Here you'll find the readings and reflections of an 8th grade reading teacher. I agree with Taylor Mali - If I'm going to change the world, it'll be one eighth grader at a time.
This story (which according to Goodreads is the first in a series) is about an ordinary boy who has accepted his ordinary-ness, but is actually a hero waiting to, I don't know, burst out of his awkward shell. As with most archetypal heroes, Alfred grows up away from his parents; his mother died before he was a teenager and he never knew his father. He lives with his uncle at the beginning of the story, an uncle who's opportunistic nature is what sends Alfred on his journey.
I usually love stories that follow the archetype of the hero journey, and I usually love Arthurian legend, but this updating of Arthur's story didn't really draw me in. I'm still trying to figure out what it was that didn't make me jump up and down and go yay! like I do with most Arthurian stories. I'd prefer The Squire's Tale or Here Lies Arthur, or my favorite, The Mists of Avalon any day.
The third question (yes, I realize I skipped the second) asks about our impressions of the novel from a patriarchal standpoint. And my response is as follows:
If we consider patriarchal to be where "women are seen as passive and 'simple' creatures who need men to protect them" (see previous post), then Morris's THE SQUIRE'S TALE is not patriarchal.
Consider the women of the novel individually: the Very Ugly Woman (Lady Lorie), Morgan, Lady Alisoun, Lady Ettard, Nimue, and Morgause.
Lady Lorie—She is the catalyst that truly begins Sir Gawain’s quest. By guiding the hart and hound through the feast at Camelot, and challenging Sir Gawain verbally, it is her appearance (in the physical location) that is the initiating event in the cycle of the hero’s journey. She reappears at the end to challenge Gawain once again, allowing him to prove himself. At no point do we see her as passive and solely in need of rescue.
Morgan—When Morgan le Fay first appears in THE SQUIRE’S TALE, she appears to Terence as a serpent. As an archetype, the serpent is representative of evil, most often associated with an allusion to Genesis and the snake that tempted Eve. We find out from Sir Marhault that Morgan is a temptress, being the woman who encouraged Marhault to boast about his abilities, which ended up getting him cursed. To Gawain, she appears to offer guidance, which Gawain has been forewarned to heed.
Lady Alisoun—This female character is nicknamed “The Bloodthirsty,” which is an interesting way to introduce a character of the female sex. Where she might be the first of the three to be considered particularly dainty, it turns out that Lady Alisoun has a penchant for the grotesque and becomes bored when Gawain won’t indulge her appetites. It seems that Alisoun doesn’t need a man to save her, but she does need one to keep her in dead bodies, whether it be of others, or of the knights she’s with, themselves.
Lady Ettard—She runs a castle, which probably rules over a portion of the land, without a man to sit behind. She and Pelleas have a symbiotic relationship: he needs to be insulted by the woman he loves, and she needs to be the one in control. Not characteristic of a damsel in distress.
Nimue—She is the Lady of the Lake. The Lady of the Lake, in some legends, is the person who granted Arthur the sword Excalibur. In THE SQUIRE’S TALE, is the messenger who tells Gawain he’s not yet finished with Pelleas and Ettard, and one who almost botches the reparation of that relatioship. Legend has it that Nimue is the character that the Merlin was in love with, and she sealed him in a cave. While this is not explicitly said, familiarity with the legend lends itself to that inference given the statement made by Kai that "[Merlin] announced one day that he’d done here, and he was off to take his rest. He walked out of the gates and met a lady—a faery beauty if I know anything—on a white horse. They rode away together" (Morris, 1998, 192).
Morgause—She is a controlling woman, sending her husband off to war against Arthur only to be killed. She is known as “The Enchantress,” whose sole purpose is to unseat all of the kings and princes and take over rule of the land.
All of the women in THE SQUIRE’S TALE are neither passive nor simple in the parts they play in the story. Indeed, many of the women seem to have their own agenda to fulfill and see about using the other characters to do so. By the definition given, I cannot support the idea that this particular story is patriarchal or masochistic in nature. Because the main characters are male and the story follows the exploits of these men is not enough reason to give it that label.
Morris, G. (1998). THE SQUIRE'S TALE. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
The discussion prompt asked for our favorite character in Gerald Morris's The Squire's Tale. Here is my response.
As much as Morgaine, or Morgan le Fay, is usually my favorite character when it comes to Arthurian Legend, in THE SQUIRE'S TALE, my favorite is Terence. It is Terence's extreme loyalty to the character with whom he finds himself bound, that draws my attention to him. An admirable quality in any friend.
Terence shows his loyalty through his actions. When Gawain asks the boy to be his squire, "Terence [looks] hesitantly at the hermit" (Morris, 1998, p. 11), reluctant to leave Trevisant, the man who raised him, alone to fend for himself without a memory. And it isn't without tears that Terence leaves Trevisant behind.
Terence's loyalty to Gawain is shown in deeds throughout the novel, the first of which is professing the story of Sir Hartubris's defeat to Arthur, though Gawain had no intention of doing so. As soon as Terence spoke, "he immediately knew he had made a terrible social error...and Terence realized that none of the other squires in the room had spoken a word" (Morris, 1998, p. 32). But his motive for speaking was noble: to help Gawain become a knight of the Round Table.
Terence's confidence in his ability to be open with Sir Gawain is further example of Terence's loyalty. To be bold enough to say to Gawain, "No, milord...I think we should go that way," (Morris, 1998, p.154), shows not only the nature of the relationship between knight and squire, but also that Terence would not let Gawain head off in the wrong direction.
Finally, Terence shows his loyalty to Gawain once Terence has completed his own quest--that of finding the identity of his parents. Robin, Terence's guide, offers Terence a place in the Other World on behalf of Terence's father, Ganscotter. When Robin indicates that Terence must go alone, leaving Gawain behind, Terence chooses to stay with Gawain and return to Camelot.
It is not easy to find loyal friends--so many people have their own agendas that cause manipulation, or a relationship that is less than symbiotic. With Terence, his own agenda isn't secondary, but his loyalty to his friends takes precedence.
Morris, G. (1998). The Squire's Tale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
The Squire's Tale by is the first of the novels I've read for my ENGL 363 course. First step on my way to an endorsement in Library Science.
What I'll try to do this summer (or at least for the first five weeks) is post here the responses I post to questions raised in my class. Additionally, I'll give comments on some of the things my classmates (no names, of course) discuss that I didn't previously think of.
Before I begin, however, I want to talk a little about novel. The Squire's Tale is the first in a series by the same name by Gerald Morris. This particular installment follows Terence, Sir Gawain's squire, on his adventurous search for his identity. Did I mention that I love Arthurian Legend?
Much like many stories based on legend, The Squire's Tale fits the archetype of the hero journey. It's common knowledge around here that I absolutely love the hero journey. It's a way of making a story make sense to those who need it laid out in a set of labels. I believe I began my discussion of the hero journey last summer when my Book Buddy suggested I read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (the fifth of which I'll be talking about here in the near future).
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey
