This section contains 438 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
The Fledgling is a commentary on the American transcendentalists, a fantasy, and an animal story. By mixing these traditions with suspense and comedy, Langton has produced a highly original novel.
A fantasy presents a believable, logical world different from the world of everyday experience. In Langton's fantasy world, Georgie is able to fly and to talk with animals; otherwise, the world is a realistic one with certain aspects of it exaggerated for comic effect. Flying and communicating with animals recur frequently in mythology and in contemporary works. Randall Jarrell uses flight as a metaphor for freedom in Fly by Night (1976), and A. A. Milne uses talking to animals as a metaphor for unity with nature in Winnie-the-Pooh (1926).
Georgie is initiated into this freedom and unity in The Fledgling by the Goose Prince's teaching her to fly and leaving her the rubber ball. She also is initiated...
This section contains 438 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |