Adolescent Fiction: Sybel's Quest

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Sybel's Quest

Sybel’s Quest

By: Nate Reichter

After reading Patricia McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld I want to look more into depth at Sybel’s quest in finding herself. Throughout the book we watch Sybel develop as a person, we see Sybel go through some rough patches and also see Sybel pick herself up. I think as readers we relate to Sybel’s difficulties and know there is no single person who is perfect. Everyone is going to make mistakes; it is how we learn from these mistakes to better ourselves as individuals. In Sharon Black’s article The Magic of Harry Potter: Symbols and Heroes of Fantasy, Campbell makes a connection between Harry Potter and the younger reader Kallie. Campbell suggests as Kallie watches Harry develop as a person she will see Harry struggle and make mistakes, in which at some point she will relate this to her own life. Campbell also suggests that along with struggles there will be many successes that many of the readers will also relate to. As readers we can connect Campbell’s thoughts to our main character Sybel’s development.

In the beginning of Sybel’s development we see that Sybel lives solely with her animals, is completely apart from all human society, and has almost animal like innocence. She can either be compassionate or nasty to protect her territory or any of her animals. This all changes from the day Sybel meets Coren and keeps Tamlorn, till the day when Coren returns for Tamlorn. Once Tamlorn is taken from Sybel, we notice a cycle of darkness and digression in Sybel’s development. In this cycle of darkness she has an unbelievable sense of hatred, deceitfulness and has an ever wanting desire for power. As the book advances we notice Sybel’s progression in her development. We see Sybel’s improvements from in her ability to love and have relationships. From these relationships Sybel is able to truly find herself as a person and be at one. By finding herself as a person she has found the thing she has most wanted in her life the Liralen.

Throughout Sybel’s quest to find herself we can see the direct correlation between Campbell’s thoughts and Sybel’s development as a character. Campbell points out as readers we relate to characters struggles and triumphs. This idea of Campbell’s connects to the book The Forgotten Beasts of Eld through Sybel being able to overcome her cycle of darkness and reaching her goal of the Liralen.

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Post #9 Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (due MONDAY, 4/30 by class time)

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup explores a number of themes, among them grief, identity, coming of age (Bildungsroman), friendship, love, and others. Kevin, our adolescent narrator, shares his story with us as a poetic narrative which includes poems written in conventional forms and free-form poems. Choose one theme which the book develops, and show its development through the text. As you do so, be sure to consider and articulate how the book's structure (as poems) affects whatever theme you discuss.

Post #7 Warriors Don't Cry (due Sunday 4/15 by 8 pm)

Choices for responses:

1. The title of this text refers to warriors. How are the characters warriors? Are you comfortable with that depiction? Why or why not? Be sure to offer specific description as you explore characterization.

2. While it could certainly be argued that the author of our last novel does place himself in the text, that book is fiction. This text is not; rather, it's a memoir. How does knowing that the book is non-fiction shape your reading of it? Does it cause you to respond differently? If so, how? If not, why not? Consider characters, events, and the historical context carefully as you respond.

Post #6 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (due Sunday, 3/25 by 8 pm)

Post #5 Annie on My Mind (part 2) due Sun 3/11 by 8 pm

You have several different options for your response:

1. How is social transgression framed and treated in the novel? Do you as a reader find that the characters are affirmed or punished for stepping outside of social conventions?

2. We've talked a bit about parallel spaces in texts, spaces in which characters encounter very different experiences. After reading this novel, can we argue that those parallel spaces never intersect? What function might those separate (or not so separate) spaces serve?

3. The story is written in the epistolary (letter writing) tradition. How does that framing affect your reading? Your interaction with characters? Your response?

Post #3 Due by Monday's class (2/20)

For this post, you have three options:

1. Respond to some theme you identify in the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the book.

2. Apply the article's claims to the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the article and the book.

3. Examine the novel as science fiction. How is it both utopic and dystopic in its function? What might it be warning us as a society against? Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the text.

Post #1 Due by Thursday's class (1/26)

Ellen Raskin's novel The Westing Game is a detective novel, yes, but we can tease out many themes as we examine the text. A few we introduced and explored briefly in class today:

the Cinderella effect

the roles of women

identity construction

gaming and strategy

trust (as it relates to other themes or on its own)

oppressive/repressive (think Trites) parents

Choose from a theme on this list or choose a theme you've noted in the text, and write about the way the theme is introduced and developed through the novel. As you show how the theme works throughout the book, be sure to offer specific examples to support your ideas.