In this tail (lol), each character desires something uncommon-- "light" (either literally or figuratively). Masterfully, their stories are woven together by DiCamillo and their lives intertwine as the action unfolds. One, with a pure heart, intelligence, and a voice who encourages him, is able to live his dream-- his desire comes true. Another, with a "crooked" heart and intelligence but with a voice who leads him astray, attempts to live his dream, but his plan is evil. Since his heart is crooked and he has been lead astray, his dream is thwarted. (Thank goodness!) And, yet another character, with little intelligence and no one who believes in her, can not live her dream either. In DiCamillo's traditional tale, good triumphs over evil and kindness saves them all.
As I finished The Tale of Despereaux last night, my first instinct was to pick up the next book on my list so I could get it started and finished a little sooner. But, my mind (and heart) said, "no!" I needed to think this book over and spend a little longer relishing it.
After only a few short chapters, I was hooked by DiCamillo's writing style in Despereaux. As she addressed me!--"the Reader," I couldn't wait to keep reading. I wanted to see how she was going to pull me in again. She actually compelled me to look up perfidy in the dictionary even though I had a pretty good idea what the word meant. With simple but descriptive events and dialogue, I knew the characters-- Despereaux's mother, the over-dramatic, self-absorbed, and silly mouse. Despereaux's individuality-- the mouse who was born with his eyes open.
I love how DiCamillo told each character's story individually at first. I knew that the characters' fates were intertwined but knowing each characters' back story helped to make each one a well-developed, sympathetic character. While Roscuro's plan was diabolical, I felt for him because he had his heart broken and fate had conspired to ruin his dream. He could not enjoy the light because he had unintentionally caused the queen's death. He was ruined by that broken heart and Botticelli.
Character development is one area where Despereaux differs from many traditional tales. Generally, characters are flat and stereo-typical in traditional tales. But, DiCamillo's main characters were well-developed. Despereaux loved to read, refused to conform to his society, showed bravery but also moments of weakness and terror in the face of great difficulty, and dared to follow his dream. Through the events DiCamillo described and the well-developed characters' complex actions and emotions, I was led to really consider what her message was. In the end, I think she is saying that it is best to be your own person but that you must have bravery, intelligence, encouragement, kindness, and daring for your dream to come true.
4 comments:
You said, "it is best to be your own person but that you must have bravery, intelligence, encouragement, kindness, and daring for your dream to come true."
What a great summary of the major moral in the book. It really took all of those for Despereaux, Roscuro, Mig, & the Pea to get their dreams, each linked together. Who knew soup was the great uniter of all creatures? I also pitied Roscuro while hating him, yet understanding his motivation. Still, I was not sure at the end that I liked him sitting at the table with the king, Pea, and Despereaux. I have mixed emotions about that.
I was hooked from the beginning as well. I loved the convention of addressing the reader. I also, found the characters delightful. Each one had its own distinctive personality that jumped off of the page at you. The other thing that amazed me was how different this book is from Because of Winn Dixie. It is almost as if they could have been written by two different authors.
I agree that DiCamillo did an outstanding job of developing the characters. She added depth and personality to each character, thus enabling the reader to understand the motivations of the characters. I also appeciated how DiCamillo introduced each character seperately before intertwining their stories. It provided a nice story progression. The plot continued to build from the back stories of each character. DiCamillo did move away from the stereotypical depictions of characters that often dominate fairy tales. This decision on the part of the author added dimension and complexity to the story.
I also disliked poor Despereaux's mother. Actually his entire family let me down. It was interesting how Dicamillo addressed the reader directly. It took me some time to get used to it, but as the pages flew by I found myself anticipating what she would point out next. These would be great discussion questions for students.
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