knowe books, with the exception of Stranger at Green Knowe, bring together the past and the present, it is only the first two in the series that effectively use time magic.

The River at Green Knowe which statistically and

6Ibld.» p. 216. 169

thematically bridges the gap between the earlier

and later books does not attempt to develop time

magic and uses it in only one or two passing Instances.

It is primarily concerned with the magic that lives

outside the house than that within it.

In the first two books the reader is introduced to Tolly and his great-grandmother, Mrs. Oldknow, who is the owner of an ancient house called Qreen

Knowe. The house has been In the family for generations, and it contains the spirits of the children who have lived there throughtout the ages. By patient waiting

Tolly eventually meets some of these children and shares in their thoughts and dreams.

The children who come out of the past are long since dead, and It takes Tolly some time to comprehend this. When he finds Toby’s sword in an old box he asks Mrs. Oldknow why Toby does not want It now:

"Because he's dead," she said at last. Tolly sat dumbfounded, with his black eyes fixed on her. He must have known of course that the children could not have lived so many centuries without growing old, but he had never thought about it. To him they were so real, so near, they were his own family that he needed more than anything on earth. He felt the world had come to an end. "Are they all dead?" he said at last. "They all died together in the Great Plague." 7

7l .M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and WorId, 1955) p". 75- 170

Because the children are dead time Is not portrayed

as a globe as Eleanor Cameron would have It8 where

people get on and off at will. Instead time must be

seen in terms of memory: not human memory so much as

the memories of the house. In the larger setting of

time even Mrs. Oldknow and Tolly are no more real

than the children of the past. It Is true that these

two are alive in the present but with the passing of time they also will become part of the memory of

the house.

It is the Inhabitants of Green Knowe, both past and present, who give meaning to the house.

While the developing warm relationships between Tolly and his great-grandmother are an obvious delight to the reader they are really no more than an immediate reflection of the greater personality of the house which has developed through the years. Boston, herself, recognizes this when she writes of the real

Green Knowe:

One of Boggo's descendants built the present house, and a daughter married Into the Norman family, De Grey, their landlords. The De Greys were very prominent Crusaders, and the Knight's Hale, as Tolly called It, Is still a place for Crusaders to return to. They would find It surprising, but still very recognizably home. It was so used in the last war when a friend and 1 ran it

8Cameron, The Green and Burning Tree, p. 107. as a music club for the bomber crews of Wyton Aerodrome, who having— as they used to say— no future, seemed to find great comfort in belonging and so enduring a past. I like to remember that the old house played a small but lively part in the last great crisis.9

The past of Green Knowe is brought to life

through creative recall. Mrs. Oldknow becomes the

voice of the house for the stories that she relates

to Tolly can only occur within the memory of the

house. Memories of the kind that are reconstructed

in the house of Green Knowe are not the memories

formed of habit but are memories consisting of unique

events. They are the memories which give meaning

for the existence and identity of the house.

The Treasure of Green Knowe is a more structured book in terms of sequence of events than The Children of Green Knowe for the plot is built around the search for a cache of Jewels rather than a recalling of

isolated instances. The theme of searching out the memories of the house, is identical in both books.

Like all memories small associations are all that is needed to set them in motion, and Green Knowe with its architecture and furnishings is full of associations.

For the sake of coherence Boston has limited the number of people conjured up from the past but the

^Lucy M. Boston, "A Message from Green Knowe," Horn Book, June 1963, P* 260. 172

sequence In which they are called has been left

seemingly unstructured. Only by the end of each

book have all the threads been drawn together so

that a pattern of events emerges.

Memories do not always refocus themselves

easily and the house takes its time to crystallize

them. In The Children of Green Knowe Tolly initially

only hears a laugh, or whisper, or footstep. Grad­ ually he catches a glimpse of the children from the past from out of the corner of his eye or reflected

in a mirror. Finally there comes full remembrance, and the children are there to talk to him and answer his questions, but they are always ready to slip away again as another event grows in importance.

Only in one incident does Lucy Boston move away

from the concept of the memories of the past being recreated In the present. Like Nellie Jack John in

Earthfasts, Tolly moves in time through a tunnel in

Treasure at Green Knowe. While exploring In the garden shrubbery he discovers an underground passage that takes him back into the late eighteenth century. There is a sense that such a reversal in the usual procedure is vaguely out of place, but in the overall magic of

Green Knowe anything is possible. Perhaps it might be that Tolly's brief excursion into the past is recognition of how much he is becoming one with the house. The house 173 takes possession of Tolly and makes him Its own

Just as It has the many others from all Its ages.

Tolly can take great comfort In the past which Joins one life to another. At Christmas he hears a woman's voice begin to sing very softly a cradle song:

"Who is It?" he whispered. "It's the grandmother rocking the cradle," said Mrs. Oldknow, and her eyes were full of tears. "Why are you crying, Granny? It's lovely." "It is lovely, only it is such a long time ago. I don't know why that should be sad, but It sometimes seems so." The singing began again. "Granny," whispered Tolly again, with his arm through hers, "whose cradle is it? Linnet is as big as I am." "My darling, this voice is much older than that. I hardly know whose it is. I heard It once before at Christmas." It was queer to hear the baby's sleepy whimper only In the next room, now, and so long ago. "Come, we'll sing It too," said Mrs. Oldknow, going to the spinet. She played, but it was Tolly who sang alone, while, four hundred years ago, a baby went to sleep.

Green Knowe becomes the vehicle for revealing its happy and not so happy memories. The author gives them new life in these haunting tales of displaced time.

The Children of Green Knowe and Treasure of Green

Knowe are at their best when the past and present mingle freely rather than being merely Juxtaposed. Prom the mingling flows a credibility and humanity that even delights in highlighting the little slices of wickedness that creep into the memories. ^Boston. The~Children of Qreen Knowe, pp. 132-133* 174

Phlllipa Pearce: Tom*s Midnight Garden (1956)

Tom stays with an uncle and aunt In an old house during his brother, Peter's measles attach. During his vacation he steps back Into the past of both the house and one of Its occupants.

Even by the end of Tom*s Midnight Garden It is difficult to ascertain whether the old grandfather clock that ticks away the thirteenth hour in the hall or Hatty Bartholomew's dreams are responsible for Tom's extraordinary adventures In time. To Tom this does not matter for he Is certain that the impetus that permits him to move into the past Is the strange chiming of the grandfather clock. His pragmatic uncle, who Eleanor

Cameron points out is the spiritual opposite of Granny

Oldknow in the Green Knowe books^ makes Tom promise to stay in bed from nine at night to seven in the morning.

The clock, however, strikes thirteen and as Tom reasons:

He could be in bed for ten hours, and still have an hour to spare— an hour of freedom.1 2

After all this is the hour when there is "Time no longer."13 For one hour there is a wedge in time which miraculously opens up the past. But because time is no

^Cameron. The Green and Burning Tree, p. 119-

l2Phillipa Pearce. Tom*s Midnight Garden, (New York: J.B. Lippincott, Co., 1958)»p. 16.

13lbld., p. 162. 175 longer Tom cannot govern where he shall enter It.

All that he discovers Is that the Journeys Into time

are not continuous.

As Tom opens the door of the house each night

he steps Into a magnificent garden which existed long

before the spread of the current township boundaries.

The present has left nothing but "a mean little yard mirroring a whole changed pattern of society."1** The

contrast between the garden of the past and what is

left in the present is a recognition that time brings

change.

Tom reacts both positively and negatively to

the present. He hates what time has done to the house, yet he does not want time to move any further. If time hastens on, as it must, it will bring him closer to going home and hence take away his opportunities to continue visiting the garden. As Tom and his aunt:

... came in through the front-door of the big house, the first thing Tom heard was the ticking of the grandfather clock. It would tick on to bedtime, and in that way Time was Tom’s friend; but, after that, It would tick on to Saturday, and In that way Time was Tom's enemy.15

What Tom does not realize is that time is not evil.

Certain kinds of change might be undesirable but the

^Lesley Aers, "The Treatment of Time in Four Children's Books," Children's Literature in Education, Vol. 2, July 1970, p. 79. ISpearce, Tom's Midnight Garden, p. 158. 176

inevitability of change that comes with time is not only welcomed by some people but gives life its

flavor. For Hatty, the little girl, who Tom meets

in the garden, change means maturity and freedom.

Each of Tom's visits to the garden shows a change in Hatty, a change which she accepts and which Tom must recognize.

Tom, who is developing a Peter Pan complex, is caught between a yearning for the timeless garden of childhood and the need to accept change and growth.

The full force of his brother's statement that Hatty has become a woman finally sinks in when Hatty and he are returning from the cathedral:

A village church clock struck across the darkened countryside, and Tom thought of Time: how he had been sure of mastering it, and of exchanging his own Time for an Eternity of Hatty's and so of living pleasurably in the garden forever. The garden was still there, but meanwhile Hatty's Time had stolen a march on him, and had turned Hatty herself from his playmate into a grown-up woman.16

Although with the passing of time Hatty has moved away from Tom in both age and interests she is essentially the same person. This much Tom does not perceive until at the end of the book he discovers that old Mrs. Bartholomew, a figure of scorn to her tenants, is the Hatty of his midnight garden.

16Ibid., p. 205. 177

Tom listened as she began her tale; but at first he listented less to what she was saying than to the way she was saying it, and he studied closely her appearance and her movements. Her bright black eyes were certainly like Hatty*s; and now he began to notice, again and again, a gesture, a tone of the voice, a way of laughing that reminded him of the little girl in the garden. Quite early in Mrs. Bartholomew's story, Tom suddenly leaned forward and whispered: "You were Hatty— you are Hatty! You*re really Hatty!" She only interrupted what she was saying to smile at him, and nod.17

The shock of understanding is almost a Te Deum to life.

The intellectual recognition of change that Tom accepts when he sees the young Hatty for the last time has now been given a spiritual depth as well. Time gives meaning to life rather than taking from it.

Time as it exists in Tom* s Midnight Garden has two aspects. The first is Tom's acceptance of change, and the second is an exploration of the nature of time.

Of the second Eleanor Cameron says:

In almost any fantasy of time travel, or the mingling of different times, there inevitably arises the intriguing question of who, rightfully, is a ghost to whom, It being usually a matter of whose time the scene is being played In, those this is not invariably easy to decide— the mood or feeling being often ambiguous. . . 1 8

iTlbid., p. 219. l8 Cameron, The Green and Burning Tree, p. 90. 178

Tomcomes to understand that all that he has been

Is a part of the dreaming of an old lady.Tom prompts

Mrs. Bartholomew:

"and since you've come to live here, you've often gone back In Time, haven't you?” "Gone back in Time?" "Gone back into the Past." "When you're my age, Tom, you live in the Past a great deal. You remember it; you dream of It." Tom nodded. He understood so much now: why the weather in the garden had always been perfect; why Time in the garden had sometimes Jumped far ahead, and sometimes gone backwards. It had all depended upon what old Mrs. Bartholomew had chosen to remember in her dreams.19

The reality of Tom's experiences are not in question,

however. When Tom and Hatty argue about who is a

ghost there is ultimately an agreement that neither

Is a ghost. Time for both of them has become layered

so that under certain conditions movement can be made

from one period to another.

Not all the questions about time are resolved

In Tom's Midnight Garden for there are Hatty's skates which Tom finds after they had remained hidden for

over half a century. Tom must have met Hatty outside

Mrs. Bartholomew's dreams. Perhaps in the magical hour of thirteen o'clock when time no longer exists dreams become as alive as waking reality.

In Tom*s Midnight Garden time displacement is

^Pearce. Tom's Midnight Garden, pp. 22M-225. 179 explored for the Inherent fascination it brings, but Fhilllpa Pearce has given more to her book than

Just that. Time means the inevitability of change, for changelessness has no validity in human experience.

Tom must learn and recognize the growth of life that comes with time, and he must accept the responsibilities that accompany this growth.

Nevertheless, time is not Just a continual movement into the future because memory permits us to reenter the past. Hattie has taken this road and for a few hours her frozen past moves once again. At the end of her life Hattie does not have to worry about time as an agent of change as does Tom. Through memory life may be relived and perspective may change but time remains constant.

Nan Chauncy: The Secret Friends (published originally in Australia as Tangara). (I960)

Eight year old Lexie Pavement, while exploring the Tasmanian bush meets Merrina, a young Aboriginal girl. This is strange for there have been no native

Blacks in Tashmania for almost one hundred years.

Lexie finally meets the whole of Merrina*s tribe and discovers the awful tragedy that has happened to them.

In The Secret Friends time is used as a tool to aid in the powerful and haunting indictment of the 180 treatment of the Australian Aboriginal. Although the focus of the book is upon Merrina, a young

Aboriginal girl, and Lexie, a young white girl,

Nan Chauncy is saying that the guilt for the genocide of the Tasmanian Blacks must be shared by those who live in the present as well as those who killed in the past. The message to be found in Exodus may be said to have meaning here:

...visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. . . 2 0

Lesie suffers in the present for the annihilation of the tribe by the convicts of over one hundred years before. Her suffering is made more intense by the close friendship with Merrina and the love that Merrina has for her. Lexie has no choice but to accept the past because her experiences have taken on significance that affects her both spiritually and psychologically.

Poulet states that:

To accept the past is to accept the burden of its sins and the necessity for their expiation. It is to accept time with all its consequences. 2 1

Ultimately there is no expiation for Lexie, for she must learn that she will always have to live with the

2 °Exodus, 20:5

2lQeorges Poulet, Studies In Human Time, trans. Elliott Coleman (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1956), p. 356. 181

past. Even In her young womanhood when life Is meant to effervesce the past takes hold of her and

she finds that in her mind:

She was in a hidden place in the bush under the cold stars. A small red fire glowed in the half-moon of space before the ring of cliffs, and there forever squatted Merrina, her thin arms reaching up imploringly. Merrina alone— alone, and calling to her dead.22

While a purely historical novel could weave a story about the tragic fate of the Tasmanian Aborig­ inals there is a poignancy that is evoked by setting one culture against another. The fact that the present white rural population of the Island as seen in The Secret Friends is gentle and kind intensifies the tragedy of the Blacks. These original, Black inhabitants of Tasmania are no less loving, no less concerned for their families, no less human than their present day white counterparts for whom life and safety is taken for granted. The misadventures of Clay and

Kent on the Tiers is minor, almost to the point of insignificance, compared with the brutal annihilation of the tribe. The storm and lightning bring to one group concussion and a twisted knee but to the other it brings death.

22------Nan Chauncy, The Secret Friends, (New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1 ^6 2 ), p. lb6. 182

At her first shriek, the fathers turned and saw the heads and shoulders of two men with guns leaning over with cruel smiles to watch from above. The men had white faces and ragged, unkempt beards. Their crafty looks passed from the terrified brown faces to the big kangaroo roasting on one of the fires, and rested there hungrily. The gun barrels pointed down. Padina shouted a word, and every man clapped his two hands on top of his head to show he was unarmed, and no one moved. Only old Padina himself measured with his eye the distance from his spear resting by the cliff, to his hand; and turned his face towards Lexie in bitter grief and anger. Then everything happened at once. The heavy skies opened and hailstones rattled and bounced on the stone with a noise like shots. The hail changed to rain, but the sound of shots went on, with pitiful screams from children, and wails, and cries from people running this way and that to find an escape, knowing they were trapped.^3

The author does not use time-displacement in The

Secret Friends so that the children can have a good adventure as in Narnia, or to remember the past as at Green Knowe. Time is used as a measure to mark man's Inhumanity to man.

The mechanical process for merging the past and the present is based on two ideas. One is how closely

Lexie resembles her great aunt Rita, and the other is the Cleft Rock at Blackfellow*s Gully which acts as the doorway through time. Both elements work together*

Merrina originally comes through the cleft in the rock

23ibld., pp. 107-109. i8: because of Lexie*s likeness to Rita. As Kent says:

"Snowy...but...have you ever thought of young Rita Pavemont, the girl in the portrait? Have you ever wondered why Merrina called you "Weetah"? You look alike, you know. You used to wear Rita’s necklace of shells, given her by a brown playmate— "

"— Merina?"

He shrugged. "Rita had your gold hair. Dad told me once the natives thought she was a child of the sun, and made her one of them­ selves. I believe you re-lived things that happened to her as a child, Snowy."2^

Conveniently in the final storm a tree falls and cuts off the passageway into time.

The hole is block up— there's no cleft in the rock any more. No one will get through to Black's Gully ever again.25

Unlike Tom's Midnight Garden where memories are generally pleasant events, in The Secret Friends time past is a horrifying reinactment of murder and genocide.

Madelein L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

Two children and their teenage friend are whisked off into space to find a way to free their father from the diabolical IT on the planet Camazotz.

L'Engle uses two aspects of the current theory of relativity as the basis of movement in A Wrinkle in

Time. Briefly these are that:

2I*Ibid.. p. 168. 25Ibid.« p. 170. X81*

1 ) as objects accelerate In velocity

approaching that of the speed of light time slows

down while length contracts,

2) as Minkowski (a contemporary of Einstein)

states:

Prom henceforth space in itself and time in itself sink to mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two preserves an independent e x i s t e n c e . 26

The practical advantage of using the theory of relativity in A Wrinkle in Time is that it permits

instantaneous interstellar travel to take place without detracting from the main issues of the story. L'Engle adopted the scientific term "Tesseract" to describe this movement in space-time.

...the fifth dimension’s a tesseract. You add that to the other four dimensions and you can travel through space without having to go the long way around. In other words, to put it into Euclid, or old-fashioned plane geometry, a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.27

The ability to self-activate the tesseract is not available to everyone. Chiefly this power Is In the hands of certain adults primarily the three angels but also Mr. Murry. Perhaps when Meg rescues Charles

Wallace from Camazotz she may have tesseracted although

26Encyclopaedla Brlttanica, 1957 ed., sv. "Space-Time."

27Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, (U.S.A.: Straus and Giroux, 1972), p . 78. 185

the Incident Is rather vague. Nevertheless,

the problems that the children face In moving

through space are negated by the help given to

them by those who can tesseract. The precise

nature of how one tesseracts is not explained, but

L'Engle does spend some time in describing the

physical feelings associated with the movement. To

Meg the effects are terrifying.

She was alone in a fragmane of nothingness. No light, no sound* no feeling. Where was her body? She tried to move in her panic, but there was nothing to move. Just as light and sound had vanished, she was gone too. The coporeal Meg simply was not.... She was lost in a horrifying void.28

At last:

...Meg felt a violent push and a shattering as though she had been thrust through a wall of glass.

While all the characters presumably must encounter

similar experiences as they tesseract only Meg's

feelings are analysed. The emphasis on Meg's emotions rather than on those of Calvin or Charles Wallace

serves to underscore her sensitivity to the dangers of evil. The boys are prepared to see everything

that happens as adventure, but Meg knows that what

she must do and what she experiences is no game.

28Ibid.* p. 57*

29ibld., p. 59. 186

Charles Wallace might have amazing intellectual

power, but he cannot match Meg's understanding of

the truth of what is happening. Nobody needs to tell Meg what Mr. Murry says to Calvin when the boys ask:

"Did you come to Camazotz alone? Or were there others with you?" "I came alone. You see, Calvin, there was no way to try it out ahead with rats monkeys or dogs. And we had no idea whether it would really work or whether it would be complete bodily disintegration. Playing with time and space is a dangerous game."30

The Western mind is loathe to accept the concept of the oneness oftime or that in its universal sense time means not only death but birth and rebirth.

Western man dreams of changing the pattern of time, but any power to do so would bring with it awesome possibilities. In A Wrinkle in Time the evil effects of time warp are explored. One aspect of this evil is analysed by Mr. Murry when he explains about Camazotz:

Time is different on Camazotz, anyhow. Our time, inadequate though It Is, at least is straightforward. It may not be even fully one-dimensional, because it can't move back and forth on Its line, only ahead; but at least it's consistent In its direction. Time on Camazotz seems to be Inverted, turned In on itself. So I have no Idea whether I was imprisoned In that column for centuries or only for minutes.31

3^Ibld., pp. 166-167.

31Ibld., p. 166. 187

The use of the relativity theory suggests that man and time have a symbiotic relationship, but the book does not explore the philosophic question as to whether time exists outside of man’s consciousness.

Nevertheless, in A Wrinkle in Time time is shown to be a phenomenon which exists independently of man but which manipulates man's existence and shapes his personality.

The least satisfying aspect of the book is the attempt to integrate the use of the quasi-religious themes and the theory of space-time travel. Each functions well by itself but there is left the underlying feeling that the religious themes and the theory of space-time travel do not coalesce as well as they might.

William Mayne: Earthfasts (1966)

Keith Heseltine and David Wix watch with amazement as Nellie Jack John, an eighteenth century drummer boy, emerges from an underground tunnel. John's appearance is coupled with other strange occurrences in the district such as a boggart, giants, walking stones,32 and finally King Arthur and his knights. It is not until David disappears and a candle is replaced on

5^The~ use of Celtic mythology is becoming more widespread in children's high fantasy. It has formed the basis of both Susan Cooper's and Nolly Hunter's writings as well as Mayne. C.S. Lewis, Alan Garner and Lloyd Alexander also draw from it. 188

King Arthur1s table that the balance of the world is restored.

In fantasy an author has many ways of awakening the old powers of the world. In Earthfasts Mayne has done It by manipulating time. The key to the time distortion Is the removal of a candle from, the cavern where King Artuhr and his knights have lain for centuries, frozen in their enchanted sleep.

However, the Importance of the candle is initially overshadowed by the more dramatic events of the appearance of Nellie Jack John, and the disapperance of the pigs from the farms in the neighborhood. The increasingly important place that the candle has In the book does demand some explanation, however. By its nature a lighted candle gives off light and heat and unavoidably marks the passing of time. But the candle that eternally flickers on Arthur's table is no ordinary candle for it is part of the magic that holds the ancient king locked in sleep. When it is removed by John to give him light the enchantment goes with him. The light and heat remain trapped in an amoeboid bubble of time that surrounds the candle.

This is why David and Keith cannot extinguish the candle or feel its heat. Keith discovers that:

The candle that he had thrown away the night before was still burning, and was not consumed. He picked it up, and the flame stood upright, and dew touched his hand. He laid a finger on the flame. It was a cold flame, there was no heat in It at all; and it cast very little light. It sat on the wax and glimmered.33

The time bubble works in two ways. As John moves out of the tunnel with the candle the spell holding the knights asleep is lifted. They are then capable of moving out into the real world. The other effect that the time bubble has is the power to reactivate creatures and beings that have been trapped outside the protective power of enchantment. The boggart, or house sprite, takes over the Watson's farm, and more terrifyingly, the Jingle Stones once again become the giants of old.

Three features of the time bubble become apparent as the story progresses. The first is that its effects arerelatively local; the second is that it does not, with one exception, have any physical effect on the people living in the twentieth century; the third is that It reacts with anything from earlier times with which It comes in contact. Towards the end Keith realizes what has happened. He says to himself:

I know that when Nellie Jack John took up this candle and brought it out from its place he disturbed the time that slept and the King that slept with it, and he

^Wil liam Mayne, Earthfasts, (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., i9 6 0 ), pp. 5 3 -^0 . 190

woke what was asleep before, and things that have slept since, like the giants that had become standing stones, and the boggart; and the things that whirled. So there were giants In the old days, and they kept pigs, and there Is nothing strange In their taking more pigs now that they are awake again. And the wild boar had slept with them, perhaps like a stone t o o . ™

The effects of the time bubble are not readily dispersed from the tunnel. Both David and Nellie

Jack John are caught by them. What has become the passing of months in the outside world is perceived as only moments by the two boys trapped underground.

Only when the candle is restored to its proper place can there be a release from the thralldom of time.

One of the most tantalizing aspects of Earthfasts is the unexplained drawing power that the candle has on both David and Keith. Both boys eventually are compelled to look deep Into the flame. In some way this looking gives impetus to the work of the time bubble. Mayne does not come near to explaining how this occurs and for this he would make no apology.

He says of the book:

There are loose ends in Earthfasts. That's alright. There have to be. I haven't disguised them, I hope. 35

3£*Ibld., p. m o .

^William Mayne, "A Discussion with William Mayne," Children's Literature in Education, Vol. 2. July 1970, p7 191

What Is apparent In the book Is that time can have an almost fatal attraction. When David leaves the outside world for the timelessness of the cavern he is as good as dead. If Earthfasts offers any message to its readers then it says that life can only be lived in time. To remove oneself from time is to remove oneself from life. To this extent there is a similarity of theme between Earthfasts and

Penelope Farmer*s A Castle of Bone. Mayne is taking an Aristotelian position and reflects what Thomas

Mann said on time:

What I believe, what I value most, is transitoriness. But is not transitori­ ness— the perishableness of life— something very sad? NoJ It is the very soul of existence. It imparts value, dignity, Interest to life. Transitoriness creates time— and ’’time Is the essense." Potentially, at least, time is the supreme, most useful gift. Time is related to— yes, identical with— everything creative and , active, every progress toward a higher goal.3°

There can be little wonder then that Keith becomes uneasy when David says:

I can see with the eyes of a stone, and think with Its thoughts, and feel with its layers and strata, and I Just stand whilst the world rushes by like a wind. I think the wind Is time. And then time stops and I can get out of where I'm standing, and I'm a person a g a i n . 37

36 Thomas Mann, quoted in Hans Meyerhoff, Time In Literature. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1955), P. 67.

^ M a y n e , Earthfasts, p. 95- 192

David In thinking as one of the Jingle Stones expresses a yearning to reach beyond linear time into timelessness.

Through the magic and adventure of Earthfasts the warning is not to search for the meaning of life beyond the boundaries of time. Mayne Is like Phillips

Pearce in his attempt to rationalize the passing of time and make time a vital part of human existence rather than a force for evil.

Penelope Farmer: Charlotte Sometimes (1969)

When Charlotte Makepeace goes to sleep in her bed at boarding school she wakes up in the past. It does not take her long to find out that she has changed places with Clare Moby. This story Is particularly concerned with how Charlotte adjusts to her new life in the past.

Farmer unashamedly makes use of a series of coincidences to set the stage for her time fantasy.

The object used for movement between the past and the present is an old Iron framed bed that Charlotte sleeps In while at boarding school. On her first day at school she chooses the bed near the window to the vague annoyance of her fellow students. It Is this bed that takes her at night back to the war year of 1 9 1 8 , and it Is the same bed which moves 193

Clare into the present.

At least three of the four major coincidences are recognizable by the time that the names of the two girls are known. One is that the transition takes place only at night while the girls are

sleeping, another is that the two girls share the same initials: CMM. The third coincidence is that the girls are sufficiently similar in appearance that all but the closest acquaintances fail to recognize the change. The fourth coincidence which is a necessary element to the smooth-flowing of the story is that the magic will not work if other people sleep in the bed. Clare’s sister, Emily, sayB to

Charlotte just before Charlotte returns to the present:

Other people have slept in your bed and they're always just the same in the morning. So it must be something special to do with you and C l a r e . 38

Certainly those coincidences do not detract from the quantity of the book for the sense of magic sustains the reader’s interest. What then is the author’s intention in writing Charlotte Sometimes if the coin­ cidences are so obvious? It would seem that Lesley

Aers could be close to the truth when she comments that writers use time to find out how someone would

3®Penelope Farmer, Charlotte Sometimes, (New York: Harcourt Brace and world, lyott;, p. 17$. 194 react and adjust If transported to another age.39

Charlotte Sometimes Is devoted to the exploration of how Charlotte will react in a past age. Little is said of Clare except for brief comments and these indicate that her adjustment is no better and perhaps worse than that of Charlotte. Clare is thrust into a future world of which she has no foreknowledge.

At least Charlotte has the advantage of history no matter how slight her understanding of it is.

Both girls find that the continual past-present movement on alternate days causes academic confusion.

Charlotte is good at English and arithmetic but not so successful at sport or music while Clare is the opposite. This problem is partially solved through the girls writing in each other’s diary. The real problems occur when Charlotte starts to lose her own identity and with some difficulty steps into the role of Clare. Only once during this period of an extended stay in the past does time displacement intrude into her life. During the seance when the Chisel-Browns call for their dead son the anguished cry of Clare calling for Emily breaks through the medium. This is perhaps the most poignant incident in the whole tale for there is haunting terror in that cry. At that

sley Aers, "The Treatment of Time in Pour Children’s Books." Children's Literature in Education* Vol. 2, July 1970, p. 69- 195 moment it becomes clear that there is no fun in finding oneself in a different age. Farmer allows no Joyful excitement of the kind which emanates from the children in The Story of the Amulet , or sense of adventure which the children experience in Narnia as they grow to be kings and queens of that country.

The cry also anticipates Clare’s death. She is lost to her world which to her is home no matter how many shortcomings it may have. There is a sense of dispossession which is the reverse of what Tolly experiences when he arrives at Green Knowe. Clare’s death, although tragic in itself, is a masterpiece of literary ingenuity. It is the inevitable con­ clusion of Charlotte’s experiences in so near a past.

Charlotte's friend, Elizabeth, recognizes this when she says:

I mean Clare could only come into the future, into now, because she . died— because she isn’t alive now.^

By killing Clare, Penelope Farmer has offered a solution which is even cleaner than Mrs. Bartholomew's dreams in Tom’s Midnight Garden.

Farmer in an almost simple story has not only explored time displacement successfully but has also captured the ethos of war weary England of 1918.

Insights into boarding school life are overshadowed

^Farmer. Charlotte Sometimes, p. 105* 196 by the picture of lower middle class gentility during World War I. If the story has any real flaws it is In the Insensitivity of Charlotte towards the

Chisel-Browns. It may well be the strength of the story as well, however, for Charlotte is a child and sees life with a child*s eye and not that of an adult.

Joan North: The Light Maze (1971)

Problems occur for a group of people who find that they are moved from tho real world to the greater reality of the Light Maze.

North uses time as a logical dimension of her

Platonic-styled created world. In this sense time displacement is difficult to separate from the Light

Maze of which it is a part. Those who enter the reality of the Light Maze experience a sense of time­ lessness. This is not a suspension of time In the true sense, whereby the world of experience finds itself to be but a feeble copy of the world of ideas, but rather experience Is still to be gained and assim­ ilated. Mysticism is the central Idea of The Light

Maze and Meyerhoff's argument applies directly to the thesis of the book:

Mysticism thus Involves a denial of time both in experience anc in nature. It does not distinguish one from the other, but declares both of them to be illusory and 197

unreal from the point of view of the mystic experience which discloses a transcendent, eternal order of Reality.141

It is not so much that time stands still in the

Light Maze but rather that it does not matter. When

Kit finds Tom Nancarrow in the Maze she says:

"I suppose you know you're lost? You've been missing for two years. No wonder your face seemed familiar— your photograph is on Aunty Sally's dressing table." "Two Years!" Tom Nancarrow sounded astonished. "I would have thought at the most an hour or so— not yet t e a t i m e . " ^ 2

The mystical concept of existence is pointed

out by St. Hugh. As he speaks of the Light Maze

he says:

"We are still in the world of thought and appearances. You will have to go higher to unite the image of the Lightstone with the true Lightstone." "Higher than the world of thought?" asked Barney. "Yes, beyond duality where all is one."^3

That time in the Light Maze has a lack of sig­ nificance is most strikingly highlighted when Tom says of Francis:

"He must have stayed behind in the Maze. This is only his body." "You mean he's dead?" asked Harriet, horrified. "Whatever death may mean," said Barney. "And I don't think somehow it means very much.""^

^Meyerhoff, Time in Literature, pp. 61-62. tio Joan North, The Light Maze, (New York: Farrer Straus and Giroux, 1971), p. 79*

**3Ibld.. p. 168.

^ Ibld., p. 185. 198

These observations stongly negate the second law of thermodynamics which suggests that time moves in the direction of an increase in entropy and hence implies that death is inevitable. Barney*s comments take the meaning out of time or timelessness.

In The Light Maze death must be equated with ar inability or an unwillingness to leave the Light Maze of the created world.

Joan North uses time as an integral part of her created world. The author’s goal is to escape from the endless cycle of death and birth, and enter a state of consciousness which is freed from the experience of time.

Otfried Pruessler: The Satanic Mill (1972)

Krabat, a fourteen year old Wendish orphan in seventeenth century Germany, is called to an old mill and there is initiated into the arts of black magic. In this Faustus tale Krabat not only learns the black arts but also eventually destroys the power of the master miller.

The use of time in The Satanic Mill plays a small but not insignificant part in the plot. For the apprentices and Journeymen of the mill In the fen of

Kosel time moves at three times that of the outside world. After one year at the mill Krabat Is surprised 199

"How could the Master release me from my apprenticeship? It can' t be over already!" "Ah, your first year in this mill is equal to three in the world outside!" said Michal*" "Haven't you noticed how much older you've grown since you first arrived, Krabat? You're exactly three years older now." "But that's not possible 111 "Yes, it is possible," said Michal, "and other things are possible in this mill too. as you ought to have realized by now.""5

The pattern is repreated with the appearance of each new apprentice. The passing of time brings with it both knowledge and physical aging.

Krabat realized that Michal must be right when he said he himself had grown three years older, as he really ought to have noticed long before, from the changes in his voice and body, his increased strength and the way hair was sprouting on his cheeks and chin, and had been since the beginning of winter. It looked no more than soft down, but If he stroked it he could feel it distinctly.

The growth of knowledge is the result of labor.

At the mill it Is the intensity of the work, the energy that must be expended to gain knowledge, which causes the normal metric of time to change and Increase.

While man lives In time and time gives meaning to life it also brings man to his death. The uni­ versal cycle of birth, death and rebirth does

^^otfried Preussler, The Satanic Mill, trans. Anthea Bell (New York: Macmillan, 1573)> p. 95*

i|6Ibld., p. 96. 200 not work at the mill of Kosel, for there is death but no birth. Only the master has control over life and for the journeymen death becomes an inevitability.

The insidious implication of the functioning of time at the Santanic mill is that its passing heralds oblivion. The cemetery where previous Journeymen have been buried is the outward sign of this:

The Wast Ground was a square clearing, hardly bigger than a threshing floor, with stunted pines growing around it. The boy could make out a row of long, low mounds in the twilight, like graves in some deserted graveyard, untended and overgrown with heather, no cross or stone to mark them.^7

The men at the mill have given up their allotted time for life in the vain hope of delaying their ultimate destiny through the acquisition of knowledge.

The alchemy they use is as fruitless as that of the medieval magician who tried to turn base metals into gold.

Preussler's message is a clear one. Unless man can turn from his despair at seeing the finiteness of mortal life and give creative meaning to time he will be totally destroyed.

Tf7------1 Ibid.. p. 79. 201

Joan Phipson: The Way Home (1973)

Three children, Richard, and his cousins,

Prue and Peter, are thrown back into early

Australian time after a car crash. For a week time shifts backwards and forwards until at last the children are returned to the present where

Richard dies and the other two are rescued.

The Way Home Joins a small group of children’s fantasies which uses time as the lietmotif. More generally in fantasy time shift is seen in a sup­ porting role. Phipson in using time in her book has capsulized Australia’s geomorphological and ecological evolution but this is not the main con­ cern of the book.

The theme which becomes explicit only towards the end of the book shows that it is the land which gives life, and to lose contact with nature means death. When Richard dies the Earth spirit says to

Peter:

He had lost touch with you because he had lost touch with me.^°

In this sense The Way Home is vaguely didactic and it can be hypothesized that Phipson believes that modern man has moved too far away from the important and fundamental aspects of life. Peter, the youngest ---- j~n------Joan Phipson, The Way Home. (New York: Atheneum, 1973), p. 176. 202

of the three children, adjusts easily to the

everchanging landscape. Richard, the eldest,

who is city bred is utterly bewildered by what

is happening to them. He is no longer capable

of being the leader that he has been in his own

environment. He can only feel antagonism and

fear towards the spirit of the Earth:

Then Richard began screaming. And the screams formed themselves into words. ’’It's a hater! It's a hater! It's horrible. Get away! Come on. Get away!"^9

Richard has lived his life away from nature and is

emotionally dead to it long before he is challenged by the journey through time and space.

Phipson treats time in an unusual way in her book for she uses the Aboriginal concept of Great

Time. To the Aboriginal there are two times.

There is secular time belonging to the ordinary

existence of man, and there is the time of the

eternal now where the past, or Dream Time, the present, and the future become a unity. When

Richard says;

"Are we going to get home?" the Earth spirit Is able to reply:

"You are where you have always b e e n . . . "50

**9Ibid. , p . 1 7 Q .

50Ibld., p. 122. 203

Here time is no longer horizontal but vertical, it is no longer profane but sacred and eternal.

Because Great Time cannot be marked off into discrete or finite segments there is no attempt to have the children move through this dimension in any carefully arranged pattern. Instead time expands and contracts in vast eons, and the trans­

ition from one period to Another is pointedly deemphasized. The author has made one compromise

in the interests of making the time transitions

comprehensible to the young reader. Time changes

generally occur while the children sleep.

Time oscillates in The Way Home. Initially the three children move backwards through the times

of the early European settlements, the pre-European times, the glacial age, and finally reach the

dinosaur and volcanic era. Then there Is a rapid movement towards the present with a brief incursion

into the future. This oscillation of time causes

the children to move from place to place to avoid

dangers that confront them. Much of the time they

are forced to run, and it would appear that Phipson has deliberately arranged this to reinforce and

highlight the many changes in time. The children

have no more control over where they are going in

space than they have In time. 204

To the Aboriginal, the Great Time describes all that which beyond his own immediate remembering.

It Is the time of the creation and the time of the wonderful deed, but It is also an unknown time.

For the children the security of their immediate present gives away to an amoral but powerful force which neither cares whether they live or perish.

On one level the children are attempting to run not from physical danger but from time itself. This they cannot do and It is only as they are prepared to stop against time and nature that they can find peace. At this point their personal Identities are absorbed into the infinite creative act. Prue discovers what this means and she realizes that:

She was no longer Prue. She no longer had a life of her own. She was a part- no more— of the basic design, of the every earth itself and of all the elements that were part of It. Her mind floated in suspense, spellbound, until the process of which she was part was complete. Until the great working- out was resolved. And little by little tranquility was restored.51

Richard continues to fight for identity, and he dies and in so doing gives up his identity. Peter is too young to have even begun to fight. As the Earth spirit says of Peter:

51 Ibid., p. 171. 205 He is with me all the time.52

In one respect Phipson's use of time brings

together the Australian and the European. The three

children although European by descent are native born

Australians. The land belongs to them as much as it does to the original Aboriginal inhabitants. The

Aboriginal myth of Great Time, therefore, becomes more than a mere religious concept in the culture of a primitive people. It becomes an integral part of a ruggedly beautiful and ancient land. The Way Home is a modern parable which uses time to suggest to the new colonizers of the country that they will not

survive unless they become one with the primordial ethos of the continent. Well might the book be echoing the sentiment expressed in the first line of Robert Frost's poem, "The Gift Outright":

The land was ours before we were the land's.-^

Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising (1973)

This Is the second book in a proposed series of five. The protagonist is Will Stanton, the seventh son of a seventh son, who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is the last of the Old Ones. The Old Ones are

52ibid., p. 121.

53Robert Frost, "The Gift Outright," Complete Poems of Robert Frost, (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963), p. w r ~ 206 committed to fighting the supernatural forces of the Dark which are intent on dominating the world.

Will discovers that he has special powers to help defeat the Dark as it occurs in his time.

The dominant issue in this book is the combat between good and evil and the time motif is of only secondary importance. Time displacement is used sparingly but it supports a quality of timelessness evoked by the presence of Romantic and Celtic mythic elements.

And into Will’s mind, whirling him up on a wind blowing through and around the whole of Time, came the story of the Old Ones. He saw them from the beginning when magic was at large in the world; magic that was the power of rocks and fire and water and living things, so that the first men lived in it and with it, as a fish lives in the water. He saw the Old Ones, through the ages of men who worked with stone, and with bronze, and with iron, with one of the six great Signs born in each age.... He saw a time when the first great testing of Light came, and the Old Ones spent themselves for three centuries on bringing their land out of the Dark, with the help in the end of their greatest leader, lost in the saving unless one day he might wake and return again.5*1

While myth brings together the past and the present there is in the book a further dimension of timelessness.

As the powers of the Dark surround the church Will

S^Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising, (London: Chatto & Windus, 1973TTp- 93- 207

observes:

"There's not really any before and after, Is there?" "Everything that matters Is outside Time. And comes from there and can go there." Mr. Beaumont turned to him In surprise. "You mean infinity, of course, my boy." "Not altogether," said the Old One that was Will. "I mean the part of all of us, and of all the things we think and believe, that has nothing to do with yesterday or today or tomorrow because it belongs at a different kind of level. Yesterday is still there, on that level. Tomorrow is there too. You can visit either of them. And all Gods are there, and all the things they have ever stood for. "And," he added sadly, "the opposite, too."55

In The Dark is Rising the powers of both the

Dark and the Light are capable of reasserting their presence through the ages. For Cooper, the Dark and the Light are absolute spiritual forces which in many ways are not interested in man, but which because they are capable of existing both in and out of time, control the balance of creation and so directly affect man's existence and his temporal and spiritual well-being. Merrlman explains to Will the nature of the existence of the Old Ones as it relates to time:

"You see, Will," he said, "we of the Circle are planted only loosely within Time. The doors are a way through it, in any direction we may choose. For all times coexist, and the future can sometimes affect the past, even though

55Ibid., p. 130. 208

the past is a road that leads to the future.56

It is time that gives substance to the ancient forces. Through time they are able to wage battle, outside of time they merely exist. Time­ lessness offers a respite, a haven of safety from the enemy. The great hall that Will enters through the two massive carved wooden doors is such a place.

Will also discovers that it can be a prison for once he is inside, the Dark is capable of stopping him

frommoving again back Into time. Merrimansays to

Will:

The doors are our great gateway into Time, and you will know more about the uses of them before long. But this time you could not have opened them, nor I, nor perhaps any of the circle. For the force that was pushing against them was the full midwinter power of the Dark, which none but the Lady can overcome alone— and even she, only at great cost.57

There is a third concept of time Introduced in

The Dark is Rising. As opposed to either linear time or timelessness there is time between time.

To Western ears the musical scale consists of notes

separated by precise intervals of pitch. Yet there are many other notes and Intervals which have existence

5^lbld., ~ 45.

57Ibid., p. 44. 209 but rarely find their way into Western music.

Such is Cooper's third concept of time. When the

signs that Will has collected are brought together

they must be joined in a suspended moment of time

between the seventh and twentieth century:

Merriman cocked his head to the rushing, rippling sound of water. It had the sound of a river that is full but not in flood, a river running after much rain. "What we are hearing," he said, "is not the Thames, but the sound of the twentieth century. You see, Will, the Signs must be joined by John Wayland Smith In this smithy, in this time— for not long after this the smithy was destroyed. Yet the Signs were not brought together until your quest, which has been within your own time. So the joining must be done in a bubble of Time between the two, from which the eyes and ears of an Old One may perceive both.58

The bubble is a wedge in time that Is not recog­ nizable to human minds trained to measure time in

a specific way. It Is none the less real to the

Old Ones who are capable of breaking away from the

common metric of time.

In The Dark is Rising time is used not to

give value to life but to stress the timeless law

of eternal return. Time Is not necessarily a source

of good as Thomas Mann would have it, or a source of

5BIbld., pT~205. 210 evil as Aldous Huxley sees it, but a source of both good and evil.Time has many faces but it is ultimately to be seen as a cycle of which the present is merely one angel on the head of a pin.

But angels are important and the combat between good and evil within the context of the present can affect the balance of eternity.

Eleanor Cameron: The Court of the Stone Children (1973)

Nina Harmsworth is new to San Francisco.

Her unhappiness at leaving the mountains is changed when she discovers a transplanted French villa which has been converted into a private museum. Through her association with the museum she becomes involved in solving a mystery associated with an early nineteenth century French nobel family.

In many children's books the use of time displacement is used either to explore the emotions and reactions of people removed rapidly from their own environments or to add atmosphere to an otherwise self sustaining story line. Infrequently does time displacement become the focus of a book. Occasionally there will appear an experimental time novel such as

Alan Garner's The Red Shift but this is not really a children's book at all. In The Court of the Stone

^Meyerhoff, Time in Literature, pp. 77-79- 211

Children, however, the reader Is left with the feeling that the time motif is "the tail that wags the dog." There is a preoccupation with time which suggests that if it does not overshadow Dominique*s tale it is at least equal to i t . This is not to intimate that the novel suffers from such an approach, but rather that Cameron has been rather deliberate in her point of view. Not only that but the quotes and comments about time in the novel represent a very sophisticated approach to the subject.

Eleanor Cameron*s fascination with the concept of time as a globe has taken shape in The Court of the Stone Children. In The Green and Burning Tree she refers to many writers to support her concept but her reference to Thornton Wilder Is a concise summary of her thesis:

Time is a vast landscape over which, could there be such a beholder, the eye would be at liberty to rove In any direction.

If these conditions prevail in The Court of the Stone

Children there is no difficulty In understanding how

Dominique from the early nineteenth century can con­ front and speak to Nina from the late twentieth century.

Nine is first made consciously aware of time

60Cameron, The Green and Burning Tree, p. 77* 212 by looking at a print of Chagall's painting,

Time is a River Without Banks. Soon after she is struck by the possiblities of time change as she wanders through the museum. She becomes absorbed in the atmosphere created by the old furnishings.

Cameron comments:

You could lose yourself drifting from one QroomJ to another, as Nina now did, as though time were indeed a river without banks.

Nina is sensitive to the timeless quality of art in its many forms. There is the Chagall painting, the museum and its furniture, the amethyst ring, and finally there is Odele's Journal. Gil Patrick, with his project on time helps Nina to appreciate the contemporary paintings with their emphasis on * time warp. Gil had:

...talked to Mrs. Staynes on the corner last night and she had said there was a book in the museum library about Picasso, explaining why he showed all sides of a model's face at once. It was because of Einstein's theories about space and time. And this had to do, too, she'd said, with a painting by a man named Marcel Duchamp called Nude Descending a Staircase that showed the figure in a different position on each step so that you weren't getting one second of time in the painting but^the entire descent at a single glance.62

61Eleanor Cameron, The Court of the Stone Children. (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1971*)» P~ 16.

62Ibld.. p. 107. 213

Art has the power to liberate man from the anxious awareness of his own death.^3 While Nina does not consciously contemplate death it is through art that she can bring together many threads on the

tapestry of human existence. She is not escaping life by becoming involved in Dominique*s quest to clear her father*s name but she is expanding her own perception of the meaning of life.

It is Nina's sensitivity to the beauty around her that permits her to see and converse with

Dominique. Dominique is very much like the children of Green Knowe. She is a memory within a house. She is not the recreated memory of someone like Granny

03dknow but rather she is a memory such as the furni­ ture of the museum is a memory. The old furniture and settings have a past as well as a present. It

Is the memory of that past which gives the furniture

Its ethos. Such Is Domi. The past becomes alive in her, perhaps because of her portrait, so she takes on an existence which for Nina is as real as the museum. Dominique, like the museum, is living history.

In The Court of the Stone Children Cameron looks at the aesthetic qualities of time. Time can be a globe because the power of art gives to time a sense of oneness which does link the past and the present.

63Meyerhoff, Time In Literature, p. 76- 214

SUMMARY

In this chapter the works of eleven authors have been analysed to examine how time, and time warp functions and to what purpose they both have been used in contemporary high fantasy for children.

The Chronicles of Warnla

Time is used in three ways In this series:

1) Normal Earth time.

2) Narnian time which for those In Narnla functions in a regular manner.

3) The time between the real and created world which has no regular pattern but which suggests that time

In Narnia is accelerated when compared to Earth.

Time in these tales Is used to aid the smooth flowing of the stories rather than being of fundamental

Importance to the plots.

The Children of Green Knowe Treasure of Green Knowe

In both books time functions as a recreation of memory. It is not the memory of habit but of the unique events which has occurred in the house. It is time which reveals the ethos of Green Knowe, and the memories associated with the house.

Tom*s Midnight Garden

Time is used to show the Importance of change.

In this book time is an agent for good and imparts 215 meaning to life. The mechanical apparatus for employing time Is a series of dream sequences, and the magic in the book gives life and credibility to these dreams.

The Secret Friends

The responsibility for the past must be in some measure borne by the inhabitants of the present.

Time is used to highlight man's inhumanity to man.

The door between times is a cleft in a rock which when the tale is told is closed forever.

A Wrinkle in Time

L 1Engle makes an overt application of the theory of relativity to aid space-time travel in the book. By tesseracting, the characters are able to move through interstellar space without a loss of time. The use of time warp assume equal importance with the theme of combat between good and evil although one does not necessarily depend on the other.

Earthfasts

A bubble of time surrounding a candle moves as an enchanted candle moves. The movement of the time bubble breaks this enchantment causing the old forces of the world to awake. They only cease their activity when the candle is restored to its proper place.

Time is used to give meaning to life and is 216

a force for good In man's existence.

Charlotte Sometimes

An old iron bed in a boarding school is

the agent which permits a child in the present to

change places with a child in the past. While

the past is treated at some length so that the reader

is given a look at society in World War I England,

Farmer also uses time change to show the pain of

dispossession and isolation.

The Light Maze

Time is used here to support a theory of mystical existence. While North pictures her created

world in Platonic terms the real thesis is that time does not matter. The goal of existence is to escape

into a state of consciousness freed from time.

The Satanic Mill

In The Satanic Mill time is shown as a

destructive use of energy. In the futile attempt

to add time to life the journeymen of the mill

actually exhaust time and so hasten their own ends.

The Way Home

The Aboriginal concept of Great Time Is used

to show that time is a unity. In this way Phipson

can move her characters back and forth through time

very rapidly. Time is also used to reflect upon

modern man's loss of contact with the land. In so 217 doing he loses his heritage and the meaning for his existence.

The Dark Is Rising

Cooper uses time In three ways:

1) To give credibility to the presence of elements of ancient myths appearing within the present

2) To point out the unity of time and so give substance to the forces of the Dark and the Light within time

3) To suggest that time may have many more divisions than mortal man can distinguish.

The Court of the Stone Children

In this book the aesthetic falue of time is introduced. Through art, especially the concrete arts, time loses its boundaries and gains a unity which joins the past and the present.

CONCLUSION

There is an amazing variety of ways in which time Is manifested In children's high fantasy. The analysis of the above books shows the following ways in which time functions:

1) Time Is a unity whereby the past, the present, and the future are indivisible

2) Time for man gives his life meaning. According to the philosophy expressed in any given book this 218 meaning can be either positive or negative.

3) Time may change its pattern and speed outside the boundaries of the real world. Such change may not be apparent to the characters.

4) The recreation of memory is only possible through the existence of time, but memory gives personality to people and places.

5) Art exists in time and through time and allows the past and present to unite.

6) Earthly time confines man to boundaries when instead he should be reaching for fulfillment in a state beyond time.

7) Time may have mo"^ divisions than man is able to distinguish.

The use of time magic in children*s high fantasy would seem to owe much to at least two ideas:

1) Man*s desire to break the confines of linear time in an attempt to achieve immortality. Even when time gives meaning to life this suggests a rational­ ization of time rather than a negation of the desire to escape from time.

2) The theory of relativity has helped writers to extend their concepts about the possibilities of how time functions. CHAPTER V

QUEST

Introduction

Popular usage of the term, quest, would suggest that

It could be defined as a search or pursuit made In order to find or obtain something. While this definition in one sense is accurate, in another it Is far too broad to be of much help In literary analysis and criticism. W. H. Auden's comments on quest however give a focus which Is useful for literature. Auden says:

To look for a lost collar button is not a true quest: to go in quest means to look for something of which one has, as yet, no experience; one can imagine what it will be like but whether one's picture is true or false will be known only when one has found it.l

Quest, to Auden, suggests a search for the unknown which must be accompanied by choice. The choice will be cognitive rather than biological. Animals hunting for food do so out of biological necessity so this is not choice but a drive activated through need. Man, however, is capable of rea­ son and has the power to make his decision to quest based on

^•W. H. Auden, "The Quest Herc^" Tolkien and the Critics, ed. N. D. Isaacs and Rose A. Zlmbardo,(Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968), p. MO.

219 220

reason. In literature, whether the questor chooses to

exercise his Judgment may not be overtly clear either to

the questor or the reader. Nevertheless it will be fairly

safe to assume that the effects of prior experience and

not merely of habit form some basis for the decision to

quest.

Quest in literature dates back at least to The Epic

of Gllgamesh which gives It a recorded history of five

thousand years. This motif has remained very popular

as part of the world's great epics and sagas as well as

those tales which have taken on fabulous legendary aspects.

It has found Its way naturally into much folklore and

Stith Thompson points out that:

Prominent in the action of a very large number of folk stories Is the performance of difficult, and sometimes Impossible, tasks and quests.

More particularly it is usually associated with medieval tales of chivalry and high romance. Alexander In echoing

Thompson says of all these tales:

One recurring theme* is, of course, the perilous quest in all Its various forms: the Journey to a strange land, the descent into an underworld, storming the ogre's castle, or slaying a dragon. Or the impossible task. Or the accumulative task,

2Stith Thompson, The Folktale* (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 19^6), p. IU5* 221

where there's one main goal but before accomplishing It something else has to be done, and before that can be done there's still something more. The freeing of a captive would be another theme. And there are many m o r e . 3

Books which use quest do not always need to portray their characters in medieval settings or the dress of pre-industrial society. Quest in modern garb may search for psychological equilibrium, social values, or the meaning of life. The tasks which accompany modern quest are to be found firmly rooted in the problems associated with living in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Nevertheless, contemporary children's literature regard­ less of the setting chosen by the author is still likely to be concerned with issues relevant to the world of the reader,

In this chapter the nature and use of quest in con­ temporary high fantasy for children will be analysed.

Exceptions will be made In two Instances:

1) Where the quest is of only minor Importance

2) Where quest reveals itself primarily In tevms of the combat between good and evil. In such books quest will be incorporated into Chapter Six.

^Lloyd Alexander, "Truth About Fantasy," Top of the News. January 1968, p. 169. J. R. R. Tolkien: The Hobbit (1937)

Perhaps the best known of all modern fantasy which utilizes a quest theme is that of The Hobbit.

Bilbo Baggins, a well-to-do hobbit, finds that he has

agreed to set out on a dangerous Journey to help a small band of dwarfs to recover their birthright.

James Higgins says of The Hobbit that it:

...is a tale of adventure. It's a story of quest - of faraway places and heroic deeds. And though it reaches far back into time, when men played but a small part in the stories of the world, it does strongly resemble the stories of Arthur and the Round Table, Beowulf, Sigurd and the Norse heroes.^

The resemblance is not quite so complete, however, when it is realized that Bilbo is no bold knight errant but a rather prosperous and comfort loving creature for whom anything beyond the Shire is an anathema. Tolkien has created in Bilbo a personality of flesh and blood and not a medieval figure who is remote from the understandings of human frailty. But he has also established the pattern of the traditional quest which he repeats and elaborates

in The Lord of the Rings. As Northrop Frye has noted there are three stages of the quest which are characteristic

James E. Higgins, Beyond Words, (New York: Teachers College Press, 1970), p. 2 3 . 223 1) The perilous journey and the concomitant preliminary

adventures.

2) The crucial struggle.

3) The exaltation of the h e r o . 5

Tolkien has successfully combined both the traditional pattern of the quest with a very human creature. The result of this combination is the creation of mythopoelc literature rather than canonical myth. What Gunnar Urang says of The Lord of the Rings can be applied mutatis mutandis to The Hobbit:

...the author has created a story which speaks with something of the authority of the old myths. But only with some thing analogous to that authority.®

That Bilbo finally agrees to accompany the dwarfs on their journey is not totally surprising for although

Bilbo:

looked and behaved exactly like a second edition of his solid and comfortable father, got something a bit queer in his makeup from the Took side, something that only waited for a chance to come out.7

His Tookish ancestory combined with the more solid Baggins* stock gives him the urge to set out on the adventure and having once committed himself also the strength to be

SNorthrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism,(New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957), p. 1B7. ^Qunnar Urang, "Tolkien's Fantasy: The Phenomenology of Hope," Shadows of the Imagination, ed. Mark R. Hillegas, (U.S.A.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969), p. 101.

7j. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbltt, (New York: Ballintine Books, 1974), p. 17. 22k resolute. The Tookish blood stirs as he listens to the dwarfs' song:

Far over the misty mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away ere break of day To seek the pale enchanted gold.8

Finally as he hears himself described as a grocer his timidity is temporarily replaced by determination to set out with the dwarfs:

Then Mr. Baggins turned the handle and went in. The Took side had won. He suddenly felt he would go without bed and breakfast to be thought fierce.^

Bilbo's Tookish blood is not solely responsible for his growing temerity, however. Earlier when Bilbo declines

Gandalf's invitation to share in the adventure the wizard says:

My pardon. I give it you. In fact I will go so far as to send you on this adventure. Very amusing for me, very good for you - and profitable too, very likely if you ever get over it.10

As Ryan points out:

Thus a form of grace appears to have operated and bestowed on the hobbit a set of experience which are for his own spiritual growth. Although little further mention is made of a plan be­ hind the action, a physical manifestation

8Ibid.. p. 2 7 .

^Tbld. p. 30.

10Ibl<3U p. 19. 225

of divine intervention, from both the Eagles and Beorn, Is seen also to operate at moments of crisis.11

The suggestion of predetermined design within which frame­ work choice Is recognized becomes apparent as Gandalf

states:

You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, Just for your sole benefit?!*

There Is also a hint of neoclassical religious thought to give perspective to Bilbo's quest when the wizard adds:

You are a very fine person, Mr. Bagglns, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!13

The movement away from the Shire represents the first stage in the quest. With the journey westward come the preliminary skirmishes with the goblins and the wargs. The evil that is encountered in The Hobbit is a worldy one in that the two races have Joined forces against those who believe that they have right on their side. This is evil at a different level in contrast to the absolute powers of wickedness found in the

Trilogy. In The Hobbit this vaster, more cosmic cloud of

11J. S. Ryan, Tolkien: Cult or Culture?. (Australia: University of New England, 1969)» P* 1^4.

l^Tolkien, The Hobbit. p. 286

13Ibidj* pp. 286-287. 226 evil Is only hinted at when Thorin says:

...we must give a thought to the Necromancer.

The quest that Bilho engages upon is one of a different

calibre than that of his nephew Frodo's.

Through all his Journey Bilbo changes from a

conservative, somewhat unimaginative soul to a creature of ingenuity and daring. His escape from Gollura, his courage in rescuing his friends from the spiders, are a taste of the flowering of spirit that had lain dormant all his life. Bilbo's spiritual strength and humanity is recognized in the end by the dying Thorin who says:

There Is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

Yet like a true hero his vanity is not stimulated by such words, and he is glad to return home as a traveller who returns from a memorable Journey.The tobacco Jar and his memories are good enough for him.

While It Initially appears that Bilbo has been inveigled into helping the dwarfs It is not through weakness of character that he submits but rather through

l4Ibid., p. 37.

15ibld_. p. 273. 227 strength. Choice Is always his and It is this choice which gives his life flavor. More importantly It offers him consolation in a world, namely the Shire,which prefers not to take life beyond its own front door step. Ps Purtill observes:

...openness and interest in other races are not characteristic of hobblts as such. They are a closed-minded and pro­ vincial lot, suspicious even of hob­ bit s who live beyond the Brandywine River or in Bree, to say nothing of elves, dwarves, and wizards.1®

When Bilbo returns from his journey he discovers that:

...he had lost his reputation. It is true that for ever after he remained an elf-friend, and had the honour of dwarves, wizards, and all such folk as ever passed that way; but he was no longer quite respect­ able. He was in fact held by all the hobbits of the neighbourhood to be 'queer'-except by his nephews and nieces on the Took side, but even they were not encouraged in their friendship by their elders.

I am sorry to say he did not mind. He was quite content; and the sound of the kettle on his hearth was ever after the more musical than It had been even in the quiet days before the Unexpected Party.

Bilbo through his quest has given his life a sense of purpose and morality which In a more cosmic sense offers

^Richard Purtill, Lord of the Elves and Elolls. (Michigan: Zondervan, 19?^), p* 185. ^Tolkien, The Hobbit» p. 285* 226 a philosophy of hope to mankind. The happy ending to life is the goal which keeps humanity struggling in the face of the inexorable passage of time leading to physical obliteration. Like Lewis, Tolkien through the use of quest offers Christian consolation.

Bilbo is not a modern hero as is Alexander's

Taran, but a Christian hero. Although Tolkien is a modern writer his concept of life and hope is dis­ tinctly Christian. As Purtill points out:

Both Lewis and Tolkien are Christians, and their morality is essentially Christian morality.18

Penelope Parmer: The Summer Birds (1962)

Charlotte, her sister Emma, and the other children of the small village school are taught to fly one sum­ mer by a strange boy. The summer passes in magical delight, but at the end the boy tells his secret and the magic is gone.

The perspective from which this tale is told is an unusual one for although Charlotte appears to be the protagonist the story is not really hers. It is the boy who brings magic and life to the book.

l®Purtill, Lord of the Elves and Elolls. p. 195- 229 The magic starts to move as the children are taught one by one to fly. In their delight they do not initially question why or how this marvellous gift becomes theirs. But as the normal childhood challeges and rivalries begin to come to the fore the mood of the* children changes and Totty sneers:

"Who is he? We don’t know; he don’t say; we don’t ask. And what’s his magic? he went on, hushed. "It might be bad magic for all we know, witch sort of magic," and he paused to let them imagine cauldrons and evil spells. They looked at the boy awed. Surely he couldn't be someone of this sort, the friendly boy who taught them all to fly. Yet he was very strange; and they knew nothing of his beginnings.19

What, perhaps, has been lurking In the back of each child's mind is suddenly out in the open. As Charlotte

Huck says:

...running throughout the children's excitement and pleasure was the brooding ominous question as to the boy's identity,20

It is the revelation by the boy of his Identity which gives focus to the whole story and through which his quest is made explicit:

19Penelope Parmer, The Summer Birds, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 19b9;, p. 102.

20Charlotte Huck and Doris Young Kuhn, Children’s Literature in the Elementary School, 2nd edition, (New Y o r k : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), p. 360. 230 He was a bird he said, of a bird dying out, extinct almost in memory but for a museum skeleton. He alone existed, the last bird of his race. The summer had been given to him by the mighty birdlord, the fiery Phoenix as a last chance to restore his kind. "Renew yourself," the lord has said. "Renew yourself as I renew myself, by fire. Fly to the furnance of the human world, find fellows for your­ self, take them to your island, and your race will go on. Of any kind or form they may be. Your form and kind they will become. Go, the summer is yours. Use it well."

So the boy has taken human shape and loitered uncertain in the lane that May morning where Charlotte and Emma had come on their way to school.

"So you were taking us to your island to become birds," said Charlotte slowly.

"Yes,"said the boy, downcast.

"And we would never have come back?" went on Charlotte more slowly.

"You could never have come back," said the boy.

That the statement of quest comes late in the book has a distinct advantage. The children unencumbered by knowledge of ulterior motive are free to enjoy their new found freedom. There is innocent Joy in their actions as they take to the air:

They flew the whole morning, went home regretfully to lunch, and flew all the afternoon, but through the woods because it was so hot on the Downs in the glaring sun. Here they discovered treetop skimming, looking down through beech and aspen leaves to the wood floor,and the pleasure of brushing light-leaf through In the air..... 231 They were happy - happier even than sparrows because sparrows can always fly. But they were the only flying children.21

On occasion in describing the children’s experiences

Parmer's prose reaches lyrical heights touching the skill of the nature poetry of Dylan Thomas or Gerard

Manley Hopkin's sonnet, The Windhover. It is almost impossible to sustain such quality for long periods but

Parmer's descriptive talents are vital to casting the spell of magic that pervades the book.

The stages of quest although recognizable in

The Summer Birds do not have the same force as they do in the traditional medieval romance. The reason for this is that the pattern of the quest is only fully apparent in retrospect. The other reason Is that the tale lacks the myth-like quality of the traditional quest story.

For all that The Summer Birds reflects significant qualities that Northrop Frye feels are associated with quest and romance. Frye calls the romance "the mythos of summer."

He says:

The romance is nearest of all literary forms to the wish-fulfIlment dream.22

The wish to fly by the children becomes bound up In the

21Farmer, The Summer Birds. p. 68.

22prye, Anatomy of Criticism, p. 186. 232 boy's urgent need to find someone who will return with him to his island. That the action of the story takes place during summer adds to the aura of the magic, and hearkens back to the summer enchantment of Puck of Pook's Hill as well as suggesting the more universal fullness of summer growth and laughter.

More importantly it is during the summer that the first stage of the quest is completed.. There is no perilous Journey except in an oblique sense that the boy has come a long way to begin his task. But the preliminary minor adventures are there in the children learning to fly and the boy being accepted as one of them. Them towards the end of summer comes the battle as the boy's authority as leader is challenged. To lose means a lonely death for the boy for he must leave the children and go back alone to his island, there to face extinction as the last of his race. He must also reveal his identity, and there is a touch of irony and pathos in his reply as

Jammy says:

"Will you tell us about you?" he demanded. "We couldn't not know ever - I'd die of curiosity."...

"Would you now - how sad!" He was serious suddenly.23

23Farmer, The Summer Birds, p. 108. 233 The battle is fought and the boy wins and so claims his

place amongst the children once more. Finally as summer

draws to a close, suggesting that the magic of flight

must also soon disappear, the boy says he must depart

and asks the children to go with him. It Is Charlotte,

with her spirit still In the air but her growing maturity

forcing her to face reality,who successfully pleads with

the other children to consider what they should do. Only

Maggot finds no human ties to bind her and she goes with

the boy to renew his race. The quest ends on this note

and Charlotte and the children are bereft of the summer magic and must turn their thoughts away from the enchant­ ment of childhood as does Wendy In Peter Fan. The wistful plea of Miss Hallibut early in the tale:

"I suppose...! suppose...I cannot learn to fly too?"

and the boy's reply:

"No, I can only teach children. You - you are too old. "2*1

find Its echo In the children's reactions at the end of the

story;

Suddenly the rain came, beating in with the wind. At the same moment the sun shone out over the sea behind them, and one file below, the field by the

2** Ibid, p. 72. 23*1 school that had been yellow with butter­ cups In May, now was yellow with sunshaft. A rainbow sprang there vividly. A rainbow should be a hopeful thing, but it was not in her own persuading and shunned for it, almost as she had been before the summer started and the children did not know her.

"Prig Charlotte" - the whispers were there again, Annie and Molly with the others, as the rain beat on their faces.25

The Summer Birds is no archetypical quest tale although it follows the pattern of quest suggested by

Frye. It is a tale of childhood magic and the search to sustain that magic. In a sense it is an adult cry for lost innocence.

Lloyd Alexander: The Chronicles of Frydain (1964-1968)

The five volumes which make up the thematic whole of

The Chronicles of Frydain follow the early life of Taran, assistant keeper to the oracular pig, Hen Wen. He is first met as a young boy in the house of Dallben, the magician, and the final volume concludes when he become high king over Prydain.

When Lloyd Alexander wrote:

The truth about fantasy is: its true subject matter Is the human condition.26

25ibld., pp. 153-154.

26Alexander,"Truth About Fantasy," p. 170. 235 It can be recognized that he was commenting on his own

creation of Prydain. Within the framework of a medieval high romance there is seen a picture of humanity with all

its fears, doubts, hopes, aspirations and faith. Taran, the protagonist, epitomizes this human condition as he

searches for fulfilment In his life.

In the traditional epic and romance the quest is treated within the appointed tasks of the questor until the final goal is reached. As a result there is to be

found little or no development of character for the emphasis

Is on the tasks rather than the questor. The quest has become a crystallized representation of a past event

or idea where he has engaged. Alexander has avoided this

position in his Prydain books for Taran is very much

alive and continues to develop through the series in personality and power of leadership.

Taran is first introduced as a headstrong boy with all

the confidence of unspoiled childhood. This trait will be

of advantage as he forces his way to leadership. Even

as a child Taran yearns to take on the outward symbols of

chivalry and heroic status. He frets because he must work

In the smithy at making horsehoes rather than a "blade for

a hero."27

^ L l o y d Alexander, The Book of Three, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 197*0, P* 10. 236 The psychological growth of Taran which is at the center of the whole series is clothed in the trappings of medieval chivalry, with its deeds against evil, the valor of those of noble birth, the love of a princess, and the unselfish comradeship of knights-at-arms. Taran is so blinded by his preoccupation of this glitter that at first he does not recognize true knightly worth. When he first meets Prince Gwydion he chokes out:

"You are not Gwydion! I know of him. He is a great war leader, a hero!"28

Only as he sees the riches of Gwydion*s saddle and scabbard can he recognize him as a prince. Gwydion gently admonishes him saying:

"It Is not the trappings that make the prince nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior."29

This Is a hard lesson for Taran to learn but learn It he finally does. At the end he chooses to stay in Prydain and serve his fellow men instead of accepting Gwydion's offer to sail with the Summer People Into everlasting life.

"Think carefully, Assistant PIg-Keeper," Dallben said sharply. "Once taken, your choice cannot be recalled. Will you dwell in sorrow instead of happiness? Will you refuse not only Joy and love but never- ending life?"

28Ibid.. p . 25-

29ibid. Taran did not answer for a long moment. When at last he did, his voice was heavy with regret, yet his words were clear and unfaltering.

"There are those more deserving of your gift than I, yet never may it be offered them. My life is bound to theirs. Coll Son of Collfrewr's garden and orchard lie barren, waiting for a hand to quicken them. My skill is less than his, but I give it willingly for his sake.

"The seawall at Dinas Rhydnant is unfinished," Taran continued. "Before the King of Mona's burial mound I vowed not to leave his task undone."30

It is the unselfish heart that makes the knight and hero.

Only through Taran's experiences is he able to make this final decision. The value of the experiences is not

In the courage that he expresses when faced with danger but in the understanding he gains of his countrymen. In this respect he is very much the twentieth century hero rather than the medieval one.

The passions which rage through Taran at Craddoc's fatal fall finally gives over to shame and horror as he realizes that he had been hoping the shepherd would die:

Then, as if his heart would burst with it, he cried out in terrible rage, "What man am I?"31

30Lloyd Alexander, The High King, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1973)* 290.

3lLloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1969)* p. 192. 238 Even when Taran finds out that Craddoc is not his father there is no hate for Craddoc's falsehood but pity for a dying man. He uses Eilonwy's magic horn to summon help not against the forces of evil but in the hope of saving another's life. Taran’s sensitivity to human weakness has deepened since his bitter verbal conflict with Ellidyr when the glorious deed and self aggrandizement were more important than compassion for those who were in some way weaker than himself. The impatient youth in the

Taran of an earlier time had come out when Ellidyr challenged him:

Ellidyr's voice rose quickly and angrily. "Why must I be held back? Am I no better than a pig-boy? He is untried* a green apple!"

"Untried."’ Taran shouted, springing to his feet. "I have stood against the Cauldron- Born with Gwydion himself. Have you been better tried, Prince Patchcloak?"

Ellidyr's hand flew to his sword. "I am a son of Pen-Llarcau and swallow no insults from...."

"Silence!" commanded Gwydion. "In this venture the courage of an Assistant Pig- Keeper weighs as much as that of a prince. I warn you, Ellidyr, curb your temper or leave this council.

"And you," Gwydion added, turning to Taran, "you have repaid anger with a childish insult. I had thought better of y o u . "32

32Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1973)» p. 22. 239 The hubria which in the past basked in the reflection of its own valor has slowly eroded over the years and given way to deep human concern.

The move through childhood and adolesence to manhood is the true quest of The Chronicles of Prydain.. Tsran's quest is to discover himself, for as Dallben says as he reveals the origin of Taran's birth:

"I could not have told you of your parentage, even had I wished to," Dallben continued, "for I knew it no more than you did. My secret hope I shared only with two others: Lord Gwydion and Coll. As you grew to manhood, so our hopes grew, though never could we be certain you were the child born to be High King.

"Until now, my boy," said Dallben, "you were always a great'perhaps"33

If Taran had not made the right choices, and had failed

in his tasks, or followed evil, he would not have been the man to become high king.

In Taran's quest Alexander has transformed the medieval romantic hero into a modern one. The traditional knightly composite of courtly love and mystical religious

yearnings have given way to a socially aware leader.

33Alexander, The High King, p. 295* 240 Ursula Le Guin: A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)

A Wizard of Earthsea describes the coming-of-age of a youth named Ged and his student years at the famous college for magicians on the isle of Roke. Early in the tale his richly promising career goes darkly awry when Ged, or Sparrowhawk, as he is called, is tempted by arrogant pride to summon a dangerous demonic force whose control is beyond him.34

In that the Journey through life of any soul becomes a quest the story of Ged fits that description.

The real quest comes for Ged, however, as he sets loose the power of unlife through his youthful pride. There is tragedy in Ged's quest for although he wins the battle in the end, he has expended a great deal of energy, time, and pain on a task that need never have occurred.

It might be thought simplistic or even naive to suggest that man is master of his own destiny but in that man has free will to do or not to do, to say or not to say, he has the freedom of choice to make his decisions and accept the consequences. Wendy Jago says of Earthsea that:

The book Is concerned with morality, and with the enactment of morality in choice.35

Ged's whole life on Roke is dedicated to understanding the meaning of choice, yet intellectual learning that has not

3^Lin Carter, Imaginary Worlds. (New York: Ballintine Books, Inc., 1973), p. 164

35wendy Jago?1A Wizard of Earthsea* and the charge of escapism," Children*s Literature in Education. Vol 8. July 1972, p. 261 :------241 moved the heart is no learning at all. This is the bitter

lesson that Ged must learn. When Jasper challenges his

sense of pride Ged falls to understand the real meaning

of his years of training. He rises to Jasper's challenge and calls forth the deed. With the apparition comes the negation of life. Through the veil of death:

...clambered something like a clot of black shadow, quick and hideous, and it leaped straight out at Ged’s face..... It was like a black beast, the size of a young child, though it seemed to swell and shrink; and It had no head or face, only the four taloned paws with which it gripped and tore.36

The consequences of Ged's action go beyond his own life for he has been responsible for the death of the

Archmage:

To check the ungoverned spell and drive off the shadow from Ged, Nemmerle had spent all his power, and with it his bodily strength was gone. He lay dying.37

The ripples from the fallen stone move outward on the water and touch the rushes standing near the shore.

Once a step Is taken In life It can never be retraced.

Ged cannot escape the catastrophe he has evoked. As

Eleanor Cameron points out:

3^Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea. (California Parnassus Press, 1968), p. 76.

37lbld». p. 78 In the end Ged realizes that his task has never been to undo what he had done, but to finish what he had begun. The deep subject of the book is the neces­ sity for the individual's return to self, the necessity for seeing one's self, one's acts, and the motives for those acts in a clear, seaching light.38

The extraordinary effect that the unliving creature has on Ged Is to effectively stop him from making any significant decisions but one: that is, to escape the evil that he has released. Choice is the mark of a free man and Ged has lost his freedom. The agitation, verging on mental chaos, which Ged Is subject to signals wasted energy and lack of direction. Gensher, the new archmage says to Ged:

You summoned a spirit from the dead, but witn it came from a place where there are no names. Evil, It wills to work evil through you. The power you had to call it gives it power over you: you are connected. It is the shadow of your arrogance, the shadow of your ignorance, the shadow you cast.39

It Is only when Ged understands that he must accept the responsibility for his choice that he can then be made whole. It is realized that:

Ged had neither lost nor won but, naming the shadow of his death with his own name,

3®Eleanor Cameron, "High Fantasy: A Wizard of Earth- sea," Horn Book, April 1971, p. 133. 39Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthaea, p. 81. 2*»3 had made himself whole; a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life's sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark.^0

In giving release to his anger Ged has acted with no understanding of moral Judgment. It is only as he moves his ego from the focus of his life that he can find the power to recognize that he has released the evil within himself. The unliving shadow is the chaos of inertia, or the inability to choose freely. For all Ged's physical movement over Earthsea It Is aimless until he confronts evil. What makes the story of Ged's quest for freedom so powerful is the remarkable growth in moral Judgment that he undergoes from his psychological destruction to his moral reintegration.

Mary Q. Steele: Journey Outside (1969)^

When Dilar realizes that his people are probably sailing around through the same tunnels year after year he decides to try and find the Better Place of which his grandfather speaks. Dilar eventually reaches the outside world and is dazzled by its beauty and brightness. The

i40Ibld, p. 203*

^lFor a related analysis of quest In this book refer to Chapter 3* 244 rest of the story relates to the differing philosophies of life that he encounters and how he decides to return to his people to bring them out of the tunnels.

The quest that Dilar engages upon is to find out for himself the meaning of life. Dilar has spent his life on the rafts which are travelling on the underground river. The myth that the raft people have developed is that they are travelling to a Better Place. As was stated in Chapter Three the myth has been built on both hope and fear: hope that they will one day arrive and fear that perhaps they will not. Dilar is unwilling to accept this belief. He msut prove for himself that the

Better Place exists and sets out alone to find it.

The raft people can be likened to those men for whom tradition in both thought and deed give a coating of security to their lives. Once it is established they no longer have to think for themselves. There is no meaning to their pattern of existence, however, and life becomes bland and dangerously regressive. Lack of change does not always mean equilibrium: for the raft people it will mean death:

There would come a time soon, Dilar1s father often said, when there would only be twenty-two rafts instead of twenty-three. . And then perhaps twenty-one. And then twenty?^

^Mary q. Steele, Journey Outside, (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1972), p. 10. 2*15 Very often it is left to youth to break with the traditions of the past, either by demolishing them completely or changing them from within. Dilar chooses a third path.

He does not want totally to deny his past but he hopes that through search he will find something better than that which he has left behind.

His Journey into the outside world brings him into contact with four groups of people the first three of which represent differing philosophies of life. Of each he seeks the answer to his questions about existence. At first he is overwhelmed by the beauty and variety of nature and he believes that he has reached the Better

Place. In his mind he pleads:

"Come away. It is so bright, so bright. It is a Better Place, Grandfather; there is green there, everything Is green. A ball of light overhead, like a million torches. Come a w a y !

The Initial shock of rapture wears off as he finds a living amongst the people who war against the tigers and to his surprise he realizes that:

The future was something these people did not seem able to think about.^

His questioning mind is not satisfied with what these people have to offer him so he leaves them and his quest

J*3ibid., p. 3 5 .

^ Ibld. . p. 5 0 . for answers takes him Into the mountains.

In the mountains Dilar meets Wlngo and he questions:

Was this the wise man he was looking for, this generous, cheerful, kindhearted man? He was surely wiser than Borba and Fortan and Katran, for though he lived here in the mountains where the winters were longer and harder than in the valley, he had prepared for them well. A man who spent all his life looking after birds and animals and singing and chuckling must be a happy man, must know some secrets,^5

But Wingo cannot relates meaningfully to another human being because he will not take the time to listen. He is so preoccupied with his kindness to the animals that he Is actually cruel. There is a grotesque parallel between the small birds and the hawk, and Dilar and

Wingo. As Dilar feeds the small birds he:

...drew in his breath, watching that proud head with Its fierce, dark sideburns, and its strong, tearing beak. It would be useless, he knew to warn the smaller birds or to frighten the hawk away. Sooner or later, while the birds were bemused with warm crumbs, those sharp talons would find their mark.^6

What he does not realize at that time Is that he Is like the birds. He has been lulled into security by the good food that Wingo provides for him but as he tries to leave

Wingo's cave one night he discovers:

^Sibid., p. 80.

1|6Ibid., p. 86. The door was too heavy and too firmly wedged into th rock for him to budge. He was a prisoner, as firmly locked inside the cave as he would have been in an iron-barred cage."'

Good food and clothing do not make a man free. Such a life Isno better than those of the rabbits of Cowslip's burrow In Watership Down who are fattened only to be killed.

Dilar finally escapes from the mountain and realizes that he has still to find the Better Place. He reaches the desert and the people he meets there have no answers to life for the questions they ask are devoid of meaning.

When Dilar asks of the desert man:

"Are you a wise man?"...

"Wise?" repeated the man. "Who could be wise? There is no wisdom,"

"Can you answer my questions?" persisted Dilar.

"All questions are one question," said the man. "All answers are one answer. Wind and sand ask no questions and they receive no answers."^®

It is only when Dilar moves on and meets VIgan that he begins to find the answer to his question. Vigan says:

"All men are wise about one thing or another - and all men are stupid about an equal number of things. Look at

^ Ibld. . p. 9 1 .

4 8 Ibid., p. 109 those grasshoppers who call themselves the People Against the Tigers. Oh, they’re wise enough. They lead pleasant, happy lives - until something comes along that requires a little forethough and preparation. And then they are no use to themselves or anybody else. Look at those creatures in the desert who have arranged to avoid trouble by dying before they are born. Look at your fat friend on the mountaintop whose nature is so tender he can't bear to notice how cruel he Is being."^9

Vigan shows Dilar that a Better Place is relative to the one who is defining it.

At this point the first of Dilar's quests is over and the second is about to begin. What the boy wants to do now is to take his message back to the Raft People. The books ends on a note of ambivalence. There is a sense of hope that he may succeed but the reader is likely to feel that human nature is rather obstinate. If those in the beautiful outside world have not learned the meaning of existence then neither are the Raft People going to be willing to try. Man says that he searches for the

Good Life but he Is usually self destructive enough not to really want to find it.

**9ibld. , p. 139 249 Mollie Hunter; The Walking Stones (1970)

In this story there Is a blending of Celtic magic and twentieth century technology by which the power of the ancient druids is pitted against modern machinery and bureaucracy. Young Donald Campbell has been chosen by the Bodach, or old man, to become an Old One. Between

Donald and the Bodach they hold back the damming of a

Scottish highland valley until the thirteen stones can walk again. In walking the stones transmit to the Old

Ones the power that they have within them.

Quest In this story is not described In traditional terms whereby the knightly questor rides out to free the princess from the dragon or to save the land from the forces of darkness. Instead there is the quiet deter­ mination of ordinary people to rise to a challenge from machinery that is going to destroy an age old heritage.

Perhaps the old man is not quite so ordinary in that he has the preternatural power of second sight but hi3 life style is little different from the other folk who live around him. Quest comes out of the lives of common people.

This is not surprising for as Mollie Hunter has said Just recently:

And why not write about commoners anyway, instead of allowing an endless parade of aristocrats to dominate the scene? Commoners are the very stuff of history. The feel, the taste, the smell of history is what comes through their lives - "the rascal multitude," the canaille - those who beg and starve and 250 steal, or labour skillfully If they have been lucky enough to have the chance of learning a trade; and through the centuries, die in the cannon's mouth.50

Through the power of his second sight the Bodach tells

Donald and his parents that he sees three visitors coming to their house.

I see three men coming to this house, and these three men have but one name between them. The first of the three has hair like the white-gold of the morning sun, and he carries a forest on his back. The second man has hair as red as sunset, and he carries lightning in his hand. The third man has hair as black as night. His hands are empty and he carries nothing on his back, but still he brings something to this glen. And the thing that he brings is death.51

This extraordinary statement marks the beginning of the

Bodach's quest. For all the mystical oratory of the old man the three visitors are not supernatural beings but members of the Highland Hydroelectric Board which

Is planning to establish a reservoir that will cover the Campbell farm and the nearby glen. Everyone is puzzled at the Bodach's attitude to offers of resettle­ ment :

"Sell your sheep and go off to your new job in the forestry If you like," he said

5°Mollie Hunter, "Talent Is Not Enough," Top of the News, June 1975, p. 397*

^Mollie Hunter, The Walking Stones, (New Yorki Harper and Row, 1971), p. 5. 251 when Ian Campbell tried to reason with him, "but I will never leave this glen except of my own free will."'*

Young Donald, who loves the old man as a grandfather, is as much puzzled by them as are the adults. It is only when he is told the story of the menhirs does he under­ stand the Bodach's reasoning:

"Long, long, and long ago were these stones raised," the Bodach said softly then. "And long, long, and long ago, just before the dawn of Beltane every year, the priests of an old faith came to draw power from them. For there is a magic about this circle.

...The Bodach looked down at Donald. "Now," he said, "you know how I mean to put my wisdom to the test. I shall come here on Beltane morning with my staff, as the men of long and long ago came here, and I shall wait for that moment to happen. For I am a man of the Second Sight, and my staff is the staff of office that was carried always by such a man among the priests of the Stones."53

Donald comments:

"And I do not wonder that you want to stop them flooding the glen till Beltane is past, for I would dearly like to see the Stones walk!"5^

Only once in one hundred years do the stones walk and dip their heads into the river water, and the Bodach must hold back the damming until they walk once more.

52ibid., p. 28.

53ibid.. pp. 89 and 91

54Ibid., p. 92. 252 It seems a natural part of human society that the yery old and the very young are drawn together. The young per­ haps discover their heritage as well as security and love in age while the old can relive their own childhood through the young. The bond between the Bodach and

Donald is reinforced by the old man's statement:

"I have told you that it lies within my power to pass on the gift of the Second Sight* Donald, and the person I have chosen to receive this gift is yourself.”55

Donald is young enough to believe In magic without being sceptical and old enough to understand the importance of what the Bodach must do. The Bodach is a man with humble thoughts and simple sentiments. He knows that he must save the stones for walking if the magic is to continue and he needs Donald's help to do It.

Between them they use the second sight to project

Images of themselves. While the Board management has these ghosts chased, time is bought to stop the damming.

The stones walk again but before doing so the Bodach becomes deadly ill and it is to Donald that the power of the stones comes. When Donald goes to the menhirs at dawn, the sun:

55Ibld., p. 10H. Like a finger of flame... stabbed downward into the center of the Stone Circle, and like flame it ran down the staff upraised in Donald’s hand.,..His eyes were closed against the strength of its golden glare, but from head to toe he was bathed in it. His body was full of the warmth of the sun. He felt light and lifted up by the power of it, and although his eyes were closed, he could see the vision beyond sight and in his ears was the sound beyond silence; for in his mind too the golden power was blazing. In its light he could see all the secrets of the Otherworld, and he knew then, as long and long ago the priests of the Stones had also known, the answer to every, question that has ever been asked.■5°

The Bodach's quest is ended and the magic will continue.

The impatient forces of modern technology have proven

no match for the power from the past.

In this story quest is not presented in its tradi­

tional epic form but in terms of simple conflict. The

wisdom of the ages is pitted against the wisdom of modern science. The quest is an unusual one in that

there is no real force of evil as both old and new

represent truth in one of Its forms. There can be little

doubt that the sympathy of the reader will be with the

Bodach and his quest to gain time for the stones. This,

however, is a recognition of the author's skill rather

than any real problem with Justice. What Is left is the

56Ibld., p. 139. 254 feeling that man in his haste to improve his material well-being forgets the necessity to realize his spiritual heritage.

Sylvia Engdahl: Enchantress From The Stars (1970)

The interplanetary Anthropological Service lands on Andrecia to help a medieval culture defend itself against an invasion from a technically advanced planet.

Elana, from the Service, is asked to appear as an enchantress to Georyn and help him save his society.

In this book bordering on both science fiction and high fantasy quest becomes a mixture of the traditional and the modern. When the world is viewed through Georyn1s eyes quest has the trappings of medieval enchantment, when seen from Elana's point of view It becomes a test of military strategy. This at least is the outward manifestation of the quest motif.

Georyn as the youngest son of an Andreclan wood­ cutter represents according to Auden's definition the second of two types of traditional quest heros. The first is the epic hero with his superior strength:

The other type, so common In fairy tales, is the hero whose arete Is concealed. The youngest son, the weakest, the least clever, the one whom everybody would judge as least likely to succeed, turns out to be the hero when his manifest betters have failed. He owes his success, not to his own powers, but to the fairies, magicians, and animals who help him, arid he is able to enlist their help because, unlike his betters, he is humble 255 enough to take advice, and kind enough to give assistance to strangers who, like himself* appear to be nobody in parti­ cular.^’

Georyn*s quest has its beginnings when the Imperials, a highly advanced race, lands on Andrecia to develop it for their own purposes. The Andrecians perceive the

Imperial’s mechanized shovel with its fire as an evil dragon. Georyn accepts the king's challenge for someone to destroy this dragon. The story immediately takes on some of the likeness of the story of St. George. Even the name Georyn appears to be a variation of George.

Georyn's quest, however, is not wholly synonymouswith any one traditional romance for as well as the St. George legend there are also intermixed elements of Bewulf, the Fisher

King, and the Grail stories.

Once Georyn sets out on his quest he and his older brothers meet Elana, who appears to them as an enchantress.

She says to them:

If a time ever comes when you can proceed no further in this quest without aid, return to me, and I may then be able to help you.

But of the brothers:

Only Georyn believed that magic is not to be scoffed at, and he said, "I will remember your promise, Lady, and I will make you one of my

57Auden, "The Quest Hero," p. 46. 256 own; I will surely return when the proper time has c o m e . ,f58

It is through his trust in Elana that she is capable of using the strength within him In the plan to force the

Imperials to leave Andrecia.

Although the outer quest is the slaying of the dragon there is that quest that stirs within Georyn. The two cannot be realistically separated for It Is the physical quest that gives substance to the psychological. Georyn*s quest to destroy the dragon awakens his longing for know­ ledge and wisdom. His brother Terwyn says:

The wisdom of enchanted folk is not for the world of mortals, nor will it ever be.

Georyn does not agree with him and he replies:

Must a man then live always as his fellows live, and never reach beyond? There is more to knowledge than you dream of, Terwyn, and if It lies in some enchanted realm - well. I think that there is a door to that r e a l m . 59

When the dragon is immobilized Georyn1s inner search for understanding still continues. He realizes that:

...the world beyond the Enchanted Forest seemed not so perilous as it once had, he intended to see it, for perhaps In the seeing he might find another sort of wisdom.

Elana, as enchantress and member of the Anthropological

Service, also has her quest. It Is for her to grow In

59ibid..p. 9 8 .

6 oIbid.,p. 2 6 9 . understanding. Service, also has her quest. It is for her to grow in understanding. Elana is the heroine of this novel. The author at one level of involvment explores the problems relating to her maturity. Many children when they reach adolescence and for some time during this stage of life find that they are in conflict with the older generation in general and their parents in particular. Elana although not willing to condemn the system in which she has been brought up defies her father's orders and the rules of her organization to satisfy a gratuitous wish. Despite the fact that she is supposed to stay in the starship and study she impulsively stows away in the landing craft and when discovered, weakly rationalizes that she has to see the beauty of the planet. It is fortunate that Elana's inner moral strength exceeds what might be expected from a normal adolescent of her age. Elana's inner strength Is ultimately of value to her and the whole expediton. The power that gave Illura the courage to unquestioningly die permits Elana to take risks for the well-being of the expedition and the safety of the planet Andrecia. By the end of the novel Elana is capable of seeing in a more objective light her growth from a fairly self-centered girl to a thinking, unselfish young woman.

Quest in Enchantress from the Stars functions on at least two levels. The most obvious is the medieval quest 258 to slay the dragon. It is at this level that the novel carries with it the excitement of the traditional epic and romance. Of more significance are the inner quests faced by both Georyn and Elana. Georyn seeks knowledge to complement his already existing humanity and Elana searches for understanding of her own motives and those of others.

Georyn seeks cognitive knowledge while Elana must gain emotional maturity. Between the two young people there is a psychological unity that brings together the past and the future.

Eleanor Cameron: The Court of the Stone Children (1970)

Nina Harmsworth discovers an old villa transported from France to San Francisco there to become a private museum. While exploring the rooms in the museum she meets

Dominique the early nineteenth century occupant of the villa. Dominique asks Nina to help Ip clearing her father from Napoleon's accusation of treason.

In this time-warp mystery, quest has moved away from the traditional formula. Not only Is there no Journey but the significant action takes place within a fairly restricted locale. Also as Auden says of the detective story:

...the division is not between the Evil and the Good but between the Guilty and the Innocent. The hero, 259 the Detective, is a third party who belongs to neither side.®^-

Through time displacement Dominique from the past is able to talk with Hina from the twentieth century. Dominique tells Nina that it is not every one that she is able to speak to through the layers of time:

I have no way of talking to Mrs. Staynes. It would be quite impossible - but to you, my fresh, eager, open-minded young friend, I can say anything .®2

Dominique has been drawn to Nina by some sort of empathy as well as being told in a dream by her dead father that Nina will help them:

Then, in my dream...my father stands looking at me and he smiles and nods with the greatest assurance as if to say, "She will help us, Domi. She is the one who will help us." There is,no doubt in my mind as to what he means.

The actual quest of vindication of Kot, Domi’s father, forms a substantial part of the novel but it is not the total story. Nina's awakening interest in the subject of time, although linked with the quest, is a forceful digres­ sion from the main issue. The emotional adjustment that

Nina needs to make to San Francisco is a third concern in

The Court of the Stone Children.

^1Auden, "The Quest Hero," p. *47.

^2Eleanor Cameron, The Court of the Stone Children. (New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 197*4), p. *17 •

63Ibid., p. *46. 260 The two latter themes, however, do not detract from the quest but serve to add to Its atmosphere. Moreover, they offer Insights into Nina's behaviour and her reasons for being so enthusiastic about helping Domi. Nina is a sensitive and intelligent girl who obviously enjoys the challenge to help others and to stimulate her own mind.

Initially she is in need of help herself and finds comfort in being useful to others. More generally the three themes interweave to give the novel Its overall vitality and color.

The quest itself is not made explicit till Chapter

Thirteen when Domi tells Nina her own and her father's story. The reader has been prepared for Domi's revelation during much that precedes It. Domi's appearance, her portrait, the lost ring, and Odlle's Journal all foreshadow this retelling of a tale that Is almost two hundred years old.

Kot, or Antoine de Lombre as is his proper name, has been falsely accused of "being a party to a conspiracy to murder Napoleon.For this he is shot. After listening to this story Nina says:

"But Domi - It was all so long ago! If somehow I can help you to prove him Innocent, what good will It do him?”

Domi replies:

611 Ibid. , p. 118. 261 "It will do a good. It will set straight one more lie. As for time, that is nothing. Two hundred years - what are they? But truth is something."°5

Getting to the truth Is not a matter of simple overt detective work and Nina has to draw together a number of threads which she has touched upon quite early In her museum experience. The most specific and Important clue Is the description of Kot's betrothal to Odile which Nina reads about in Odile's Journal.

The other vital clue is finding the painting of Odile and her betrothal at Mrs. Trelkeld's house. Nina puts the two clues together. She says to Helena Staynes and

Mrs. Threlkeld:

...the painting up there is the one Odile was talking about! I'm sure it is! I think that K is there under Carondel, because never, never could she have had a look like that on her face holding out the way she did? How could she! Why, she looks as if she's ready to fly away with joy! Don't you see it, Mrs. Staynes? Haven't you ever though about that?”®

Domi's father is finally vindicated of the lie that billed him. During the time that he was supposed to be plotting he was actually courting Odile and could not say anything for fear of Implicating her. The betrothal date on the painting solves the problem.

65Ibid., p. 125.

66Ibld., p. 176. 262 Through the quest Nina has given Antoine de Lombre

back his honor and sets straight a tragic lie. She has

also found for herself a place in San Francisco as well

as a place in time. As she searches for Domi for the

last time she discovers:

In this moment she was acutely aware of her own life enmeshed with that of the stone children, aware of a pervading Joy that had Its source she knew not where. And in the midst of her Joy she saw minutely every object In the courtyard, standing there In the moonlight, intensely Itself yet at the same time a part of her own being as if her whole body, each of her sense, were alive to every shift and tremor of stone and leaf and air.6 '

The quest has given Nina some Insight into her place

in history. Jay Jacobs said:

"It's as if we're ants walking on a tapestry already woven, and having no idea of the whole design but only of the little part we're standing on. "06

But Nina has seen more than Just the little part she had

stood on. She is no longer alone but part of life both

past and present. She like Taran in the Prydain books will be able to weave her own tapestry with a little more

a s s u r a n c e .

67ibld. . p. 190. 68Ibid., p. 188. 263 Joan Fhipson: The Way Home (1973)

In this Australian fantasy three children, as a result of a car crash, find themselves thrown out of their own time. For a week they race back and forth in time trying to get back to the present.

The goal of the quest in this story is to be found In the title. The children are searching for a way home.

Their search Is not the simple one of reaching home in just the physical sense but of becoming one with the land.

Home as a concept means more than Just a house to live in. It Is a place to which one belongs and to which one naturally turns with thoughts of affection. In a broader sense home Is one's own country, one's native land. The quest that the children are on is, to a great measure, a symbolic one of coming to an understanding of their country.

Unlike the traditional quest where the questor sets out knowing in advance the goal towards which he is head­ ing in The Way Home the children must first learn that they are on a quest before they can understand what the goal Is. The journey takes the three children through vast eons of time and within the differing times they discover the great landscape changes of Australia's evolu­ tion. The responses of each child differ according to age and background. 264 Richard, the eldest, is a city boy who has spent his

life amongst the high rise apartments. He only comes in

contact with the country and the land as he drives through

it by car. He is less at home with open grasslands and

the forest trees than his two younger cousins. He is

also less sensitive to the beauty and majesty of the land.

The strangeness of the enviroment frightens him for it

does not fit into his order of life. It Is Richard, and not the other two, who feels that there is something wrong. His fear makes him angry and when Prue asks him why he thinks something has happened he responds:

"Because it's different, that's why. If it's different, of course it's wrong."6"

The other two children, Prue and her young brother, Peter

are more accepting of their situation. Peter is completely

at ease and he is the first to see and respond to the

Earth spirit. It takes Prue a little longer to understand

what is happening to them.

That the children respond differently to their new

situation because of age and background differences

suggests the need for a childlike simplicity as an

appropriate response to the land. A person thinks of

home in terms of childhood memories and simple affection.

®9joan Phipson, The Way Home, (New York: Atheneum, 1973), p. 48. 265 It is a place of love and security even if at times it

is a place of tears. To these native born Australians the country should be their home. It is not really

surprising that Richard never absorbs the ethos of the

continent. He is one of the many millions of Australians who only know Australia as a conglomeration of coastal

cities. For them beyond the urban sprawl is a barren no man's land. Richard thinks he is too sophisticated to see in the land anything more than a topic of academic

Interest. It Is Peter, the seven year old, who can respond Immediately to the land without demanding answers

He Is like the original Inhabitants for whom the land was home. This is why it is Peter who is the only one not scared when the children meet a tribe of natives.

He has the innocence to find no malice in the land or

Its inhabitants. The Earth spirit says of Peter:

He Is with me all the t i m e . ^

Prue has neither the simple trust of Peter nor the pseudo-sophistication and belligerence of Richard. It is to her that the quest will mean most. Richard is beyond learning and Peter does not need to learn. Despite all that terrifies Prue from the Aboriginals to the Dinosaurs

7°Ibid.. p. 121 when Richard says to her:

"Prue, you aren't well* You must be careful. Somehow, I've got to get you home."

Pruereplies without thinking:

"I am h o m e ."71

Richard thinks of home only in the narrow sense of it

being a house and he cannot understand Prue when she says:

"...we are trying to find our way home. That's all we've ever been doing ."'2

At the end Richard wants to die for he cannot find home.

He is broken-hearted for he has never experienced affection

for the land. Only Peter and Prue complete the quest and

reach their goal. When they are asked about their

journey they say:

They had been on their way home....Yes, all the time.*’

Quest in The Way Home goes beyond the search for

rescue after an accident. There is a call to patriotic

understanding, not in any affected way but as an intellectu­

al and emotional response to one's country. The three

children are symbolic of three possible stages of response

to the land and there is the suggestion that unless man's relationship with the continent is more than a superficial

7 1 Ibid., p. 1 1 1 .

7 2 Ibid., p. 1 1 2 .

73Ibld.. p. 183. 267 and an indifferent one he will ultimately destroy himself.

The hint of the future that the children get in the

journey is a horrifying prophecy of mechanized obscenity.

There is no real love left in the future that they see

for the way home has been lost.

Patricia McKillip: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (197*0

Sybel, a wizard, has been left by her father and her

grandfather a collection of fabulous animals which are

held by the power of Sybel*s mind. She searches to find

the Liralen, a magnificant white bird, to complete her

collection but instead can only find fear. It is only

when she understands the meaning of love that she is able

to find the Liralen.

Quest in The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a blend of the

emotional and the intellectual search for love. Sybel is

capable of great power through her ability to call to her­

self both man and beast but her youth and lack of human

company have left her bereft of any true understanding of the meaning of love. In some ways she is reminiscent of

Wingo, the mountain man, from Mary Steele's Journey Out­

side. She is not intentionally cruel but has had little experience by which she can emotionally relate to others.

As Coren says to her when she asks why she should take care of the baby, Tam: 268 "If it were not for my uncle....! would take the child back home rather than leave Norrel*s son here with Yflu, your ignorance and your heart of ice."”

To her anger at Coren’s rebuke the Boar, Cyrin, replies:

You cannot give love...until you have first taken it.75

This is the lesson which Sybel must learn but the process

is not a rapid one. Cyrin's aphorism is not just limited

to Sybel*s condition for it is a lesson that we all must

learn and for many people a lifetime is not enough to do so.

For all her wizardry Sybel is no better or worse than the rest of mankind, she is only at a different point of response.

Although Sybel does not initially know it her quest

for love begins with the calling of the Liralen. As

she sits in the room with its great dome of crystal which her father had built for her, her mind probes for the bird.

The Liralen is a symbol for love. It is a symbol which

Sybel has yet to recognize, but it is not the affective

aspect of love but cognitive understanding.

Sybel has as little Intellectual knowledge of love

as she has of the emotional, and the first response to her calling of the Liralen is the appearance of the

7^Patricia McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, (New York: Atheneum, 1971*), p. 11.

75ibld.. p. 15. 269 Blammor, or fear. Fear does not worry her for as with

loveshe has no understanding of this emotion. But the

appearance of fear can kill those who have lived in the

world among men. As Coren says:

"It was not death but fear...The fear men die of."76

Coren lives when he sees the Blammor only because he Is

partially protected by the magic within him for he is the

seventh son of a seventh son.

Sybel grows more rapidly in her understanding of

fear and hate than she does of love. With this under­

standing she uses the Blammor to kill both MIthran, the magician, and King Drede when they attempt to destroy her

free will. She gives back fear to those who fear her. Her

knowledge of love must respond to love but in the baby prince, Tam, her heart goes out to the child. She says to the old wise woman, Maelga, who lives nearby:

He is mine now to love. It Is very strange. I have had my animals for sixteen years, and this child for one night; and if I had to choose one thing from all of them, I am not sure that I would not choose this thing, so helpless and stupid as he Is. Perhaps because the animals could go and require nothing from any­ one, but my Tam requires everything from me. 77

76ibid., p. 73.

77ibld.. p. 18. 270 In Tam, Sybel thinks she Is fulfilled, and the love of a child certainly Is one kind of love. For Sybel, however, the search will continue for children grow up to leave their homes and live their own lives. Sybel one day must part with Tam.

Coren, who bridges the gap of magic and experience between Sybel and the world of men, has loved her since he brought Tam to her. She agrees to marry him and goes with him to his home at Sirle, but even so her knowledge of love is not complete. She cannot share her trust with

Coren and trust is a necessary part of love. When he discovers her lack of faith he rebukes her saying:

What do you think love is - a thing to startle from the heart like a bird at every shout or blow? You can fly from me, high as you choose into your darkness, but you will see me always beneath you, no matter how far away, with my face turned to you. My heart Is your heart, I gave It to you with my name that night and you are its guardian, to treasure It, or let It wither and die. I do not understand you. I am angry with you. I am hurt and helpless, but nothing would fill the ache of the hollowness In me where your name would echo If I lost you.'®

While she continues on the quest to find the meaning of love, Sybel lays herself open to the perils of fear.

Until she arrives at her goal It would have been far safer

7®lbid., p. l81l 271 for her not to have started at all. The revenge she wants of Drede almost overwhelms her. As she thinks of revenge she feels:

...in the quiet darkness, a shadow over her own thoughts, as though she were watched, secretly. She turned abruptly.

The Blammor stood over her. She had no time to cry out before the crystal eyes met hers, aloof as stars, and then the darkness overwhelmed her and she heard all around her the thick, imperative beat of her own heart. Visions ran through her mind, of a wizard lying broken on his rich skins, of the death faces of men through the ages meeting the core of their nightmares one final time in rooms without windows, between stone walls without passage. A wet air hovered with the darkness, carry­ ing the cloying scent of pooled blood, of wet rusted iron; she tasted dry, powdered dust, the withered leaves of dying trees, heard the faint, last cries like a dark wind from some ancient battlefield, of pain, of terror, cf despair. And then her thoughts lifted away from her into some plane of terror she had never known, and she struggled blindly, drowning in it.79

But slowly she begins to understand what Cyrin, the

Boar told her at the beginning of the tale: she must learn to accept love before she can give it. Sybel releases the beasts from the power of her mind and calls

79ibid., pp. 195-196. 272 once more to the Liralen. As she calls, Coren whom she had left behind comes to her;

She straightened, her throat suddenly dry. He stopped when he saw her, his eyes still, waiting. She drew a breath and found her voice.

"Coren, I was calling the Liralen."

"You called me." He paused, still waiting, and she said, "Please - come in."

As Coren holds her Sybel understands what she has been seeking. With new insight she called the Blammor but in its coming there is no longer fear or doubt:

...the Blammor's eyes were moon-clear. Sybel touched her eyes, feeling the fire burning dry at the back of them. She opened her mind to the bird, and tales murmured beneath its thoughts, ancient and precious as the thin tapestries on the walls of a king’s house.

Give me your name.

You have it.

"Liralen. "8^-

The Liralen says to Sybel:

I came long ago, but you could not see me. I was always here.

I know.

How may I serve you?

8°Ibid.,-p. 210.

8lIbid., p. 217. 273 She looked deep Into Its eyes. Her hand at rest In Coren's gentle hold, she said softly,

"Please take us h o m e . "82

Quest In The Forgotten Beasts of Eld Is not a journey towards a predetermined goal. Sybel Is questing for

Intellectual satisfaction not knowing that what she really wants 13 love. She fails initially to understand that love is not an intellectual exercise but an interaction between people who give with both heart and mind. Her journey is a slow one taking many years but at last she obtains a wisdom and a magic that is far greater than that which she had when her power was limited to subduing the free will of others.

Summary

In this chapter the works of ten authors have been analysed to examine how the quest motif is used In con­ temporary high fantasy for children.

