There are a few things that crossed my mind while I was reading. As we discussed in class the power of the queen's portrait as well as Ash being Lissar's identity.
I find it interesting how the evil nature of the queen is not quite evident until the portrait is all that is left of her. There are a few things that would lead a reader to believe that the queen is evil; however, if that reader is not familiar with fairy-tales, they would probably not pick up on those few things. Once the painting is what is focused on in terms of the queen is very clear that there is some sort of evil surrounding the portrait and in turn the subject of the portrait.
Ash, in the book, seems to be the only thing keeping the princess alive. Ash is the one that keeps her sane when she enters into rooms full of people as well as the one that comforts her in her room. I find it interesting to think that Ash is also (in a round about way) the reason for Lissar's father noticing that she is becoming a young lady. Without Ash, Lissar never would have found it necessary to assert herself and ask for different quarters on the ground floor; and I find it reasonable to assume that without Ash, she would have stayed in her chambers and been even more shy and withdrawn than she is. I'm not sure if that connection means anything but it entered into my thoughts and I figured I'd put it out there for any comments.
Lastly, I had to keep reminding myself that this story takes place in a made up place and a made up time. Many things that are talked about are very fairy-tale oriented, but there are also many things that remind me of the historical royal families in the world that we live in. It took quite a bit for me to keep in my mind the fact that this story is not taking place in some historical setting. I think it finally set in for me when the courtiers were displeased with the fact that King wanted to marry his daughter. Monarchies often had that situation and it was frowned upon not to keep marriages in the family, so reading about how horrible everyone (except the King) thought that this arrangement was finally allowed me to crystallize the make believe setting of this story.
I thought it was interesting that you brought up the fact that you think the deceased Queen is evil. This did not register for me while I was reading. I believe Lissar just wants to keep away from anything that has to do with her mother. She knows how everyone fell at her feet because of her beauty and I almost feel like Lissar thinks she can not compare and thus wants to stride away from things that compare her to her mother. On another issue, I agree with you when it comes to Ash. The dog very much so keeps Lissar sane and wanting to live on to another day. Ash has been by Lissar's side through everything and Lissar recognizes this and then realizes Ash is her only true friend. Again, I did not think about the possibility of Ash also being the reason the King saw Lissar in another light. It is true that Lissar became more outspoken when she had to take care of Ash and I believe she would have stayed in her original room if she did not have the dog. You brought about some very good points and I enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion. When we draw the connection between Lissar's assertiveness due to Ash and the King's notice of her, there's the danger to argue that Ash is somehow responsible for the horrors of the King's brutality towards his daughter. Instead, think of McKinley as showing how (within traditional fairytale logic) women's assertiveness is usually punished, but that one can refuse to be part of this system as Lissar leaves the kingdom and then gives all her pain back to her father.
ReplyDelete