The secular angel in contemporary children's literature: David ...

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look at evolution, God, and the world. They hold what are so often conflicting views together, which for some would be both challenging and dangerous” (Stewart, 2009, 315). While Michael’s transformation is based on character development through the means of an emergent and growing sense of identity and progress, Mina’s identity and defining characteristics have not been transformed, but simply reaffirmed and fortified. Raynolds states the following: [Magic(al) realist texts] work on the willingness to believe that there is more to the world than we can comprehend with our sense and intellects, and so subvert and override epistemological certainties. Like the Romantics, magic(al) realist writers see the capacity for intellectual openness as being accessed by the imagination. (Reynolds, 2007, 20) What Reynolds suggests is exactly what Mina is trying to make Michael understand when she tells him of William Blake (a Romantic writer), of how we were once apes, or the fact that our shoulder blades once carried our wings. While Michael’s baby sister is being operated on, he is sitting with Mina out in the garden waiting for his father to return home from the hospital. While he is desperately trying to make sense of everything happening in his life he asks Mina what Skellig is. Mina’s reply is definitive: ‘We can’t know. Sometimes we just have to accept there are things we can’t know. Why is your sister ill? Why did my father die?’ She held my hand. ‘Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can’t. We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine’. (Almond, 2007, 131) This ability to transcend the epistemological or scientific is ultimately achieved by Michael, first when he sees the faint glow of the baby’s wings on her back, and eventually when he 92
witnesses the wings on his own back and on Mina’s. At that moment, his transformation can be said to be complete; he does not question the implausibility of what he is seeing, but rather accepts it and marvels at his own evolution and transcendent reality. Conclusion The entire book can be described as a process, one that has a beginning and an end, both of which are clearly outlined and beautifully symbolized. Throughout this process, it is not only the characters that experience transition and change, but the entire world around them. The change of season is used in the representation and reflection of this process, but, most importantly, it is used to engender the transformation in Michael. Michael begins recounting his tale by describing how he and his family moved into Falconer Road when winter was ending; this was also the day he saw Skellig for the first time. A change of season is always a turning point and is often symbolic of fluctuating circumstances that need to be resolved; as the change occurs in nature, it is often suggested that it greatly affects people both consciously and unconsciously, physically and psychologically. Almond offers an abundance of references to nature, which are not always immediate or clear, and are often accompanied by the verses of William Blake. Michael’s very first words in the novel are very revealing, and even prophetic. “I found him in the garage on a Sunday afternoon. It was the day after we moved into Falconer Road. The winter was ending. Mum said we’d be moving just in time for the spring” (Almond, 2007, 1). Therefore, the story takes place during a transitional period, winter’s last breaths. Michael’s house is also in the process of changing and getting ready for spring, a new and better life; and by the end of the novel, after Michael’s father has worked hard to improve their quality of life within the house, the wilderness has begun its transformation towards becoming a garden, and the house is changing into a home. The baby 93
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THE SECULAR ANGEL IN CONTEMPORARY C
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ABSTRACT This thesis explores the r
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I believe this thes
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Faith vs. Science & Innocence vs. E
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INTRODUCTION This thesis explores t
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to one’s morality based on the et
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part-angel, part-human, and through
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subject of angels, is indicative of
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the Book of Enoch (or 1 Enoch) and
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God with the scientific notion of D
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(Keck, 1998, 69). McNish’s angels
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your small existences?’ ‘But yo
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1980, 7). In order to grasp Blake a
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and, in the final analysis, its som
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was the strongest and kindest of al
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This reference to Blake points to o
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deconstruction-, its function “is
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childhood. Almond has mainly used d
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argument, and the heroes of the sto
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act of killing God, to the slow sec
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mentioned, the intertextual element
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meaning of words” (Allen, 2000, 3
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Transformation Transformation is a
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narrative the process is set into m
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Page 53 and 54: CHAPTER ONE DAVID ALMOND’S SKELLI
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Page 61 and 62: Blake & Intertextuality William Bla
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Page 99: in Almond and McNish’s work, as b
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Page 107 and 108: concepts. As a result, the Fall’s
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Page 113 and 114: Roger, true fear and loneliness ove
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Page 119 and 120: driven by malevolence and revenge.
Page 121 and 122: have to be considered as they are d
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Page 133 and 134: work of the General Oblation Board
Page 135 and 136: Especially in the case of Asriel, h
Page 137 and 138: Lyra finds Dr. Mary Malone, a scien
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Page 143 and 144: homosexuality to child readers as p
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however, could be intentional on th
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‘I propose to send a man to find
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substitution of this erroneous fait
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come after death. In this way, Pull
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towards adulthood is not always rel
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Pullman parallels childhood and inn
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double significance. In Lyra’s ca
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Instead, he seems to willingly and
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and its innocence, as well as the s
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eligious views myself, and therefor
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The issue of intertextuality is not
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style: shining, fully-robed, [their
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fails to pass the first time. Freya
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McNish appears to harbour the idea
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species closer together to the poin
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this point, it is important to atte
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guardian angels was as conscious as
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has created his own moral code and
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where Luke and Tate are standing in
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2011, 100). He writes that the Jewi
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with this everlasting feeling of de
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to assist and comfort each other. W
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Faith vs. Science and Innocence vs.
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education, and social structures wh
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in angels is not out of the convict
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McNish’s portrayal of innocence a
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All this changes when Freya first m
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enters a state of experience which
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The debate between state-school edu
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or strict, he also draws attention
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following peer victimization” (Tr
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Stephanie feel accepted and more se
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house. Furthermore, he has also had
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Stephanie wants to become her frien
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called from the window. ‘It’s n
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elationship with Stephanie and its
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This he exemplifies both in Mestraa
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thesis, however, it was argued and
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increasingly accurate perceptions o
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interesting things” (Franks, 2011
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strength of the book, and I made ea
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225
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227
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Anonymous, “A Dark Agenda?” Sur
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Bleich, D. (1978) Subjective Critic
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Chambers, A. (1985) Booktalk: Occas
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Damon, S.F., Eaves, M. (1988) A Bla
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Fairer, D. (2002) “Experience Rea
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Gibbs, N. (1993) “Angels Among Us
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Hunt, P. (1994) An Introduction to
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Kochenderfer-Ladd, B., Troop-Gordon
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Manlove, C. (1999) The Fantasy Lite
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Mishna, F., Scarcello, I., Pepler,
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Pfeiffer, J. (1999) “‘Dream not
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Rosenblatt, L. M. (1982) “The Lit
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Squires, C. (2004) Philip Pullman
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Warner, N.O. (1982) “The Iconic M
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Yampbell, C. (2005) “Judging a Bo
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