The Hobblt

The most significant aspect of quest in this book Is the spiritual growth of the hobblt, Bilbo Bagglns. Within the framework of the traditional epic quest, The Hobblt becomes a modern Pilgrim's Progress.

82lbld. 27*1 The Summer Birds

For one summer a bird, the last of his race, is per­ mitted to become a boy and enter the world of men in search of a mate. The bird-boy’s quest is used to present a vision of the daydreams of children. As such the book is about the search for the lost world of childhood magic.

But it is more than this for the bird-boy*s quest is for the continuation of life and without life there can be no childhood magic.

The Chronicles of Frydain

Although the background of the chronicles is Celtic and the trappings are of the medieval romance Taran is a modern hero. The author shows the development of Taran from his early yearnings for self-aggrandizement to a mature understanding of his responsibilities as a leader to his people. The quest is of social and psychological development rather than of traditional knightly chivalry and valor.

A Wizard of Earthsea

Quest in this tale represents a search to find moral values. Pride nearly destroys Ged, and he must learn that power without, constraint leads to chaos and death.

Journey Outside

The search for the Good Life is the key issue in Dilar's quest. Each time he thinks that he has the answer there 275 dawns on him the realization that there is something miss­ ing. Finally he discovers that the Good Life must be interpreted from the perspective of each man but progree towards life's goal necessitates an open mind to the new ideas around him.

The Walking Stones

Quest becomes a challenge between the old forces of magic and the new forces of science and technology. More universally the quest suggests that man is in danger of becoming spiritually barren in his desire to become materially self satisfied.

Enchantress From The Stars

In this deliberate mixture of science fiction and high fantasy quest functions at two levels. There is the outer quest of destroying the dragon and at least from one perspective this takes on the shape of a medieval romance. The inner quests are those of Elana and Georyn.

Elana searches for emotional maturity while Georyn seeks cognitive knowledge.

The Court of the Stone Children

As Nina searches to find a place for herself in a new environment she also seeks to vindicate the name of a nineteenth century French aristocrat. In Immersing herself in a quest to help another she helps herself to understand her own place in society. 276 The Way Home

The quest of finding the way home for three Australian

children is not only a physical one but it is also a

symbolic search to understand the nature of one's native

land. The Way Home is a call for an emotional and

intellectual response to an anicent land by its new

inhabitants.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

This story deals with a search for love. Like The

Way Home there has to be a realization that a quest

exists before the goal can be reached. Sybel slowly

discovers her understanding of love at both an intellectual

and an emotional level.

Conclusion

In almost any book a quest can be found if the

definition of the concept is broad enough. The books

analysed in this chapter contain quest as It would fit the general spirit of Auden's definition. That is;

To look for something of which one has, as yet no experience.83

Nevertheless, the definition still permits great variation

of expression of the quest motif. Leaving aside quest as a

**^W.H. Auden, "The Quest Hero," Tolkien and the Critics, ed. N.D. Isaacs and Rose A. Zlmbardo, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968), p. *J0. war against evil, for this aspect of quest has not been discussed in this chapter, the following expressions of quest are present;

1. Quest can represent spiritual growth.

2. Quest can represent a search to recapture the magic of childhood.

3. Quest can show the social and psychological development of a person as he reaches for self understanding, leader-* ship, or wisdom.

^. Quest can represent a search for the meaning of the

Good Life.

5* Quest can represent a battle between the material and spiritual forces of life.

6 . Quest can represent a search for the understanding of the ethos of one's native land.

7- Quest can represent a search for love.

Trends in the use of the quest motif suggest that the use of the medieval quest as a framework as is found in

The Hobblt or The Chronicles of Prydaln are giving way to a less structured approach. With this freeing from tradi­ tional patterning there is an increase in psychological quest in its many forms. CHAPTER VI

COMBAT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

Introduction

Good and evil can be examined within two general frames of reference. They may be considered as aspects of the supernatural which involve issues of spiritual forces and absolute values. Alternatively, they may be looked at in terms of moral judgments. Here the issues become more those of right or wrong within a purely human frame­ work. Regardless of whether such a division is too sim­ plistic for the philosopher it seems to be an adequate one for literary criticisms.

In children's literature high fantasy makes use of both frames of reference although the idea of the spiritual forces of good and evil play the most important role within this sub-genre. Situational ethics are rarely, if ever, used in high fantasy but some novels do examine individuals or groups of people as they react against the background of their own sense of right and wrong, e.g. Alexander Key's, The Forgotten Door.

High fantasy clearly falls within Northrop

278 279

Frye's definition of the Romance. What Frye states about quest within the Romance is particularly relevant to the motif of the combat between good and evil:

A quest involving conflict assumes two main characters, a protagonist or hero, and an antagonist or enemy. The enemy may be an ordinary human being, but the nearer the romance is to myth, the more attributes of divinity will cling to the hero and the more the enemy will take on demonic mythical qualities.... The conflict however takes place in, or at any rate primarily concerns, our world, which is in the middle, and which is charac­ terized by the cyclical movement of nature. Hence the opposite poles of the cycles of nature are assimilated to the opposition of the hero and his enemy. The enemy is associated with winter, darkness, confusion, sterility, moribund life, and old age, and the hero with spring, dawn, order, fer­ tility, vigor and youth.1

Frye's position is only one of many critical inter­ pretations but two general principles emerge which need no defense. The first is that combat between good and evil in high fantasy is a variation on the quest motif, and the second is that good and evil polarize along the same continuum.

Almost without exception that conflict ends with the forces of good prevailing. The degree of success varies from book to book. In some instances there is outright victory as in Alan Garner's Elldor, and in other novels there is the warning that evil

^Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957), pp. 187-188. 280

has been only temporarily defeated as Is seen in

Susan Cooper's works. What makes the struggle

between good and evil worthwhile for the hero is

not only the final victory but also his inner

development. Not all high fantasy deals with

psychological growth but where that factor is

present the novel becomes more complex.

The combat between good and evil has real

meaning for man regardless of the level on which

it is found. Such conflict makes man look beyond

himself and consider his relationships with both

the spiritual and temporal worlds.

In this chapter combat between good and evil

in contemporary high fantasy for children will be

analysed in terms of both physical and metaphysical

absolutes.

C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56)

Narnia is a country within a world co-existing with Earth. The destiny of Narnia is linked with the

infrequent appearances of children from Earth who arrive at times of great crisis.

The combat between good and evil in the Narnian

Chronicles reflects the Christian philosophic position of C.S. Lewis. Not that the books must be read as

Christian allegory but Lewis made no pretense that he meant it to be otherwise. When he replied to a 281 letter that an American girl wrote to him he said:

As to Aslan's other name, well, I want you to guess. Has there never been anyone in this world who (1) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas (2) Said he was the Son of the Great Emperor (3) Gave himself up for someone else's fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people (4) Came to life again (5) Is sometimes spoken of as a Kamb (at the end of the "Dawn Treader")? Don't you really know His name in this w o r l d ? *

Aslan, the lion, represents absolute goodness.

His goodness and love are immutable. He is a Christ figure and as such is part of the Godhead. When

Shasta in The Horse and His Boy asks:

"Who are you?"

He replies:

"Myself," said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again "Myself," loud and clear and gay: and then the third time "Myself," whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled w i t h it.3

That voice has been heard before in Exodus when God said to Moses:

I AM that I AM.4

Unlike the absolute goodness of Aslan, evil

^Kathryn Lindskoog, The Lion of Judah in Never - Never Land, (Michigan: William B. Eardmans Publishing C ^ T “ 17737, p. 16. 3C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, (New York: Collier Books, 1974), p. 159.

4Exodus 3:14 282

in Narnia is of two kinds. The first employs magic

to bewitch as does the White Witch in The Lion, The

Witch and The Wardrobe or the Green Lady in The Silver

Chair. This is absolute evil. The second is of the

type found in The Horse and His Boy where the evil perpetrated by the Calormenes is much more human and

the combat between good and evil becomes a matter of principle rather than an encounter with spiritual

forces or magic. The first is far more interesting and prevading than the second.

Perhaps the most memorable fight between good and evil in the Namian series is contained within The

Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The White Witch who has cast a spell over Narnia so that it is always winter lends credence to Northrop Frye’s theory of evil as it is seen in literature. The Witch would appear to occupy a similar place in the universe as

does Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost. She like Satan believes that she is all powerful and all knowing, but as Aslan points out after his resurrection:

...that though the Witch knew of the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there 283

a different incantation. ^

Evil in Narnia is not omnipotent as the Witch

thinks, but for a time it is omnipresent. To those who cannot see the future, they, like the Witch, think her power is strong enough to last forever. The Witch's power over the physical is obvious enough with winter

covering Narnia and her enemies turned to stone. Power over the soul is not so complete. The Witch works through

those who have already turned their hearts towards her.

Edmund's greed for Turkish Delight is only one symptom of his willingness to align himself with evil. Like

Judas Iscariot he is willing to betray those closest

to him if it will be to his benefit. When the White

Witch suggests that she will make a Duke and Duchesses of his brother and sisters he says:

There's nothing special about them.®

Kathryn Lindskoog would think there was nothing odd in Edmund * s behavior for she says:

C.S. Lewis is known for opposing the spirit of modem thought with the unpopular Christian doctrines of sin and evil. He considers evil not as a nebulous distraction but as a destructive immanence which should be openly recog­ nized and not complacently ignored, even though such recognition is dis­ quieting. 7 ^C.S . Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, (New York: Collier Books^ T 9 7 3 ) , p p . r59-l6(J.

6 I b l d .. p. 35.

^Lindskoog, The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land.p.38. 284

The Christian allegory is on less certain ground when the positions of the other three children are considered. The doctrine of original sin says that man is born with a bent towards evil. Edmund exemplifies this doctrine very well but Peter, Lucy and Susan quite naturally follow the path of goodness.

If the allegory could be ignored this problem of the three children would not arise but the Christian inter­ pretation of the Chronicles is so firmly fixed that any other is almost impossible. If this represents a flaw in Lewis' argument then it is a minor one and does not detract from the story.

Peter, Lucy and Susan start their development as heroes and really begin their quest after the breaking of the Witch’s spell. Father Christmas gives presents to the three children which will assist them when danger threatens. To Peter he gives a shield and sword, Lucy is given a bottle of cordial to restore the hurt and sick, and Susan is given a horn to use when help is needed. The children are established as warrior and maidens for the cause of the true King.

The breaking of the Witch's spell also has some effect on Edmund. When he observes the wrath of the

Witch against some small creatures celebrating Christmas:

...Edmund for the first time In this story felt sorry for someone besides himself. It seemed so 285

pitiful to think of those little stone figures sitting there all the silent days and all the dark nights, year after year, till the moss grew on them and at l§st even their faces crumbled away.®

The spell begins to break with the return of Aslan to Narnia. Aslan, however, like the White Witch, prefers to work through those loyal to him. This is particularly true in the rest of the Chronicles where his appearance and direct intervention in the affairs of Narnia is less noticeable than in The Lion. The

Witch and The Wardrobe.

His appearances signal the direct outpouring of love and justice. He sacrifices himself for Edmund in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, he tears away the dragon scales from Eustace in The Voyage of the

Dawn Treader, and his compassion is shown quite clearly in The Magician* s Nephew when Digory begs Aslan to help cure his dying mother. Digory is shocked when he sees

Aslan's anguished face:

For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory*s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. "My son, my son," said Aslan. "X know. Grief is great. Only you and 1 in this land know that

Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. p. 113. 286

yet. Let us be good to one another."9

What is particularly significant about evil in

the Narnia books is that it can only be sustained through

free will. Aslan has the power to destroy evil in Narnia

without any help from his subjects, but to do so would

effectively stop his love being returned to him. The

children and the Namians grow spiritually only as they

are given the freedom to choose right or wrong. Each

time evil is destroyed it is not because Aslan commands

it but because the Namians choose freely and correctly.

To give the Chronicles texture Lewis uses medieval

chivalry and highmindedness as the outer weapon against

evil while freedom of choice is the real instrument of

assault. Choice is the essence of the quest in the

Chronicles.

Alan Gamer: The Weirds tone of Brislngamen (1960) The Moon of Gomrath (1963)

These two books are devoted to the struggle

against the Great Spirit of Evil, Nastrond, and his

cohorts. Susan and Colin while visiting Gowther

Mossack’s farm in Cheshire are caught up in the High

Magic. In the first of the books Susan must keep close

control over a bracelet that has magical powers desired

by both good and evil. In the second book the struggle

*Ib id., p. 1 4 2 7

t 287

between the two forces continues but the panorama

is enlarged by the presence of an increased variety

of creatures while belonging to both sides.

Although at times the tales are exciting and

often very tense they are not particularly memorable.

The texture is uneven and the action confusing. What,

however, is extremely forceful is the vivid presentation

of the forces of darkness. The care which Gamer has

taken to build up the picture of evil is in marked

contrast to the lack of characterization of the two

children who are supposedly the heroes for the powers

of good.

An old legend is used as an introduction to both

tales. The legend tells of a farmer rewarded for selling his pure white mare to a wizard. The farmer in choosing his treasure from a great trove unwittingly takes a magic stone. The stone comes down through the ages to

Susan. Its function has been to protect the sleeping

King Arthur and his knights from evil. Once the forces of the dark realize that Susan has this stone she is in great danger. There is then a race to restore the stone

in the bracelet to its rightful place. The struggle between the two forces becomes one of grasping power

i rather than a confrontation between love and hate although hate is a natural part of evil. Those who serve the Lord of Darkness strive to control the world. 288

For the most part the forces of good are

surprisingly ill-equipped for battle. They must rely

on quickwittedness and a series of narrow escapes.

On the other hand evil manifests itself as a collection

of grotesqueries each variety of which is dedicated to

the common goal of capturing "Firefrost" which Susan wears as a bracelet.

*n The Moon of Gomrath a third power is introduced.

This is the Old Magic. Albanac tells the children:

In the time before the Old Magic was made to sleep, it was strongest on this night, the Eve of Gomrath, one of the four nights of the year when Time and Forever mingle. And wend- fire was lit at the Goloring, which is now the Beacon, to bring the Einheriar from the mounds and the Hunter from Shining Tor. For the Old Magic is moon magic and sun magic, and it is blood magic, also, and there lie the Hunter's power and his need. He is from a cruel day of the world...

To wizards, and their High Magic of thoughts and spells, the Old Magic was a hindrance, a power without shape or order: so they tried to destroy it. But it would not be destroyed: it would only sleep. And at this season called Gomrath, which lasts for seven nights, it sleeps but lightly.10

Good and evil are part of the High Magic. This is seen in the combat between Nastrond's forces and those

10Alan Gamer, The Moon of Gomrath, (New York: Henry Z. Walch, 1 9 6 8 ) p. 98. 289

who assist Cadellln in guarding Arthur's sleep are

part of the High Magic. Albanac continues his explana-

tion:

There you see the difference between the Old and the High. The High Magic was made with a reason; the Old Magic is a part of things. It is not for any purpose. 11-

Gamer, like Lewis, Alexander, and Cooper, has

used Celtic mythology as the foundation for both stories.

The books take on body with the appearance of such

creatures as the Shape Changer, the Hunter, the elves

of Prydien, and the Children of Danu. It is these

creatures who are the real essence of the war between

good and evil.

It is surprising how localized the action is

and how little it affects the lives of men. Only the people at Gowther's farm are directly involved in this war of magic. The closest that humanity becomes

involved with these creatures is in a symbiotic rela­

tionship with the lios-alfar, the elves of light, who are dying from man-made pollution.

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of

Gomrath are really adventure stories with the combat between good and evil serving to bring excitement to

the plot. What is needed to lift the tales above the

J-1Ibid., p. 99. 2 9 0 ordinary is either some kind of character develop­ ment or a greater breadth of vision. Good and evil

in this setting have little or no meaning beyond the pages of the books themselves.

Alan Gamer: The Owl Service (1967)

A far more sophisticated story than either of the previous books by Gamer is The Owl Service.

Garner again draws from Celtic mythology, specifically

The Mabinogion. Frank Eyre offers a concise statement about the source of the story and what Garner is attempting to say. The tale is:

...about Lieu Llaw Gyffes and his wife, who was made for him out of flowers, but who destroyed him and then herself turneu into an owl. Garner has explained that he was fascinated by this story, and turned it over in his mind for some time, but could make nothing of it until he saw somewhere a dinner service with an elaborate pattern of flowers which the owner had touched up until the model of an owl appeared. The dinner service is used as a symbol of the legend, and plays an important if at times con­ fusing part in the story, which is essentially a modern one of tension between youth and age, class and class, Welsh and English, with powerful forces of hatred and revenge, illegitimacy and adultery brooding over the protagonists.^

Good and evil are in a state of dynamic tension. The

1ZFrank Eyre, British Children's Books in the Twentieth Century, (New York: E.P. Dutton and”Co., 1971), ppVT4-4-l457 291

conflict is not in terms of two opposing and

separate powers but instead it is one source of

energy struggling to manifest itself according to

the conditions of the time. At the end of the tale

Huw, who has always recognized this says to Roger:

"He (Gwynl is hurt too much, she ^Alisonl wants to oe flowers and you make her owls and she is at the hunting..."

"Is that it? said Roger. "Is that all it is? As easy as that?"

"... and so without end without end without e n d ..."

"Hey, Ali, did you hear?" Roger brushed the feathers aside. "You've got it back to front, you silly gubbins. She's not owls. She's flowers. Flowers. Flowers, Ali." He stroked her forehead. "You're not birds. You're flowers. You've never been anything else. Not owls. Flowers. That's it. Don't fret."13

The story of Blodeuwedd, made out of flowers, who

ultimately destroyed both her lover, Gronw, and her

husband, Lieu, is being replayed in the twentieth

century.

The three children, Alison, her stepbrother

Roger, and Gwyn the housekeeper's son, are bound by

the energy emanating from the Welsh valley where they

are living. Although Gwyn is unaware of the exact working of the magic he does realize that the legend

of the flower woman is still very much alive and that

i3Alan Garner. The Owl Service, (New York: Henry Z. Walck, 1968), p. 201. 292

the children are somehow caught up in it:

"Suppose," said Gwyn. "just suppose, along time back, hundreds and hundreds of years, someone, somehow, did some­ thing in this valley. Suppose he found a way to control some power, or force, and used it to make a woman out of flowers. And suppose it went wront— got out of hand--I don't know. It got out of hand because it wasn't neutral any more. There was a brain behind it. Do you follow? Neutral like a battery, I mean. You can use it to explode a bomb or to fry an egg: it depends on you."

Gwyn feels that the power still exists:

"I think this valley really is a kind of reservoir. The house, look, smack in the middle, with the mountains all round, shutting it in, guarding the house. I think the power is always there and always will be. It builds up and builds up until it has to be let loose--like filling and emptying a dam. And it works through people. I said to Roger that I thought the plates were batteries and you were the wires.

The energy has been frozen in both the dinner service

and the wall mural. Once the energy is released it

once again becomes a living force. It is hate that bubbles over to fill the children and those related

to them. What is particularly fascinating about the

hate from the energy is that it takes on a modern twist.

The old legend adapts to new conditions.

Jealousy between Gwyn and Roger over Alison

becomes the central action of the story and it is a

14 I b i d .. pp 125-126. 293 direct replaying of the legend. It Is the boys' personalities, however, which help kindle this jealousy.

Eyre comments on this and says:

Gwyn, who though very much a child of Wales, wants to leave the village and become better educated, is per­ ceptive and imaginative, shy, bookish and at times boorish. The English boy, Roger, is his antithesis and the clash between them is sharpened by jealousy over Alison, suspic5~on, and the fear created by inexplicable things that happen as the legend begins to work itself out.15

But personality alone does not cause all the trouble. The bitterness that slowly evolves between the boys is intensified by a series of Issues which relate to the main problem. Brooding ominously, yet unseen over the whole story is the figure of Alison's mother. It is always Mummy that has to be placated.

She is a tyrant who makes differences in social class a religious crusade. When Gwyn sends a note to Alison:

Mummy was livid. She said some hateful things.16

Gwyn is the illegitimate son of the housekeeper and as such he must doubly know his place. Mummy's messages are transmitted through the rest of the family and Roger is willing to use her authority to achieve his own ends

Eyre, British Children*s Books in the Twentieth Century, p . 145.

^Garner, The Owl Service, p. 95. 294 while Charles, the new father, becomes an insuf­ ferable snob with his false bon-hommie. The mother's presence permeates the household with hate and helps to shape the manner in which the energy is manifested.

The legend of Blodeuwedd finds an inverted echo in the conflict between Gwyn, his mother, and

Huw Halfbacon. The mother is bitter that Huw, instead of Alison's uncle, is Gwyn’s father. She takes her hate out on both Huw and Gwyn and is jealous of the slowly developing bond of trust that is growing between the man and the boy.

Hate slowly destroys almost the whole household until Roger is willing to lay aside his own pride for the sake of Alison's safety. He lets Gwyn insult him until there is nothing more to come:

He waited, but there was no more, and in the calm of the pain's clearing he found no anger.17

As the hate works itself out love replaces the empty space and Alison is saved. The owls of hate become the flowers of love.

The Owl Service shows the instability of emotion.

Even at the end of the book when:

...the room was full of petals from skylight and rafters, and all about them a fragrance, and petals, flowers

" 17Ibid.. p~00. 295

of the oak.18

the reader is left with the feeling that the power

emanating from the conflict between Lieu, Gronw, and

Blodeuwedd, will again strive to work itself out

sometime in the future. Garner has shown that love and hate, as a manifestation of good and evil, are very human characteristics and are part of the essence of life. Love and hate may be temporarily kept under control but they will continually find expression in man whether he wishes it or not.

Madelein L'Engle; A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

Mr. Murry has been trapped by the evil IT on the planet of Camazotz. Meg and Charles Wallace, his children, and their friend, Calvin, have to rescue him.

In A Wrinkle in Time both political and religious philosophies are tied together, yet there is no specific doctrinal position being espoused. Instead there is a general Judeo-Christian religious viewpoint which pervades the story combined with a reaction against anything which interferes with personal liberty whether it be spiritual or physical. As L'Engle said when asked about Camazotz:

When you leave New York tonight you'11 be flying over Camazotz— house after house after house, the people in them all watching

18Ibid,. p7 202. 296

the same television programs, and all eating the same things for dinner, and the kids in their mandatory uniforms of blue jeans and satchels or whatever. 1 keep getting asked whether Camazotz is a protest against Communism. I suppose it is, but really it's against forced conformity of any kind.19

The combat between good and evil in A Wrinkle in Time is a war against a pure intellect which lacks any capacity for normal human emotion. IT, the creature which holds Camazotz completely within its grip:

...was a brain.

A disembodied brain. An oversized brain, just enough larger than normal to be completely revolting and terrifying. A living brain. A brain that pulsed and quivered, that seized and commanded. ®

It is this brain that has taken Meg's father prisoner.

There is no compassion in Camazotz, no regard for human liberty. IT is the antithesis of the I AM of Exodus.

The freedom of choice whose ultimate expression is love has been totally negated by evil on this planet. IT says to Meg:

"But that's exactly what we have on Camazotz. Complete equality. Every­ body exactly alike."

However she realizes that:

• ^ J u s t i n wintle and Emma Fisher, The Pled Pipers, (New York: Paddington Press Ltd.), pp. 257-258.

^^Madeleine L*Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, (U.S.A.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, X97Z), p. T58. 297

Like and equal are not the same thing at al t .21

In the universe of A Wrinkle in Time the cosmos has been broken by the presence of evil. There are shadowed planets like Earth where the war against evil is still raging, there are planets completely free from destruction and hate like Uriel, and there are those planets which like Camazotz have given in and now are dominated by the power of evil. L'Engle denies that she is a Manichean22 but the power of evil in A Wrinkle in Time is alive and strong enough to make the struggle between the two forces very fierce.

However, unlike IT which is a focus of evil there is no equivalent power for good made manifest in the book.

Instead of one figure of light there are a number of different creatures all dedicated to the preservation of freedom. As well as Mr. Murry and the children there are creatures who understand freedom and truth more fully. There is Aunt Beast, the strange anenome, who nurses Meg back from death; there is the medium who can see all the universe through her crystal ball; and there are the three ladies, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs.

Whatsit, who have fought evil to the end and won.

While the combat between good and evil is a

zlI b i d .. p ~ 160.

22jU8tin Wintle and Emma Fisher, The Pied Pipers, p. 260. deadly serious matter the face of good can be one of

laughter. The three strange ladies, so much like witches, afford comic relief to the story as well as

security for the children. They understand the joy which accompanies freedom.

Parallels can be drawn between the personality of Meg and the planet from which she comes. Like

Earth Meg is not perfect in nature and she must struggle to overthrow evil in her own life before she can rescue her father and then return for her brother. Her faults are not those of Intent, however, but rather of a lack of faith. Before she can complete her mission she must find within herself real love and so be freed from the power of evil.

It is only Meg who can go back and rescue

Charles Wallace from Camazotz, but:

"We want nothing from you that you do without grace," Mrs. Whatsit said, "or that you do without understanding."23

Finally there is an awareness of what love means and

Meg realizes that:

If she could give love to IT perhaps it would shrivel up and die, for she was sure that IT could not withstand love. But she, in all her weakness and foolishness and baseness and nothingness, was incapable of loving IT. Perhaps it was not too much to

^Madeleine L*Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, p. 195. 299

ask of her, but she could not do it.

But she could love Charles Wallace. ^

Love is an outpouring of feeling for others and for oneself.

In A Wrinkle in Time the power which defeats evil is love: not a possessive self*centered feeling but a faith in oneself and an outpouring of genuine concern for others. Unless Meg values her own worth she cannot offer true love to others. Meg's victory over evil offers hope that the cosmos will be even­ tually restored.

Madeleine L*Engle: A Wind in the Door (1973)

Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin are challenged to meet evil not in the macrocosm portrayed in A Wrinkle in Time but in the microcosm of Charles Wallace's body.

The political overtones of A Wrinkle in Time do not appear in this later book. Instead there is an urgent need to restore harmony to the universe. When both books are compared, however, one thing stands out quite clearly: evil is capable of penetrating everywhere and must be fought on all levels. As Mr. Murry states:

"It isn't just in distant galaxies that strange unreasonable things are happening. Unreason has crept up on us so insidiously that we ve hardly

24Ibid ., p ~ 207. 300

been aware of it. But think of the things going on in our own country which you wouldn't have believed possible only a few years a g o . " 2 5

Madeleine L*Engle has moved from astrophysics

to biochemistry in this latter book. The mitochondria

and farandolae which live within Charles Wallace's body are not functioning normally. Unless the farandolae

deepen their roots instead of moving around in a

frenzied dance Charles Wallace will die. While Charles

Wallace is dependent on them they are not dependent on

Charles Wallace. The boy says of the tiny creatures who inhabit his body:

"...billions of years ago they probably swam into what eventually became our eukaryotic cells and they've just stayed there. They have their own DNA and RNA, which means they're quite separate from us. They have a symbiotic relationship with us, and the amazing thing is that we'r dependent on them for our veen.

The cause of Charles Wallace's problem is the

Echthroi which are the evil unnamers of the universe.

They are the ones which cause death and destruction

because they are the agents of hate. The Echthroi's

power can be negated only by the namers. As in A Wrinkle

in Time it must be Meg who defeats evil. She must become

a namer by giving love. ^Madeleine L*Engle, A Wind in the Door, (Hew York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1973), p.-55. 26I b id., p. 16. 301

With the help of a cherubim who seems to be all wings and eyes, Meg must complete three tasks if Charles Wallace is to be saved. Failure on this quest means annihilation for all concerned at the hands of the Echthroi. The most important task is to name Sporos, a farandolae. When Meg says to Progo, the cherubim, that Sporos is already named he replies:

"Not until he has Deepened.... When Sporos Deepens...it means that he comes of age. It means that he grows up. The temptation for farandola or for man or for star is to stay an immature pleasure-seeker. When we seek our own pleasure as the ultimate good we place ourselves as the center of the universe. A fara or a man or a star has his place in the universe, but nothing created is the center."27

If Sporos does not Deepen the balance of life will be altered. Meg has to fight the Echthroi if Sporos and the other farandolae are to be helped to Deepen. She reaches out to them through her mind and finally the wild, dance of destruction to which the farandolae have subjected themselves gives away to music. Meg and

Calvin:

...heard a faint echo of the music which had been such joy when Blajeny took them to witness the birth of a star. The farae were singing, singing, strengthening. Sporos was joining in the song. All about them farandolae were Deepening, and adding their music

27Ibld., p. 178 302

to the flowing of the s o n g . 28

This Is a Te Deum to life which is carried on by

Meg to the salvation of not only Charles Wallace but also a considerable part of the universe. Once again the universe is whole, the cosmos exists.

There is a striking similarity between A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door. In both books evil is overpowered by love. The task is not easy and a considerable degree of self-sacrifice is demanded if the quests are to succeed. While the nature of evil remains constant it manifests itself differently in each book, appearing as the pulsating IT in A

Wrinkle in Time and the tiny dancing Echthroi in A

Wind in the Door. Shape changing, both physical and spiritual, is a common trait of evil to be found in a number of books of high fantasy. What does not change is the power of love.

Lucy Boston: An Enemy At Green Knowe (1964)

In an interview with Emma Fisher Lucy Boston said of the real house of Green Knowe:

Very few people hate it. But quite a lot of people are frightened of i t , as though it was a threat to them. I don't know why, I can't understand why it should be frightening.29

*aIbid., p ~ 9 5 . ^^Wintle and Fisher, The Pied Pipers. p. 279. 303

Boston has used the idea expressed in her statement

as the central issue in An Enemy At Green Knowei

"It has enemies, and it needs guarding all the time," said the old lady. "In spite of all the Preservation Societies, it wouldn't be there another five years if we stopped watching and guarding it. The very fact that it has lasted so long makes some people impatient. Time it went, they say, without further argument. The fact that it is different from anywhere else, with memories and standards of its own, makes quite a lot of people very angry indeed.

The particular enemy of Green Knowe is an evil human being named Melusine Demogorgona Phosper. As Marcus

Crouch puts it:

Here the kindly spirits--living and past--of the ancient house are faced, not by fire or flood or wild animals, but by uncompromising evil in the person of Dr. Melanie D. Powers of the University of Geneva. Her proper designation is not Melanie Delia Powers but Melusina Demogorgona Phosper, a "spirit of another sort."31

Evil in this book is not an all knowing evil and so it is always searching to acquire further knowledge of the black arts. Miss Powers is absolutely evil but she is not evil absolute. The limits of her education in demonic magic are the cause of her attack on Green

Knowe. She believes that old books on alchemy and black magic remain hidden in the house.

Boston. An Enemy At Green Knowe. (New York: Harcourt. Brace and WorliTj Inc., 1964J, p. 31.

3^Marcus Crouch. The Nesbit Tradition: The Children** Novel 1945-1970. (London: Ernest Benn, 1972), p. 139. 304

In her attempt to gain possession of Green

Knowe Dr. Powers uses all the magic that she has at her disposal. When she cannot ingratiate herself with

Mrs. Oldknow she seeks to take over the old lady's mind. While Granny Oldknow, Tolly, and Ping are out boating one day Tolly asks anxiously:

"Are you ill, Granny?"

She made a great effort. "Not ill, but I don't feel myself. Isn’t that what people say? I feel like someone else. I feel it doesn’t matter at all what I do or don't do. Somehow I don't care. I couldn1t bother to say no to anything."32

Magic is countered by magic and Tolly puts the Druid's

Stone around Mrs. Oldknow*s neck. The effect on her is immediate and the demon possessing her leaves. Melanie is only temporarily defeated, however, and next sends down on the house and its inhabitants a series of plagues reminiscent of those faced by Egypt at the hands of Moses. She tries maggots, cats, and snakes but once again she is checked. Her last desperate effort is to move away from the present and attempt to employ the past to work on her behalf. She conjures up

Susan, a child who lived in Green Knowe two hundred yers before. However, Tolly and Ping have discovered Dr. Power's real name and are able to negate the spell put on Susan.

^ Bos1ton, An Enemy At Green Knowe, p. 69. 305

Evil fails to succeed in An Enemy At Green Knowe for three interdependent reasons. First, pride does not permit Melanie Powers to think that she can be defeated.

If she had been a greater spirit of evil, experience might have taught her that she was not omnipotent.

She is so sure of her own evil strength that on her first visit to Green Knowe she can say:

Don't flatter yourself that your house is invulnerable.33

Second:

...evil is a necessary opposite of good which belongs to it.’^ therefore, every evil action can be counteracted by its opposite if that opposite can be found and used.

Third, the boys make use of reason to defeat the forces of unreason and hate.

The children and Mrs. Oldknow sense Dr. Power's demonic intent at their first meeting with her. From then on they remain alert to whatever might happen.

Curiously enough there is no sense of panic at the thought of such blatant evil trying to invade their lives. They confront it with determination and assurance.

The end for Powers comes when Ping and Tolly find out her real name. She is made powerless by their spell of the diminishing of evil. With the final sound

33ibid., p. 54.

^Sjintle and Fisher, The Pied Pipers, p. 280. 306

of the chant:

...the writhing form, now on the ground, broke up into two. Melanie lay sobbing, and an Abomination that the mind refuses to acknowledge stood over her and spurned her and sped away hidden by a line of hedge.

The boys gripped the branches, speechless and near to fainting, afraid their hearts would never start beating again.

Melanie dragged herself up. She was now known, exposed, a failure and cast off by her demon lord-- woman, crumpled

Melanie is vanquished and to fill the gap left by the

departure of evil there is happiness and joy when

Ping's and Tolly's fathers arrive at the house.

Evil in An Enemy At Green Knowe is not the highly

intellectual and emotionless power of IT as in A Wrinkle

in Time but rather a second rate spirit which has yet

to recognize its limitations and make the best use of

its own strength. In a sense the combat between good and evil is something like that in The Owl Service where

the two forces are opposite parts of the whole. However,

the combat between them is not only a struggle for

emotional dominance but a continual negation of evil by an equal and opposite reaction by good in its many

forms. Magic is pitted against magic; reason fights

15------Boston, An Enemy At Green Knowe, p. 154. 307

unreason; assurance, stability and love strive to

overwhelm uncontrollable hate.

Alexander Key: The Forgotten Door (1965)

When a small boy falls through a hole in space

and lands on Earth he discovers both hate and love.

There is a race by those who care for and about him

to find the door back to his own world before the

forces of hate destroy him.

Good and evil in The Forgotten Door are repre­

sented not by spiritual absolutes but in terms of man's

own perceptions of right and wrong. Although the book

explores man's shortcomings and prejudices it also offers

a glimpse of what life might be like without the darkness

that so often surrounds him.

The setting for most of the tale is a small

rural community within the United States. The people

in this community divide into two groups. There are

the warm, friendly people who are concerned for those

who need help, and there are those who are suspicious

of strangers, close-mouthed, and willing to take advantage

of others to serve their own needs. Both groups are

stereotypes of country people although Key brings the major figures to life through deft characterization.

The characterization is drawn not so much by

direct description, although this plays a part, as 308 though observing the reactions of one group as they interact with the other. It is in this struggle that the powerful emotions of love and hate turn into a combat between good and evil. It may be felt that the two groups, represented by the Beans on the side of good and the Fitts and Macklins on the side of evil are polarized in their positions, but to a degree this story is an allegory and needs strong delineation between the two forces.

Little Jon is a child who has fallen from his own world through a door in space and lands on Earth.

The child comes from a society which as Charlotte Huck points out is:

...a world so simple as to need no laws, no leaders, or money, where intelligent people work together and are friends with the d e e r .

Jon cannot understand the lack of absolute values which he finds in his new community. The Beans suggest that for his protection they call him Jon O'Connor. He replies wonderingly:

But--but that would not be truth.

When the Beans try to explain the necessity for white lies he can only comment:

36Charlotte Huck and Doris Young Kuhn, Children*a Literature in the Elementary School. 2nd edition, (Hew York: Holt,~T£inehart and Winston, 1968), pp. 368-369. 309

It's wrong to make things ugly. '

In terms of moral psychology Jon comes from a world

that functions at the highest possible level. As

Lawrence Kohlberg would state, they live by a code

based on:

...the principles any member of a society would choose for that society if he did not know what his position was to be in the society and be the least advantaged.3

Unfortunately the world of the Pitts and the Mackllns

is not of this nature and so at times principle must be sacrificed for expediency if the greatest good is

to prevail. It is not a case of absolute goodness not being recognized, but in the circumstances there

is a forced choice between two evils and the lesser evil must prevail. The Beans are aware of absolute values but cannot always use them.

When Jon finds his way into the valley he

is caught by the Pitts who focus on him all of their hate. Gilby Pitt is guilty of shooting deer out of season and in some way wants tc make this foreign- looking boy a scapegoat fo* his own evil deeds. Pitt's wife is a hard brutal woman who shares her husband's xenophobia and malicious propensities. Jon escapes

37Alexander Key. The Forgotten Door, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1965), p. 37. 3®Lawrence Kolberg, "The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Moral Education," Phi Delta Kappan, June 1975, 310

from the Pitts and lets himself be found by the

Beans. From this point ort the action is directed

to trying to protect Jon from the unreasonable hate

of the Pitts.

When the Pitts discover that Jon has been

befriended by the Beans they make every endeavor

to get rid of him. They bring false charges of

robbery against him to cover the guilt of their own

kin. Besides the Beans only Judge Josie Cunningham

is predisposed to protect Jon. Police Officer Bush,

and Mrs. Groome, the welfare worker, are happy to have Jon placed under confinement. Even though they

do not approve of the Pitts and the Macklins, they

find their authority threatened by Jon's intrusion

into their community, and when his telepathic powers become known they are frightened. These are the

small minded people of this world who if they do not hate, because their souls have not yet shrivelled,

cannot understand the meaning of personal freedom.

Their minds are so constructed that in their hands the

law becomes a tool of oppression instead of a shield to protect the liberty of others. But Officer Bush and Mrs. Groome are really not so very different from the Pitts and the Macklins. The distrust displayed by

Bush and Groome, and the hate which emanates from the p. 673. 311

Pitts and Macklins are a result of ignorance. They do not understand why Jon is different nor do they want to. Only conformity to a narrow world of their own making can be tolerated by them. All else must be destroyed before it attempts to destroy them.

The Government also ignores Jon as a person and wants him only as a guinea pig. Here is evil at a higher level. At least the Pitts, the Bushes, and the Groomes are people who can be challenged face-to-face but the government can hide behind its vast bureaucracy as it attempts to restrict people and have its own way. Jon's unique abilities offer the government power, and in its greed to gain that power it is quick to threaten. Colonel Quinn of the

Intelligence says to Thomas Bean:

If you persist in being stubborn, we’ll very quickly find legal means to take the boy off your hands.3*

There is a sense of anonymity about the government which is like a giant amoeba that can absorb and dissolve all that stands in its way. There can be little wonder to Jon t h at:

Everything was so unbelievably tangled on this world, with their laws and their money and their hates and their fighting for power. Ke could see only one solution that might help the Beans.

3^Key. The Forgotten Door, p. 112.

A0Ibid.. p. 113. 312

Jon decides to take them back to his world.

The ending is a plausible one in terms of the story, but it is not a particularly suitable one when the moral issues of this world are considered.

The reader is left with the feeling that perhaps the best way to fight hate and destruction is to remove oneself from the scene. Nevertheless, The Forgotten

Door comments on the very real feelings of hate and love that are part of our society. Hate and love are the embodiment of evil and good with which man is confronted in his daily living. The emotions may not always be so intense but they are always very close to the surface.

Susan Cooper: Over Sea, Under Stone (1965) The Dark is Rising (1973) GreenwitcE~ (1974)

These three books are part of a projected series of five. Each story treats the search for a collection of objects which are invested with great power. As the Lady says to Will Stanton at the end of The Dark is Rising when he collects the Circle of Signs:

...it's for the future, Will, don’t you see? That is what the Signs are for. They are the second of the four Things of Power, that have slept these many centuries, and they are a great part of our strength. Each of the Things of Power was made at a different point in Time by a different craftsman of the Light, to await the day when it would be needed. There is a golden chalice, called a grail; there is the Circle of Signs; there is a sword 313

of crystal, and a harp of gold. The grail, like the Signs, is safely found. But once we have add^d those to these, then when the Dark comes rising for its final and most dreadful attempt on the world, we shall have hopes and assurance that we can over­ come . ^1

Over Sea. Under Stone and Greenwitch are concerned

with the battle between the Light and the Dark over

the possession of the Grail, while The Dark is Rising

explores the struggle for the Circle of Signs.

Cooper successfully reconciles both English

and Celtic mythology in her stories and there is

obvious comparison between her work and that of

Alexander and Garner. Paul Heins recognizes how the

last lines of both The Owl Service and Greenwitch

herald similar joy. He writes of Greenwitch:

The final sentence of the narrative mention that in her room "there was a great mess of little twigs and leaves, hawthorn leaves, and rowan. And everywhere a great smell of the sea." Alan Garner's The Owl Service ends with a similar epiphany;" and the rhythmic interchanges between the commonplace and the marvellous in Greenwitch not only suggest Garner, but glory in their own p o w e r .

The Light and the Dark are both ancient forces

capable of moving in and out of time yet they choose ^1Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising, (London: Chatto and Windus Ltd.. 1973y7~p7^08“

^Paul Heins, review of Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper, in Horn Book. August 1974, p . 577. 314

to challenge each other primarily in the present.

Only in The Dark is Rising does time become fluid as

the battle between the powers moves through the centuries.

Although evil usually appears in human form

there is always the problem of recognizing it no matter what the century might be. The Old Ones must continually

search out the Dark. In Greenwitch Will Stanton says:

I'd feel a lot happier if only we knew what shape the Dark will t a k e .43

Both good and evil are absolutes capable of adopting whatever physical or spiritual form may be the most

expedient. In Over Sea, Under Stone Simon, Barney and

Jane discover that Mr. Hastings, the supposed vicar,

is really part of the Dark in disguise:

"Wasn't his name really Hastings at all?" Simon said curiously. "I have known him use many different names," Great-Uncle Merry said, "at many different times."44

Will Stanton finds that:

...always the Dark was there, swelling and waning, gaining a new Lord of the Dark whenever a man deliberately chose to be changed into something more dread and powerful than his fellows. Such creatures were not born to their doom, like the Old Ones, but chose It. The Black Rider he saw in all times from

43Susan Cooper, Greenwitch (New York: Atheneum, 1974), p. 15. ------

^Susan Cooper, Over Sea, Under Stone (London: Chatto and Windus Ltd., 1973), p . 245. 315 the beginning.^5

While the manifestation of evil and good in physical form tends to give the struggle a human pers­ pective it does not limit the combatants to natural laws. Magic is used by both sides in an endeavour to achieve their goals. Even in Over Sea, Under Stone which is most like an adventure tale and least like high fantasy the magical power of Merriman Lyon is capable of defeating evil if the time is appropriate:

Great-Uncle Merry stood in the speed­ boat with one hand on the wind-shield and the other holding the grail, the sun behind him blazing in his white hair. He drew himself so tall and erect that he looked for a strange moment like some great creature of the rocks and the sea. And he called across the water, in a strong voice that rang back from the cliffs, some words in a language that the children could not understand, but with a note through it that made them suddenly shiver.

And the dark figure in the other boat seemed to shrink within himself at the sound, so that the menace and power were all at once gone out of him. Suddenly he looked only ridiculous in the skin-wet black clothes, and seemed smaller than he had been before.46

In the other two books magic is the basic weapon in the combat. The magic is tied to the world as are the forces of the Light and the Dark. Mid-winter finds

^^Cooper, The Dark is Rising, p. 93.

4<>Cooper, Over Sea, Under Stone, p. 242. 316

the strength of theDark at Its highest. Will

Stanton first discovers this when he is besieged by

evil in the Great Hall of the Old Ones:

"We are besieged, as you see," Merriman said, coming forward to join them. "They hope to gain a hold over you while you are not yet grown into your full power. And this is only the beginning of the peril, Will. Through all this midwinter season their power will be waxing very strong with, the Old Magic able to keep It at a distance only on Christmas Eve. And even past Christmas it will grow, not losing its high force until the Twelfth Day, the Twelfth Night--which once was Christmas Day, and once before that, long ago, was the high winter festival of our old year,"47

The power of evil while at its strongest at mid­ winter remains through the rest of the year a force with which to be reckoned. In Greenwitch as Jane sees

the painter from the Dark:

...she gasped, and heard the same instinctive strangled sound from the others. For the painter had no flashlight to make the pool of brightness that surrounded him. The light came from his painting....

"Now I seel" Captain Toms suddenly thumped his stick on the ground, staring at the picture. "That's it! Now I understand! He has painted his spells! Mana and Reck and Lir...the power is all in the picture! I had forgotten it could be done. Now I see, now I see...but too late. Too late..."^8

The Light is not as spectacular in its repulsion

of evil. Often it uses children to rescue the signs of

^ C o o p e r , The Dark is Rising, pp. 39-40. ^®Cooper, Greenwitch. pp. 96-97. 317 power. Although they are vulnerable to the Dark because they lack experience their Innocence gives them strength. Merriman tells the three children in

Over Sea, Under Stone:

"This is your quest.... You must find the way every time yourselves. I am the guardian, no more. I can take no part and give you no help, beyond guarding you all the way."^

The Light has power in its inherent goodness and harmony of purpose. When the Dark attacks the church:

The Old Ones stood in the doorway of the church, their arms linked together. None spoke a word to another.... In a wild storm of black and white the Dark attacked, beating at their minds as at their bodies, and above all driving hard at the Sign-Seeker, Will. And Will knew that if he had been on his own his mind, for all its gifts of protection, would have collapsed. It was the strength of the Circle^of the Old Ones that held him fast now. 0

The Old Ones can also use the magic of the sacred signs.

When the Dark intensifies its attack. Will:

...unclasped his belt with its three precious burdens and draped it over his arm; took from his pocket the rook's feather, and wove it into the centre Sign: the bronze quartered circle. Then he took the belt in both his hands, holding it up before him, and moved slowly round until he stood along in the church porch, facing the howling, rook*screaming, icy dark beyond. He had never felt so lonely before. He did nothing, he thought nothing. He

^Coopert Over Sea. Under Stone, p. 123. ^Cooper, The Dark is Rising, p. 126. 318

stood there, and let the Signs work for themselves.

And suddenly, there was silence.

The flapping birds were gone. No wind howled. The dreadful, mad humming that had filled the air and the mind was vanished altogether.51

There is another kind of magic that can be used if it can be controlled. This is the Wild Magic which

Garner in The Moon of Gomrath calls the Old Magic. The

Greenwitch, the lady made of boughs and blossms, which is Cooper's Bloduewedd, personifies the Wild Magic.

As Jane looks at Greenwitch:

..,she knew suddenly, out there in the cold dawn, that this silent image somehow held within ii. more power than she had ever sensed before in any creature or thing. Thunder and storms and earthquakes were there, and all the force of the earth and sea. It was outside Time, boundless, ageless, beyond any line drawn between good and e v i l . 52

In Greenwitch the Light needs the help of the Greenwitch to defeat the Dark. The Old Ones have to enter the kingdom of Tethys, the ancient ocean goddess and queen of the Wild Magic. She says to Will and Merriman:

I am not permitted to help either Light or Dark to gain any advantage.5’

But the Old Ones succeed in getting Tethys to allow her

51lbld.. p ~ 2 7 . 52 Cooper, Greenwitch, p. 34.

53Ibid., p. 82. name to be used to persuade the Greenwitch to give up her secret manuscript. Once again a child's innocence results in victory for the light. Jane at the Greenwitch*s making had wished it happiness and now that unselfish wish Is returned to her.

Good and evil are forces dedicated to their own goals. Over centuries their strength waxes and wanes but neither is totally victorious. The Dark wants power to control the land while the Light is dedicated to freedom and peace.

In these first three books of the proposed series the preliminary skirmishes between the two powers suggest that an Armegeddon will come in the near future. While the Dark relies on terror and the black arts the Light meets the challenges with moral courage, and the wisdom and the strength of the Old

O n e s .

Mollie Hunter: Thomas and the Warlock (1967)

There are no witches in Scotland any more, they say, and for that matter of it, neither are there any wizards-- or warlocks, as they call them there. And the reason for that, they say also, is not far to seek--if you happen to know the story of Thomas and the Warlock. ^

Thomas Thompson, the blacksmith, falls afoul of

^Mollie Hunter, Thomas and the Warlock (New York Funk and Wagnalls, 1967) , p. 19. 320

Hugo Gifford, the warlock. Although Thomas has the help of the Sheriff, the Laird, and the Minister of

the little Scottish village he must enter the warlock's

castle to confront and defeat him.

The combat between good and evil is treated

seriously in Mollie Hunter's tales but there persists an underlying sense of exubrance. Evil is not an amorphous force of destruction which eats at the soul nor is it a vast barbarian horde to be fended off for

the sake of life, land, and liberty. Both these forms of evil are to be found elsewhere in contemporary high fantasy, Le Guin and Alexander, respectively, are only

two of the authors who employ these more common repre­ sentations of the powers of Darkness.

In Thomas and the Warlock evil is like a troublesome bully who must be taught a lesson when he becomes too belligerent. This is not to suggest that evil can be overcome by a physically strong opposition, for evil wherever it is met is both insidious and cunning.

But those united in the common bond against evil enjoy a comraderie which is remarkably lighthearted in their eagerness to press forward against Hugo Gifford and the witc hes.

It is Thomas who is responsible for provoking evil into action. Thomas enjoys poaching but when the new laird decides to exert his rights Thomas is forced 321 to poach farther afield. He invades the estate of

Hugo Gifford and discovers that the warlock, long thought dead, is very much alive. The belief amongst the parish that the warlock is dead prompts the sug- gestion that Gifford's type of evil does not disturb man directly if it is given no cause.

Thomas is not afraid of Hugo and even decides to mend the warlock's cart wheel. Gifford will have his revenge on Thomas, however, for the injury caused him while Thomas was poaching on his land. The fairy woman warns Thomas’ young son, Alexander:

...there will come a day when the warlock will seek his revenge on your father for having crossed him.->5

The fairy woman is in Thomas' debt for making her an iron pot. In repayment she gives Alexander a rhymed message which will lead to the destruction of the black arts in Scotland.

When Hugo Gifford steals Thomas' wife, Janet, the village unites to retrieve her. Thomas who has been a scoundrel all his life suddenly becomes the leader.

The laird, the minister, and the sheriff all are willing to follow the smithy. The night that Janet must be rescued is Halloween which is:

...the night of all the year when witches1

^ I b i d . , p. 64. 322

power is at its strongest 156

Nevertheless, the night proves to be the warlock's downfall for the fairy's message contains the instruc­ tions to defeat him and his companions. A silver bullet, as the sheriff says is;

...the only thing which will stop a witch in her t r a c k s . 57 while a storm will drown those at sea.

Thomas, himself, must still rescue Janet from the warlock's castle. Hugh Gifford tries to stop him with fire, a trial similar to that of Fergus in Hunter's later book The Haunted Mountain. He reaches Janet but cannot rescue her while there is hate in her heart:

It was nothing more than her own spite at himself the warlock was using to hold her! Poor Janet--she was on the same side as Hugh Gifford's evil will, so long as she was holding anger in her heart at his foolishness and that was why the warlock was able to hold her fast in his power 158

Only when she returns Thomas' love and forgives him his foolishness can she be released from the spell of black m a g i c .

In Thomas and the Warlock, evil, although very visible, is still an absolute force. Thomas' poaching might be against the law of the land, but spiritually he is held to little account. What Thomas' poaching

57I b i d .. p T “96.

58Ibid.. p. 123. 323 does do is to incur the wrath of evil. The pattern of the fight will be repeated in The Haunted Mountain.

There is no knight setting forth on an epic quest but merely a simple man establishing his own manhood by refuting that which tries to best him.

Sociologically it can be suggested that the story deals with man's need to place a boundary around his property. Those who cross the line do so at their own risk. The combat between good and evil offers the author a chance to create an atmosphere of suspense but the tale itself tells more of the demands of man to establish and maintain a space in this world which he can call his own. When evil moves to destroy Thomas and his family the blacksmith responds with all the power that he can muster. He does this, however, as though evil were just a part of the challenge of life rather than an extraordinary power drawn from the depths of Hell.

Mollie Hunter: The Haunted Mountain (1972)

When MacAllister decides to plough the ground which is normally set aside for the sidhe or fairy people he Incurs their anger. This story tells how he tries to outwit them, Is caught, and finally escapes.

Marie-Louise von Franz suggests that in fairy tales, certain attitudes or situations seem to attract 324 e v i l . ghe n sts drunkenness, physical or psycho­ logical loneliness, being a stranger or isolating oneself too much. In The Haunted Mountain there are traces of loneliness present but pride has greater drawing power.

Evil in Mollie Hunter's story is not the smothering force of darkness that is used by Garner and L*Engle but instead there is a sense of challenge or a throwing down of the gauntlet to induce evil to appear. MacAllister deliberately sets out to provoke the sidhe. When the Skeelie Woman warns him of the consequences of his proposed action he replies:

"Let the sidhe come at me as they will.... t am ready for theml"°0

He rationalizes his stubborness in the face of danger by saying:

"There is no need for any Christian man to fear the old magic 1"°^

The fairy folk are treated with respect by the

Scottish farmers, who call them the Good People. This is a respect built on fear for although the sidhe generally do not interfere in the lives of men they have at their command an ancient magic. Nevertheless:

.L . von Franz, Shadow and Evil in Fairytales. (Switzerland: Spring Publications, iy/4J7 pT lSb.

^^Mollie Hunter, The Haunted Mountain, (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), p. 3^ 61lbid. 325

...these creatures being so quick to take offense and so revengeful that I t was considered wise to keep In their favor by giving them this croft, or little piece of land, to use in any way they might desire. It was the custom also never to risk offending the sidhe by speaking aloud of them, except T>y pleasant names such as the Good People, or the Good Neighbors; and this, of course, was how the gift of land came to be known as the Goodman's C r o f t .

MacAllister although he is stubborn is at least a moral man. His values may not be complex, but they are strong and true. As he throws away the grain that he has grown on the Goodman's Croft:

...he knew the real difference between his own kind and the people of the sidhe, and so now he knew his real reason for refusing to give them the Goodman's Croft. The sidhe had power, beauty, wealth-- everyghing the heart could desire; but they had no souls, and so they were still less than men.

He had nothing except his land--but it was working his own land, living by his own land, that gave him the right to call him­ self a man among men. And he would have no proper pride in himself again if he gave up the least part of that right to creatures that were less than menl®^

Six times does MacAllister challenge or trick the sidhe and each time he is victorious. To achieve his ends he uses open defiance, Celtic charms, Christian symbols and prayer, and finally cunning. The seventh time MacAllister is captured and sentenced to be

62Ibid., p. 3.

63Ibid., pp. 30-31. 326 sacrificed. The Skeelle Woman tells Peigi-Ann,

MacAllister's wife that:

11 ...once every seven years these gods demand the sacrifice of a life from them. They will not sacrifice one of they own kind, and so it is a prisoner who must die for them instead.

It takes the courage and love of MacAllister*s son, Fergus, and his dog, Colm, to help him escape from the sidhe. Fergus is tormented by the fairy people as he seeks to release his father from the chains that hold him and his father has to warn him:

"it is true your mother's blessing will be a powerful protection to you when you seize my hand to win me back from the sidhe; but this will only last as long as you manage to keep your grip on me. If they can force you to let my hand go, it will mean that their magic has conquered the power of human love in her blessing. You will become their prisoner then also, and so our last case will be worse than our first.

It is Fergus' courage and stubborness which saves both him and his father. The man and the boy race down the side of Ben MacDui chased by the great gray stone man, and Colm, the dog, defends his master from An Ferla

Mor’s sword with his own body.

MacAllister buries Colm in the Croft and this becomes the final defeat for the sidhe. For once he

64 I bi d.t pT 63.

65Ibid., p. 99. 327 understands and heeds the Skeelie Woman's wisdom. She tells him:

"... I know the ways of the sidhe better than anyone here. There is only one way you can finally defeat their claim to the Goodman's Croft, MacAllister. You must give that piece of land the sacrifice of blood which land always demands of a man before it can become truly his, and his alone, for all time and forever. You must give it the heart of a creature that is dear to your own heart.

The Haunted Mountain is as close as high fantasy comes to the folktale. Hunter shows that man can challenge the spiritual unknown and sustain victory.

The quest that MacAllister embarks upon is as dangerous as any that the medieval knight discovers, but the nobility of MacAllister is not in his birth but in his courage. However, the story reflects a current of humor in the face of adversity: a trait for which the

Scots are famous.

The combat between good and evil takes on all the excitement of an espionage story rather than presenting the terrible heart-sinking cruelty of total war. Even when the sidhe are at their worst there is no feeling that the rules of the game have been broken by the treachery of evil. Nevertheless, the virtues of love and courage are shown to be potent forces in defeating

66lbid., p7 T 2 1 . 328 the power of evil.

Ursula Le Guin: A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) The Tombs of Atuan (1970) The Farthest Shore (1973)

Earthsea is an archipelago of which the center is the magician's island of Roke. The sorcerers of

Earthsea are dedicated to the wellbeing of the citizens of the islands, and they must constantly guard against any intrusion of evil which will upset the harmony of existence.

The hero of the books is Ged who becomes

Archmage of Roke. Each book depicts him at a dif­ ferent stage of his life and shows the nature of evil which he must confront. It is in the nature of evil that man must suffer from its manifestation. Ged's quest is to relieve that suffering even when the «vil is a result of his own mistaken pride. Each time Ged meets evil its thrust and intensity change, but none the less its consequences if unchecked will lead to destruction.

Evil in A Wizard of Earthsea is of Ged's own making:

Out of his treacherous pride, his touchiness, his hunger for recognition, for domination, he calls upon the long- dead in shameless answer to a challenge cynically given. In that instant, when the pale figure with the terrified face appears out of the past at Ged's call, the shadow-beast--"a clot of black shadow, quick and hideous," that "leaped 329

straight out at Ged's face"— breaks from unlife and is released upon the world. Its power is this: that if it can overtake and conquer Ged, it can core him out, possess him, and use his knowledge to its own mindless ends.*"

Ged is ravaged and almost killed by this dark side of him but what the shadow does to him physically his pride has done psychologically and spiritually.

The shadow is only an outward sign of what is happening to him within. The danger of pride is that in corrupting the soul of the sinner it can also destroy the saint. Archniage Nensnerle dies trying to protect

Ged from the boy's own pride, and in the years to come

Ged must constantly turn from his rightful duty to others in an endeavour to make peace with himself. The maxim that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" has inevitable application to Ged's condition.

Archmage Gensler says to him:

You have great power inborn in you, and used that power wrongly, to work a spell over which you had no control, not knowing how that spell affects the balance of light and dark, life and death, good and hate. Is it any wonder the result was ruin? You summoned a spirit from the dead, but with it came one of the Powers of unlife. Uncalled it came from a place where there are no names. Evil, it wills to work evil through you. The power you had to call it gives it power over you: you are connected.

67Eleanor Cameron, "High Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea," Horn Book, April 1971, pp. 132-133. It is the shadow of your arrogance, the shadow of your ignorance, the shadow you cast.®®

Ged must learn the meaning of the words spoken to him many years before by his old teacher, Ogion:

Have you never thought how danger must surround power as shadow does light? This sorcery is not a game we play for pleasure or for praise. Think of this: that every word, every act of our Art is said and is done either for good, or for evil. Before you speak or do you must know the price that is to pay!°*

He must learn humility by facing his pride and acknow­ ledging it. Only then will the evil that is of his own making be destroyed.

The task is a long one for Ged either does not choose to understand or perhaps cannot see that pride is his burden. Like many others he is blind to his own faults. At the end of A Wizard of Earthsea as the shadow is about to finally destroy him he turns and faces it seeing reflected within the shadow all the old malevolence of his life. This is the moment of truth for he then recognizes his evil self and calls the shadow by its name: "Ged." The response is immediate.

"Light and darkness met, and joined, and were one."70

Gedfs physical and spiritual quest for inner harmony is achieved.

69Ibid., p. 35.

70Ibld.. p. 201. 331

The Tombs of Atuan presents a different face of evil. On the island of Atuan, evil is worshipped for its own sake. The high priestess of the tombs of

Atuan is dedicated to the ancient and nrceless Powers of the Earth.

The grotesqueness of the evil is found not only in the black corridors of the labyrinth but in the idea that a young and innocent girl should become a minister to the forces of hate. Arha has been taken from her home as a small child to become high priestess in the belief that she is a reincarnation of the priestess who has just died.

Arha's duties include that of arranging for human sacrifice, and when Ged is discovered in the labyrinth she plans to offer him to the Nameless Ones.

While he is her prisoner Ged talks to her and says:

"What have they ever given you...?"

"Nothing," she whispered.

^ "They have nothing to give. They have no power of making. All their \ power is to darken and destroy. They cannot leave this place; they are this place; and it should be left to them. They should not be denied nor forgotten, but neither should they be worshipped. The ^arch is beautiful, and bright, and kjndly, but that is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, ana cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of 332

hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men's eyes. And where men worship these things and abase themselves before them, there evil breeds; there places given over wholly to the Ones whom we call Nameless, the ancient and holy Powers of the Earth before the Light, the powers of the dark, of ruin, of madness."'!

Arha learns what Ged learnt many years before that

evil is unlife, it is chaos that destroys both body and soul.

There is theological soundness in Ged's answer

to her when Arha says:

"If I leave the service of the Dark Ones, they will kill me. If I leave this place I will die."

Ged replies:

"You will not die. Arha will die." ..."To be reborn one must die, Tenar. It is not so hard as it looks from the other side."™

Only the evil in Arha will die as she turns from wickedness and takes back her rightful name of Tenar.

But evil does not release its subjects easily. There

is a cost to be borne and for Tenar she experiences

the pain of freedom and truth. As Ged and the girl

leave Atuan:

A dark hand had let go its lifelong hold upon her heart. But she did not

71Ursula Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan. (New York: Atheneum, 1971), p. 118.

72Ibid., p. 126. 333

feel joy, as she had in the mountains. She put her head down in her arms and cried, and h^r cheeks were salt and wet. She cried for the waste of her years in bondage to a useless evil. She wept in pain, because she was free.

What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice make, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of i t .7 3

Always the girl, like the rest of the human race, must carefully choose if evil is not to replace freedom and harmony. The dark powers may be defeated many times but they wait constantly for any sign of weakness.

It is greed and the lust for power which is the evil to be found in The Farthest Shore. Ged explains to young Prince Arren:

"...when we crave power over life-- endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality--then desire becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the world is swayed, and ruin weights heavy in the scale.

73Ibid., ppT~156-157.

7^Ursula Le Guin, The Farthest Shore, (New York: Atheneum, 1973), p. 41. 334

The balance of the world Is being swayed for evil magic is draining the power of wizardry from Earthsea.

Ged and Arren must search for and stop that which is responsible before Earthsea is totally destroyed.

In Earthsea life and death, good and evil, are part of the one whole:

There are two, Arren, two that make one: the world and the shadow, the light and the dark. The two poles of the Balance. Life rises out of death, death rises out of life; in being opposite they yearn to each other, they give birth to each other and are forever r e b o r n .'*

Arren and Ged face a demand of tremendous personal sacrifice and courage to stop the evil which is destroying Earthsea. Both wizard and prince must enter the land of death to find the man who is unmaking the world. Finally Ged is able to confront the evil sorcerer and make him realize that all his power is for naught.

Cob, who wanted to control his own destiny and that of

Earthsea in an attempt to obtain immortality becomes only the outer shell of a man. His soul has been destroyed already as it was eaten by pride. He now must remain forever in the Dry Land, the land of the dead.

Now towards the end of Ged's life the Archmage can repay for the death of Nemmerle. Nemmerle was destroyed because of the pride of another. Yet Ged Is

?5Ibid.. |T 154. 335 a far more powerful mage than was Nemmerle and unlike the old Archmage he is able to seal the hole in the world and still live.

Although in all three tales of Earthsea evil is part of the same dread force it presents itself to the world with different faces. In A Wizard of

Earthsea young Ged releases evil into the world through prrde. In The Tombs of Atuan evil is far more primeval and tied to the earth in its lust for worship and blood.

In The Farthest Shore evil manifest itself in a craving for power. Each time it must be acknowledge and con­ fronted before it can be destroyed or negated. While magic is at the center of life in Earthsea it is the force of courage and faith which renders evil harmless.

Each time man defeats evil there is the hope that his next challenge will be equally successful.

In that sense the Earthsea stories echo the writings of other authors of high fantasy such as Lewis and

L'Engle and Cooper.

Otfried Preussler: The Satanic Mill (1971)

At the mill in the fen of Kosel the black arts are practiced. Krabat, a young journeyman at the mill finds a way to break the master miller's power and destroy the evil at the mill. Preussler has adapted the Faust tale for the 336 basis of The Satanic Mill but with a rather more terrifying twist. The master miller has sold himself to the Devil in return for knowledge and power. His payment to the Goodman, a gross appelation for the

Devil, is one human soul each year. He takes his offering from his journeymen and they know that one of their number must die each New Year's Eve.

The story opens during the season of Epiphany when the Christian church celebrates the coming of the Wise Men to the Christ Child. On that first

Epiphany goodly wisdom travelled in search of holy innocence. In seventeenth century Germany, however, there is almost a complete reversal of the coming.

Krabet as a fourteen year old Wendish boy is called by a voice to obey the Master. The calling is so persistent that the boy's free will is slowly eroded without real awareness of what is happening to him. When an old man says to him:

I just wanted to warn you, boyI Keep away from the Kosel fen, keep away from the mill by the Black Water--it's a queer pxace, t h a t . ..

Krabat argues himself into ignoring that advice by saying:

I'm not a baby I It won't hurt just to take a look at this millI7®

760tfried Preussler, The Satanic Mill, trans. Anthea Bell (New York: Macmillan, 19^3), p. 6, 337

He has yielded to temptation by diminishing the importance of the sin in his own eyes. The Wise Men went freely on their journey but Krabat is irresistibly pulled towards evil. Childhood innocence is being willed to enjoin with spiritual darkness. Youth is being corrupted.

The use of the Christian year and certain tra­ ditional symbols intensify the evil in this story.

When Krabat arrives at the mill he is greeted by the master who seals the apprenticeship with an offer of his left hand. The left or sinister side has been traditionally an evil omen. Krabat is shown to his bed and soon finds that he is one of twelve who are the master’s men. Twelve is a magic number and it is also the number of Christ's apostles. But the apostles worked freely for the spiritual and physical salvation of others. The miller’s men toil for no one but the m i ller.

Krabat slowly discovers the evil that surrounds him. At first he is not overly disturbed by what is happening to him:

"Run away? he thought. "Run away from what? It's no bed of roses here, with so much hard work to do, and I'd be in a bad way without Tonda's help. But the food's good, there's plenty of it, I have a roof over my head--and when I get up in the morning I'm sure of a bed for the next night, warm and dry and 338

reasonably soft, with no bugs or fleas in it. That's more than I could ever have honed for when I was a beggar b o y 1"77

When he does dream of escape there Is a realization

that something is wrong. He finds that no matter how

far he goes that by nightfall he is standing again

outside the mill.

The most grotesque aspect of evil in the mill

are the Dead Stones. Krabat wonders why he never sees

these being used. When his curiosity is aroused:

...he climbed the wooden steps up to the bin floor, where the grain was tipped from its sacks into the funnel-shaped hopper, from which it ran over the feed shoe and so down between the millstones. As the men tipped it in, a few grains were bound to be spilled; only it was not grain of any kind lying there under the hopper, as Krabat expected. The things lying around the bin floor looked like pebbles at first sight; a second glance showed Krabat that they were teeth--teeth and splinters of bone.

Horrified, the boy opened his mouth to scream, but he could not utter a sound.

These are from the sacks that the Goodman brings to be ground every new moon. All of this Krabat comes to accept and he works hard to learn the black arts that

the master miller teaches his journeymen each Friday night. What turns his heart against all that the mill

bii:------78Ibld., pp. 25-26. 339

stands for is the death of Tonda, his friend, and also his awakening love for a village girl whose pure voice he hears singing a carol early on Easter morning.

It is love that will eventually destroy the hate and chaos of evil.

Evil is insidious and does not release Its grip easily. When Tonda is hurried:

Only Krabat stayed on. He wanted to say the Lord's Prayer for his friend Tonda, but somehow it had slipped his memory; he began it again and again, but he could never get to the end of it, not in German nor even in Wendish.' °

But this is only the beginning of Krabat' s struggle with evil. The boys learns easily and the Master tempts him as Christ was tempted by Satan. The struggle gathers momentum until finally the Master offers him power in exchange for total obedience:

In two or three years' time you could take my place and teach the Black School. If you agree to that, I will give you all I leave behind, including the Book of Necromancy....

You can be Master of this mill for twelve or fifteen years, and then you can choose a successor from among your journeymen, give him all that belongs here, and you will be free to live a life of glory and renown180

T^Ibid.. p. 86.

80Ibid.. pp. 238-239. 340

When Krabat declines the offer the Master

threatens him with death and his work and dreams become tortured with pain and mental anguish.

But love proves stronger than hate and at dusk on

New Year's Eve the girl Krabat loves and who loves him

comes freely to the mill to claim him. If she fails

to recognize him from among his fellow journeymen

they both must die. She succeeds and the miller him­

self dies at midnight. Krabat's love for the girl has

been so strong that she could feel that he was afraid

for her and so she could choose rightly.

In The Satanic Mill the conflict between good

and evil is between absolutes. The power of evil is

strong but it is not capable of withstanding pure love.

Anything less than the total and free giving of self

to another is worthless in the face of such an enemy.

Krabat and his betrothed are able to offer each other

this love and so force hate to turn against itself and

destroy the power of the Master Miller.

Patricia Wrightson: The Nargun and the Stars( 1974)

When young Simon Brent is orphaned he moves to

an old sheep farm in northern New South Wales to live with some middle-aged cousins. He soon comes to know

the ancient sprites who inhabit the water and the

trees on the property. He also discovers the Nargun, 341 a primeval monster who in its blind hate is bent on destroying all those who disturb it. A life and death struggle ensues as Simon and his cousins together with the Potkoorok attempt to render the Nargun harmless.

In this incredibly beautiful story set in twentieth century Australia it is difficult to com­ prehend that hate and death play such an important part in the plot. Only in that Wrightson draws on myth is there any similarity between this book and those which are based on European tradition. Even so

Australian myth is far simpler and more primitive than its European counterparts. The human passions and the religious overtones found in the Celtic and Nordic mythologies are too sophisticated to find a place in the oral heritage of the island continent.

The Nargun is a part of the earth but not the warm earth of The Way Home. It is as cold as the stone from which it was born, and in that coldness there is only unintelligible malevolence. Yet the question must arise whether a creature who is not capable of rational thought can be held accountable for its actions.

The Nargun is old and if it lived in England perhaps it would have been part of the Wild Magic which had its beginnings long before the entrance of good and evil. For: 342

Sometimes it remembered the world's making and cried for that long agony. Sometimes it felt anger; for a fallen tree, a dried-up pool, an intruder, or for hunger. Then too it cried. It had a sort of love: a response to the deep, slow rhythms of the earth; and when it felt the earth's crust swell to the moon, it sometimes called in ecstasy. It had no fear; but a wide sunny place, or any strange thing, made it uneasy. Then it crouched in stony stillness, and little lizards ran over it.81

But evil is evil whether it shows intelligence or

not and the Nargun cannot be described otherwise

regardless of the compassion one might feel for its

plight. Its sinister character is highlighted in

the description of its slow movement northward:

The next thirty years were a bad time for the Nargun, a time of blind uneasiness and sudden, sullen rage. Step by step, it stumbled along the fringes of the Blue Mountains, sensing the nearness of gorges and frustrated by verticle heights. The vibrations here drove it from uneasiness to anger-- the throbbing of some shaken, uneven pulse that was strange. The thing killed four times on this stretch: twice for food, leaving torn garments that rotted and were never found; twice , crushing rage, a man and a

The real conflict between good and evil begins when the Nargun settles at Wongadilla. And:

81Pa*':ricia Wrightson, The Nargun and The Stars. (New Yor>. Atheneum, 1974), p. 4.

®^Ibid., pp. 6-7. 343

Wongadilla received it with a stillness of water, a silence of trees, and a stirring within rocks. Its own ancient creatures sensed the Nargun that had come so far. They knew its age--ten times their own--and its slow, monstrous cold­ ness. Thg* stirred or were silent, like children.

The sprites of the trees and the swamp recognize the threat of the Nargun's presence but:

After a year or so of waiting and hearing no call, they came scuttling and gliding from the forest tops to nearer trees. They pelted it with sticks and hissed when the sticks came flying back. After that, they kept away from the slow, cold monster in the gully.

It is Simon who is the first human at Wongadilla to become conscious of the Nargun. Sometimes Simon thinks he can hear "a sad, high howling, far away and lost.”

However, one night after a storm as Simon leaves the house and joins the forest sprites:

The moon's edge lifted from the cloud; there was soft polished light, and he saw a crooked shape. About a yard away--leaning forward--a hard, craggy, blunt-muzzled head and the smallest, most secret movement of a limb. Something without heart or blood, the living earth in a squat and solid shape, reached very secretly, a very little, for Simon.

He wasted no energy to yell or gasp. His stretched nerves twanged, he

8^Ibid., p. 8.

84Ibid.. p. 10.

85Ibid., p. 25. 344

shot ten feet in one leap and kept on running, Away behind him something cried out saveagely in anger--Nga-a-aI The wild fierce cry laid its echo like a trail along the mountain.®*

Simon questions the Potkoorok, the bubbly trickster of the swamp, about what has happened. Although the

Potkoorok answers evasively Simon realizes that

the Nargun is threatening the existence of all life at Wongadilla.

In its own way the Nargun does not understand

that it is evil. There is no premeditation only an emotional response to the world in which hate and

love are combined:

In its cold, heavy way it loved the mountain. It had come to love distance and sky and high rocky places; and though it had killed only a sheep, it knew there were men near. In its cold, still way the Nargun loved men: loved them even when it killed them.87

To ensure the safety of those who lived at

the farm the Nargun must be rendered harmless.

Simon, Charlie, and the Potkoorok, work together to encourage the Nargun to move inside the cave of the

Nyols. The noise from the bulldozer from within the cave stirs the Nargun to anger and as it comes towards

the machine:

86I b i d ., p. 51.

87Ibid.. p. 86. 345

Its cry came hollow from the passage, wild and savage as always; full of hate that was love, of love that was hate, centuries of emptiness, anger hungry to destroy.®®

As the Nargun in its fury embraces the bulldozer there is an explosion which blocks the entrance to the cave. The Nargun is trapped. Only the Nyols treat the newcomer with reverence. They pour a libation of dust over the ancient creature and beg it to stay but:

The Nargun never moved. In this place of nothing--no light, no wind, no heat, no cold, no sound--it waited. It felt the old, slow pulse, deep and enduring, and remembered the earth swinging on its moth-flight around the sun. Its dark, vacant eyes waited: for the mountain to crumble; for a river to break through; for time to wear away.®”

The combat between good and evil are to be seen in human terms. The Nargun is evil because he unknowingly threatens life and not because he delib­ erately chooses to corrupt or destroy. Love and hate, good and evil, are all one to the Nargun. He is from the earth and his response to the world is in terms of the elements from which he is made. Only thinking creatures exercise moral judgment and the Nargun is not capable of thinking.

88Ibid., p ~ 177-178.

89Ibid., p. 184. In this chapter the works of ten authors of

contemporary high fantasy for children have been

examined. Within the chapter there has been an explor­

ation of how good and evil are presented as well as

ascertaining the nature of the conflict between the

two forces.

The Chronicles of Naraia

Good and evil are given a Christian inter­ pretation and there is a strong emphasis on the

importance of free choice being the best method of

combating evil. It is implicit in the tales that

those who give themselves over to the power of evil

are not able to exercise this choice with any degree of accuracy. The power of evil to hold and blind

is taken up again by Ursula Le Guin in the Earthsea

stories.

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Moon of GomratK

These are two of the many stories of high fantasy using the creatures of Celtic mythology to create the division between good and evil. Evil takes the offensive

in both stories and employs magic in its attempt to defeat good. Good succeeds mainly through its morality and intellectual agility rather than through the use 347 of m a g i c .

A third force which is Introduced is called

the Old Magic and it is supposedly amoral but in fact is extremely ruthless and self-serving.

Unlike the works of Susan Cooper the effect of the combat between good and evil is localized and has little effect on the human race.

The Owl Service

Love, hate, and jealousy in very human terms are the embodiment of good and evil in The Owl Service.

A Welsh tale from the Mabinogion is replayed in modern dress and Gamer's story suggests that human nature with its passions has not changed over the centuries.

A Wrinkle in Time

At one level human concern and love are pitted against a pure and cold intellect which in its desire for total power in the universe is cruel and self seeking. On another level L'Engle contrasts spiritual and temporal freedom against a totalitarian mode of existence. It is shown that only where there is com­ plete personal freedom can there be a total concern for others. 348

A Wind in the Door

With freedom comes the responsibility for one's actions, an idea found again in Le Guin's

Earthsea stories. A failure to meet one's obli­ gations by self-sacrifice brings chaos, and offers evil the opportunity to take control. Within the universe not only does man need to rise beyond self love but also all of creation.

An Enemy At Green Knowe

Once again evil searches for power. Pride, however, blinds evil to its own shortcomings and so it fails to assume the possibility of defeat.

Lucy Boston suggests that good and evil are part of a whole and in An Enemy At Green Knowe the advances of evil ate refuted by the inevitable reactions of good.

The Forgotten Door

This book, as does The Owl Service. shows love and hate in human terms. The difference between the two books is that the two forces in The Forgotten Door are not part of the same continuum. Key portrays the fears and jealousies of man within his society and shows how moral judgment is clouded by man's petty responses to life. Key also gives a vision of what the world could be like if society was able to function at the highest 349

moral level.

Oyer Sea, Under Stone TheDark is Rising GreenwitcK~

Good and evil are absolute forces drawn out

of Celtic and English mythology. While there is much

in these books that invites comparison with Garner

the effect of evil in Cooper's work has more wide­

spread Impact. What is similar is the way in which

evil takes the initiative. Good although more forceful

than in Gamer's books still relies heavily on moral

strength and intellectual astuteness to defend itself

and gain victory.

Thomas and the Warlock

Evil takes the shape of a warlock whose greatest magic is worked through the hate that man keeps within

himself. The power of love is tested to its fullest

as it seeks to destroy this hate. Nevertheless, Hunter

injects into the story a sense of lightheartedness which

is a protection for man against the despair which evil brings with it.

The Haunted Mountain

This story has a similarity of theme to Thomas

and the Warlock. What seems significantly different in

Mollie Hunter's books to other high fantasy is that the 350 force of good takes the initiative in the combat between the forces of good and evil. In both Thomas and the Warlock and The Haunted Mountain, evil only acts after it has been challenged by some incursion into its territory.

A Wizard of Earthsea The Tombs of Atuan The Farthest iihore

In all three books evil is shown to be a power of unmaking. It strives to sow chaos in Earthsea through its many forms. In A Wizard of Earthsea pride looses a black shadow which seeks to physically and mentally destroy the sinner. In The Tombs of

Atuan evil holds a young girl in bond service as its high priestess. There is more of a suggestion in this book that evil has intelligence, and, therefore, is able to direct power of hate against its enemies. In

The Farthest Shore the lust for power places man in the service of evil. Each time evil can be overcome through acknowledgement of its existence and a war of courage against it.

The Satanic Mill

This is an adaption of the Faust tale whereby a miller has sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for power. Evil is shown to be sophisticated and uncom­ promising but once again as in A Wrinkle in Time the 351

power of true love is able to destroy it.

