The Castle in the Attic: Difference between revisions

** There is no [[Belly of the Whale]], unless you consider William having been shrunk and leaving his world behind to be a form of death, but he certainly has the Road of Trials--see [[The Three Trials]], wherein he encounters [[Trickster Archetype|The Shapeshifter]] (Dick, [[Baleful Polymorph|against his will]]), the [[Leave Your Quest Test]] (literally in the form of the forest’s temptations, but a number of people try to convince him not to face the wizard), and in the castle itself, the Goddess in the form of Calendar (as [[The Hecate Sisters|the Crone]]).

** Night Sea Voyage: William has to get into the castle not only to defeat the Big Bad and save Simon, but to retrieve the token which will set him {{spoiler|and Mrs. Phillips}} free.

** Apotheosis: William comes to realize his smallness is not a weakness, and that despite his gentleness and kindness he is [[An Aesop|“a squire with the heart and soul of a knight”]], partly due to the chivalry Mrs. Phillips taught him but also due to his innate worth and goodness. Realizing this and believing in himself enables him to win by outwitting the wizard, turning his seemingly loyal handmaiden against him through [[The Power of Love]], and then conquering him with his own magic. The only ‘sacrifice’ as such he makes is when he dares to look in the mirror, only to have the above apotheosis proven to him. It was all a [[Secret Test of Character]].

** [[I Choose to Stay|Refusal of the Return]] / The Return: Subverted. While he is asked to stay, could even become a squire and then a lord with his own squire, William refuses, instead being eager to go home and doing so, both to help {{spoiler|Mrs. Phillips}} and because of what he has learned about himself. His subsequent return is then peaceful and uneventful due to the destruction of the evil magic.

* [[Double-Speak]]: In the sequel, to continue hiding [[The Masquerade]] from his dad:

{{quote|'''Mr. Lawrence''': Where’s that one knight you used to have?

'''William''': Yes. With [[Pun|a little help]] from a friend. }}

* [[Foreign Queasine]]: Averted. In the first book, everything at the feast (except possibly the boar’s head and squirrel stew, and even those might be better than they sound) seems quite delicious. And in the second book, while Jason isn’t sure at first, William finds he can eat everything and enjoy it as long as he “didn’t know what it was”.

[[Category:Children's Literature]]

[[Category:The Castle in the Attic]]