The Nargun and the Stars

The Nargun is made of living stone and for

this creature love and hate are part of the one

emotion. To man, however, the Nargun is evil and

must be rendered harmless. Its blind rage drives

it to kill even as it loves and this is too threatening

to the existence of those capable of moral judgment.

Conclusion

In contemporary high fantasy for children the

combat between good and evil shows a great deal of

conformity from book to book. The most common aspect

of the conflict is where hate is overcome by the power

of love.

An examination of the books in this chapter

shows that:

1. Good and evil can be absolute powers seeking to

dominate the world.

2. Good and evil may be seen as human values and they

may be expressed as human love, hate, and jealousy.

3. Many writers have drawn substantially on Celtic mythology. The figures form this mythology form the

basis for the conflict between the two forces.

4. Pride, hate, and the lust for power are the three 352 most common expressions of evil in high fantasy.

5. Love, faith, and courage are the three most common expressions for good in high fantasy.

6. While evil is quick to use magic to achieve its goals, good relies more on its inherent morality, strength of purpose, and intellectual sagacity.

The combat between good and evil seems to be a firmly fixed motif in high fantasy. While authors explore different ways of presenting the conflict there seems little haste to alter the basic nature of the two forces. CHAPTER VII

CONCLUSION

Summary

It has been the purpose of this study to come to a greater understanding of contemporary high fantasy for children by analyzing in depth the nature and functions of four key motifs of this sub-genre of fantasy. These motifs are:

1. Created Worlds

2. Time Displacement

3. Quest

4. Combat between Good and Evil.

The significance of the examination is based on the rapid growth of the number of books of high fantasy in recent years. Further, the critical literature about high fantasy has been meagre in output and limited in s c o p e .

High fantasy as a term first gained general accep­ tance after It was used as the subject for the New

England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October

1969. As a sub-genre it has had a longer history. This

353 354 study sets the beginning of contemporary high fantasy for children with the publication of J.R.R.

Tolkien’s The Hobbit in 1937. Its roots, however, go much farther back and are lost in the antiquity of the folktale. There are more obvious connections between contemporary high fantasy and those fanciful tales written for children in the second half of the nineteenth century. The works of Kingsley, Carroll,

MacDonald, Kipling, Nesbit, and Barrie have directly and indirectly given contemporary authors a basis on which to establish their own works. At least one writer, C.S. Lewis, has expressed his indebtedness to the works of MacDonald and Nesbit.

While fantasy has had a history of respectable length it has suffered from a lack of critical writing.

Only since the beginning of the 1950’s have critics given serious consideration to the genre. Even so, insightful criticism has not been prolific. The writings that are available have been examined in order to extrapolate those motifs which need to be present in order to classify a story as high fantasy.

As a guide to an understanding of the concept of high fantasy the two articles which specifically mention the term were consulted. They are:

1. Eleanor Cameron, "High Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea,” Horn Book, April 1971, pp. 127T31T 356

2. Lloyd Alexander, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance," Horn Book December 1971, pp. 577-584.

These, together with the critical writings of Tolkien,

Lewis, Huck, Carter, and Higgins, suggested that high fantasy will use some or all of the four key motifs that have been examined in this study.

As high fantasy is a part of more serious fantasy

it needs one further ingredient if a book is to take Its place within the sub-genre. High fantasy assumes a seriousness of intent and this must always be present.

What Gote Klingberg has said about the fantastic tale, which he so tightly defined, is equally applicable to the more inclusive sub-genre, high fantasy. Klingberg stated that the fantastic tale is wholly logical and can be separated from nonsense fantasy, such as Dr.

Dollttle, which has no ordinary logic at all.

To ensure that books chosen for analysis were of reasonable literary quality their authors must have been recommended in one of the three following sources:

1. Charlotte Huck, Children * s Literature in the Elementary SchooTj 3rd edition, (Read in manuscript).

2. May Hill Arbuthnot and Zena Sutherland, Children and Books. 4th edition.

3. American Library Association Notable Books, 1940-1973.

From these sources twenty-three authors were selected and were represented in the study by forty-seven books. 357

This study has been divided into seven chapters.

Chapter One was devoted to stating the purpose of the study and reviewing the critical literature. Chapter

Two analyzed selected works of historical fantasy to show their importance as sources of both themes and motifs. Chapters Three through Six were devoted to an examination of the four key motifs. For the sake of highlighting the differences between the various works of high fantasy and also to offer some sequence, the books in Chapters Two through Six have been arranged chronologically by publication date. The first work cited by a given author within the chapter was used to set the sequence. Chapter Seven is devoted to the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of the study.

Conclusions

Eleanor Cameron has recently written:

Within the past decade or so... the vital genre of children's literature has come to be recognized as one whose creation, on its highest level, demands discipline, intelligence, and a special giftedness. In fact, what is now particularly recognized is its freshness, the sheer startling impudence of many of its con­ ceptions. Nothing seems beyond the con­ juring of those who write, not just for childhood, but for any of us with the juice of wonder and readiness-for-anything left in our veins.

Children's writers play outrageously with Time: combining times, folding or over­ lapping them, often threading them through 358

w £ l u philosophic implications. They shape new creatures; wittily twist history; create new myths, legends, and fairy tales; twist certain kinds of adult fiction; get inside of animals, and are those animals seriously or with laughter. The only tasks children's literature does not serve are those that demand the detailed depiction of obscene cruelty, depravity, and adventures in voyeurism.1

Of all that is wonderful in children's literature high fantasy has no superior. Other genres may equal but none surpass it for its ability to take the reader

into the unknown and then to return him to his own world with a greater understanding of the human condition.

Unlike other areas of children's literature high

fantasy breaks from the bondage of natural law and creates a logic of its own. In so doing it is free to explore the metaphysical, social, and psychological problems of man in ways not possible within a more realistic framework. Sylvia Engdahl, for instance, in Enchantress from the Stars has brought together in one place man's conceptions of the past, the present, and the future by seeing it through the perspective of different cultures of varying developments.

High fantasy owes much of its present development to the work done by the late Victorian and early

Edwardian writers of fantasy. Beginning with The Water

^Eleanor Cameron, "The Growing Adult in the Child," Psychology Today, July 1975, p. 15. 359

Babies (1863) and ending with Peter Pan (1911)

there is found in fantasy all four of the motifs used

in contemporary high fantasy. If the motifs have not been fully developed they are at least there In embryonic form.

The idea of the created world was first established by Kingsley in The Water Babies. Unfor­

tunately the separation between primary and secondary worlds is not clearly delineated and this detracts

from the onward movement of the plot. It is far more

satisfying when the two worlds have definite boundaries as in Nesbit*s stories or Barrie's Peter Pan. Action wholly within a created world came with MacDonald's

Curdie books and these anticipated such writers as

Tolkien, Garner, and McKilllp.

It did not require the knowledge of Einstien's theory of relativity for authors to attempt manipulation of both time and space. MacDonald in The Golden Key gave time a philosophic turn in discussing ideas of the regeneration of life through death. Nesbit and Kipling found no difficulty in allowing free movement of char­ acters through space and time. Nesbit in particular gave impetus to C.S. Lewis, and the techniques for move­ ment from one world to the other in The Story of the

Amulet find their echo in the Namia books. 360

Quest may be found in almost any book but In fantasy accompanying it like a squire to a knight errant, is the quality of magic. Magic helps or hinders the questor as he attempts to reach his goal but it is always present. Quest in MacDonald's books is most noticeable as the search for spiritual and even sexual fulfillment. In Nesbit*s writings quest becomes more of an adventure than a seeking after metaphysical answers, while in Peter Pan overriding the delight in the adventures is a longing for eternal childhood, a theme which Phillipa Pierce echoes in Tom* s Midnight

Garden and which Penelope Farmer takes up in The Summer

B i r d s .

The combat between good and eivl is the least fully developed motif in early fantasy but the Curdie books have more terrifying, even if not more grotesque, transformations than Tolkien, Lewis and Garner.

Contemporary high fantasy owes a considerable debt to Victorian and Edwardian fantasy for a basic framework including themes and motifs. Nevertheless it would be foolish not to recognize that other sources have had their influence. To fully identify these

sources and to estimate their influence would be the work of more specialized research than was intended for

this study. What has been identified from this study are the ways in which the four motifs have been used 361

in works of contemporary high fantasy for children.

The concept of the created, mythological, or

secondary world has been used in three different ways

by authors. Sometimes parts of the created world

have been brought into the real world as has been

observed in the writings of Alan Gamer and Susan

Cooper. There are reflections here of Charles

Kingley's The Water Babies but contemporary writers

show somewhat more expertise in their handling of

this technique. Other writers such as Tolkien,

Le Guin and McKillip place all the action within a

created world. Although this was first done by

MacDonald, the later writers offer a greater geo­

graphical and cultural variety. The third approach

is to have the real and created worlds coexisting.

C.S. Lewis, Joan Worth and Penelope Farmer all use

this technique. Lewis offers the clearest delineation between real and created worlds and follows Nesbit's model fairly closely. North takes up Platonic ideas

of reality and imitation by giving her created worlds

the accolade of reality. In fact there is more of a

sense of the mystical than the real which is further

supported by her description of these worlds in almost

psychedelic colors.

Eleanor Cameron has suggested that when linear

time is dissolved then It becomes a globe and the past. 362 present, and future achieve unity. While the concept of a globe may be an over-simplification, authors of high fantasy do restructure time so that characters can move through the dimension with a degree of fluidity. Because man is continually being pushed from the present into the future there is a fascination about being freed from the confines of time.

Writers such as Pierce, North, Farmer, and

Phipson have used time magic to give meaning to life. Each in her own way has shown that man must face his mortality and be grateful for it. Preus3ler,

Cooper, and Mayne use time to remind the reader of the spiritual mysteries that surround him. In a more simple age the supernatural was part of life's normal pattern. Modern man is ready to forget this with a sense of relief. With the forgetting also comes a lessening of his sensitivity towards life in general and these writers seem to be asking man to remain conscious to the things of the spirit. Other writers such as Boston and Chauncy use time as a way of remembering. Sometimes the memories are happy, some­ times painful, but in remembering, life is enlarged and given a focus towards the future.

Although it is perhaps trite to say that life is a quest, in fact this is what high fantasy is 363

attempting to state. The quests of life are almost

limitless but in their most embracing form they

suggest a search for the Good Life. The writers of

high fantasy have been more specific than this.

The search for spiritual growth is seen in Tolkien

and Le Guin. Social and psychological maturity are

the goal of Alexander's and Engdahl's tales while a

yearning for love is the basis of McKillip's story.

The attempt to reach back and recapture the magic of

childhood is found in The Summer Birds. This quest

is an unusual one for it is one that the questor can

never conclude.

The outward form of quest has traditionally

been of the form of the epic romance, but in high

fantasy this structure has given away to a freer

approach. With this freedom has come greater emphasis

on asking metaphysical questions. The fairy tale

ending of the woodcutter marrying the princess is

disappearing as quickly as are real world woodcutters

and princesses. High fantasy asks hard questions about modern life although the stories may be tinged with

a romantic aura as befits a child's book.

The combat between good and evil is essentially

a form of quest. It is difficult to assume that one

person's definition of good will be the same as another.

With few exceptions writers of high fantasy have avoided 364 this issue by creating absolutes of both good and evil, often labelling them with titles like the

Powers of Light or the Force of Darkness.

The lust for power accompanied by blinding pride is a common rorm of evil. Good tends to trust in its moral purpose and assumes that right must win. Writers have sometimes drawn evil with greater vividness than good which leaves the feeling that evil may be more interesting than its counter­ part. The Satanic Mill exemplifies this notion.

The Nargun and the Stars comes close to blending absolutes with human perspective, and it is possible that Wrightson may be moving in a new direction with her variation on the motif of the combat between good and evil.

An examination of motifs in contemporary high fantasy for children suggests that although its deepest roots come out of myth and the folktale its concerns are very much those of the present. By freeing himself from natural laws the author can design a framework in which he will be able to deal with philo­ sophic questions without resorting to moralizing. At the same time he will be able to project the reader into marvellous new worlds and experiences. 365

Specific Conclusions

Created Worlds

The created worlds which have emerged from

contemporary high fantasy for children have been varied but classifiable. The categories which have

emerged from the analysis of books in this chapter

a r e :

1. Worlds which are filled with creatures

and symbols from mythology, particularly Germanic,

Scandanavian, and Celtic.

2. Worlds portraying medieval or earlier

cultures in which men are susceptible to the uses

of magic and often are pitted against spiritual or

supernatural enemies.

3. Worlds which are mystical in nature either because they are extensions of the mind or because

they are representations of Platonic-like reality.

Books using these ideas tend to be complex because of the philosophical issues raised.

4. Worlds of an extra-terrestial nature.

Books developing these worlds border on the sub-genre of science fiction. They remain within high fantasy, however, either because of the absence of mechanical means of transportation or because of the perception

of certain protagonists who interpret mechanization 366

as an aspect of the supernatural.

5. Worlds of an allegorical nature which are

meant to highlight various philosophies of existence.

It is evident that many created worlds do not

fall discretely into one category. Many have elements

of two or more categories.

T i m e

There is an amazing variety of ways in which

time is manifested in children's high fantasy. The

analysis of the above books shows the following ways

in which time functions:

1. Time is a unity whereby the past, the

present, and the future are indivisible.

2. Time for man gives his life meaning.

According to the philosophy expressed in any given

book this meaning can be either positive or negative.

3. Time may change its pattern and speech

outside the boundaries of the real world. Such change may not be apparent to the characters.

4. The recreation of memory is only possible

through the existence of time, but memory gives

personality to people and places.

5. Art exists in time and through time, and

allows the past and present to unite.

6. Earthly time confines man to boundaries

when instead he should be reaching for fulfillment in a state beyond time.

7. Time may have more divisions than man

is able to distinguish.

The use of time magic in children's high fantasy would seem to owe much to at least two

ideas:

1. Man's desire to break the confines of linear time in an attempt to achieve immortality.

Even when time gives meaning to life this suggests a rationalization of time rather than a negation of

the desire to escape from time.

2. The theory of relativity has helped writers to extend their concepts about the possibilities of how time functions.

Quest

In almost any book a quest can be found if the definition of the concept is broad enough. The books analysed in this chapter contain quest as it would fit the general spirit of Auden's definition. That is:

To look has, as jreu uu jieubc.

Nevertheless, the definition still permits great varia­ tion of expression of the quest motif. Leaving aside quest as a war against evil, for this has not been

^W.H. Auden, "TheQuest Hero," Tolkien and the Critics, ed. N.D. Isaacs and Rose A. Zimbardo, (Indiana University of Notre Dame Press, 1968), p. 40. 368

included in this chapter, the following expressions of quest are present:

1. Quest can represent spiritual growth.

2. Quest can represent a search to recapture

the magic of childhood.

3. Quest can show the social and psychological development of a person as he reaches for self under­ standing, leadership, or wisdom.

4. Quest can represent a search for the meaning of the Good Life.

5. Quest can represent a battle between the material and spiritual forces of life.

6. Quest can represent a search for the understanding of the ethos of one's native land.

7. Quest can represent a search for love.

Trends in the use of the quest motif suggest that the use of the medieval quest as a framework as is found in The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Prydain are giving way to a less structured approach. With this freeing from traditional patterning there is an increase in psychological quest in its many forms.

Combat Between Good and Evil

In contemporary high fantasy for children the combat between good and evil shows a great deal of similarity from book to book. The most common 369 aspect of the conflict is where hate is overcome by the power of love.

An examination of the books in this chapter shows that:

1. Good and evil can be absolute powers seeking to dominate the world.

2. Good and evil may be seen as human values and they may be expressed as human love, hate, and jealousy.

3. Many writers have drawn substantially on Celtic mythology. The figures from this mythology form the basis for the conflict between the two forces.

4. Pride, hate, and the lust for power are the three most common expressions of evil in high fantasy.

5. Love, faith, and courage are the three most common expressions for good in high fantasy.

6. While evil is quick to use magic to achieve its goals good relies more on its inherent morality, strength of purpose, and intellectual sagacity.

The combat between good and evil seems to be a firmly fixed motif in high fantasy. While authors explore different ways of presenting the conflict there seems little haste to alter the basic nature of the two forces. 370

Recommendations

Recommendations for Literary Research

The following recommendations for use of

this material and for further research are made as

as result of this study.

1. A similar study to this one might be undertaken in other areas of children's literature

such as historical fiction and realistic fiction.

Cross comparisons between genres should reveal

interesting similarities and differences in themes

and motifs.

2. The line between high fantasy and science

fiction is a very thin one. There is a need to

identify the similarities and differences and so

establish specific criteria for identifying each of

the sub-genre.

3. Critical interviews with writers of con­

temporary high fantasy such as those undertaken by

Wintie and Fisher in The Pied Pipers should reveal what authors perceive to be the essence of high

fantasy.

4. Four motifs were investigated in this study.

The critical writing has suggested that other motifs

such as witches, talking beasts, and living toys are used in high fantasy. Research should establish to what extent they are used and how important they are 371 to the sub-genre.

3. A comparative study between children's and adult high fantasy could be undertaken to observe if changes in motif or motif bias are present from one age level to another.

6. Research could be undertaken to identify more fully the sources which influence the writer of high fantasy

Recommendations for Educational Research and Application

1. The information contained in this study should be made available to teachers in the elementary and junior high schools to increase the use of this sub-genre in the literature program.

*>. While mature readers are capable of gaining fine c: 't>.cal insight into high fantasy, empirical research should be undertaken to gain an understanding of how children react to it. Longitudinal research should show the factors affecting the developmental growth of critical understanding.

3. Most of the books of high fantasy discussed in this study have been of American or English origin.

If the writings of Wrightson, Phipson, and Preussler are any indication of the quality to be found in other

English and non-English speaking countries then there is great need to ensure that children have the opportunity 372 to be exposed to these. Librarians, teachers, and parents need to broaden their horizons in continual search for new books from other countries.

4. Children's responses to books containing the motifs of time, and the combat between good and evil should indicate their perceptions about such concepts.

5. A child's responses to the combat between good and evil within high fantasy can be interpreted in terms of moral judgment. The frameworks offered by both Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kolberg could be used to test the level of this judgment. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

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Davenport, Basil. Inquiry into Science Fiction. New York: Longmans, Green and t o ., 1955.

Egoff, S. Only Connect. Canada: Oxford University Presi"! 1969.

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Frazer, Sir James G. The Golden Bough (abridged edition). New York: Macmillan, 1958.

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Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957.

Geduld, Harry M. Sir James Barrie. New York: Twayne, 1971.

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Higgins, James E. Beyond Words. New York: Teachers College Press^ 1970.

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Jacobs, Joseph., ed. English Fairy Tales. New York: Dover Publications, 1967.

Jan, Isabelle. On Children's Literature. New York: Schocken Books, 1974.

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Poulet, Georges. Studies In Human Time. Translated by Elliott Coleman”! Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1956.

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Reis. Richard H. George MacDonald. New York: Twayne. 1972.

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Smith, James Steel. A Critical Approach to Children's Literature. New Y o r k ; . ’’■aw-Mi’ll Book Co., 1967.

Thompson, Stith. The Folktale. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, T946.

Weston, Jessie. From Ritual to Romance. New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1957.

Wintle, Justin., and Fisher, Emma. The Pled Pipers. New York: Paddington Press LtdTj 1974.

Wolff, Robert Lee. The Golden Key. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1961.

Children's Books

Alexander, Lloyd. The Black Cauldron. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1973.

. The Book Three. New York: Dell ------Publishing Co., The., 19/4“

______. The Castle of Llyr. New York: Dell

Publishing Co., Inc. 1973.

The High King. New York: Dell ------Publishing C o .,~I n c . , 1973.

Taran Wanderer. New York: Dell ----- Publishing "Co., "the., 196T.—

Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. England: Puffin Books, 1972. 376

Boston, L.M. The Children of Green Knowe. New York: Harcourt"^ Brace and W o r l d . , I n c ., 1955.

_ . An Enemy at Green Knowe. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., T964.

_ . Treasure of Green Knowe. New York: Hfiarcourt, Brace and Company, 1959.

Cameron, Eleanor, pie Court of the Stone Children. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 1974.

Carroll, Lewis. The Annotated Alice. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1972.

Chauncy, Nan. The Secret Friends. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1962.

Cooper, Susan. The Dark is Rising. London: Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1973.

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. Over Sea, Under Stone. London: Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1974. ------

Engdahl, Sylvia Louise. Enchantress from the Stars. U.S.A.: Atheneum, 1970.

Farmer, Penelope. A Castle of Bone. New York: Atheneum, 1 9 7 2

. Charlotte Sometimes. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Inc., 1969.

. The Summer Birds. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1962.

Garner, Alan. Elidor. New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1967.

. The Moon of Gomrath. New York: Henry Z. Waick, inc.ri'967':------

______. The Owl Service. New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1968.

______The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. New York: Henry Z.Walck, Inc., 1969. 377

Hunter, Mollie. The Haunted Mountain. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

______. Thomas and the Warlock. New York: Funk & Wagnalls"] 1967.

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Key, Alexander. The Forgotten Door. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1965.

Kingsley, Charles. The Water Babies. Garden City, New York: Junior Deloce Editions, 1954.

Kipling, Rudyard. Fuck of Pook's Hill. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1968.

______Rewards and Fairies. U.S.A.: Double* day, Page and Company, 1914.

Le Guin, Ursula K. pie Farthest Shore. New York: Atheneum, 197Ti

______. pie Tombs of Atuan. New York: Atheneum, 1971.

______. A Wizard of Earthsea. Berkeley, California: Parnassus Press, 1968.

L'Engle, Madeleine. A Wind in the Door. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973.

______. A Wrinkle in Time. U.S.A.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972.

Lewis, C.S. pie Horse and His Boy. New York: Collier Books, 1974.

______. The Last Battle. New York: Collier hooks, 1974.

______. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. hew York: Collier Books, T97T!

. The Magician's Nephew. New York: Co 11 iir “Books', 1973. ------

. Prince Caspian. New York: Collier Books, 1973.------378

The Silver Chair. New York: Collier Books. IV7T.------

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______. The Golden Key. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967.

______. The Princess and Curdie. New York: Macmillan, T?54.

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Mayne, William. Earthfasts. New York: E.F. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1968.

McKillip, Patricia A. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. New York: Atheneum" 1974.

Nesbit, E. Five Children and It. Great Britain: Puffin Books, 1973.

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______. The Story of the Amulet. Great feritain: Puffin Books, 1971.

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Pearce, Philippa. Tom's Midnight Garden. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1958.

Phipson, Joan. The Way Home. New York: Atheneum, 1973.

Preussler, Otfried. The Satanic Mill. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1973, (translated by Bell, Anthea)

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Wrightson, Patricia. The Nargun and the Stars. New York: Atheneum, 19747

Articles

Aers, Lesley. "The Treatment of Time in Four Children's Books," Children's Literature in Education. 2 (July 1970): 69-81.

Alexander, Lloyd. "Truth About Fantasy," Horn Book. January 1968, pp. 168-174.

Auden, W.H., "The Quest Hero," In Tolkien and the Critics, pp. 40-61. Edited by N.D. Isaacs 6 Rose A. Zimbardo. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.

Boston, Lucy. "A Message from Green Knowe," Horn B o o k . June 1963, pp. 259-264.

Buckley, Jerome, "Victorianism," In British Victorian Literature: Recent Evaluations, pp. 3-16.

Cameron, Eleanor. "The Growing Adult in the Child," Psychology Today, July 1975, pp. 13-16.

______. "High Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea.lT Horn Book, April 1971, pp. 129-138.

Carr, Marion. "Classical Hero in a New Ptythology," Horn Book. October 1971, pp. 508-513.

Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1957, ed. S.v. "Dragon."

Farmer, Penelope. "Jorinda & Jorindel," Children1s Literature in Education. 7 (March 1972): 23-37."

Fensch, Thomas, "Lewis Carroll--the First Acidhead," In Aspects of Alice, pp. 421-424. Edited by Robert Phillips. Rew York: Vanguard Press, 1971.

Gerhardt, Lillian. Review of The High King, by Lloyd Alexander, School Library Journal, 15 February, 1968, p. 86.

Heins, Paul. Review of Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper, Horn Book. August 1974, pp. 375-376.

Helson, Ravenna. "Through Pages of Children's Books," 380

Psychology Today. November 1973, pp. 107-113.

. "The Psychological Origins of Fantasy for Children in Mid-Victorian England." The Great Excluded 3 (1974): 66-76.

Holbrook, David. "The Problem of C.S. Lewis." Children's------Literature in Education 10 (March 1973):

Hooper, F. Walter. "Namia: The Author, the Critics, and the Tale," The Great Excluded 3 (1974): 12-22.

Hunter, Mollie, "Talent is Not Enough," Top of the News 31 (June 1975): 391-406.

Jago, Wendy. "A Wizard of Earthsea and the Charge of Escapism." Children's Literature in Education 8 (July 1972): 21-29.

Klingberg, Gote. "The Fantastic Tale for Children— Its Literary and Educational Problems." Bookbird 3 (1967): 13-20.

______The Fantastic Tale for Children: A Genre Study from the Viewpoints of Literary and Educational Research-] Bethesda, Md.: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, Ed 058 225, 1970.

Kolberg, Lawrence. "The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Moral Education." Phi Delta Kappan. June 1975, pp. 670-677.

Langston, Jane. "The Weak Place in the Cloth, Part II." Horn Book, December 1973, pp. 570-578.

Leach, Elsie. "Alice in Wonderland in Perspective." In Aspects of Alice, pp. 88-92. Edited by Robert Phillips. New York: Vanguard Press, 1971.

Le Guin, Ursula. "In Defense of Fantasy." Horn Book. June 1973, p. 239.

Mayne, William. "A Discussion with William Mayne." Children's Literature in Education 2 (July 1970): 48-55:------

Merla, Patrick. "What is Real? Asked the Rabbit One Day." Saturday Review; The Arts. November 1972, pp. 4 3 -5 0 ;— 1— ------381

Morris, John S. "Fantasy in a Mythless Age." The Great Exluded 2 (1973): 77-86.

Rackin, Donald. "Alice1 s Journey to the End of Night." In Aspects of Alice, pp. 391-416. Edited by Robert Phillips. Hew York: Vanguard Press, 1971.

Urang, Gunnar. "Tolkien*s Fantasy: The Phenomenology of Hope." In Shadows of Imagination, pp. 97-110. Edited by Mark R. Hillegas, U.S.A.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969.

Watkins, Tony. "Alan Gamer's Elidor." Children's Literature in Education 7 (March 1972): 56-63.

Theses

Greenlaw, Marilyn Jean. "A Study of the Impact of Technology on Human Values as Reflected in Modern Science Fiction for Children." Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1970.

Mac Ivor, A.N. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." M.A. thesis, The Ohio State University, 1973.

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