Fantasy
Stories with elements that violate
the natural, physical laws
of our known world.
• Traditional fantasy
– Oral tradition (myths, legends, folk stories, tall tales, etc.)
• Modern fantasy
– Written. Stories where we know the author (literary fairy
tales, fantasy novels, fantasy picture books, etc.)
The rules
• Fantastic elements cannot be employed casually
• Authors not only create a new set of physical laws but they
must then conform unerringly to them.
Once committed to his imaginary kingdom, the writer is not
a monarch but a subject. Characters must appear plausible
in their own setting, and the writer must go along with the
inner logic. Happenings should have logical implications.
Details should be tested for consistency. Shall animals
speak? If so, do all animals speak? If not, then which, and
how? Is it essential to the story, or lamely cute? Are there
enchantments? How powerful? If an enchanter can
perform such-and-such, can he not also do so-and-so?
(Lloyd Alexander)
Not just make believe
• Critics hold this genre to the same basic critical
standards as they do other genres. For instance,
modern fantasy must have strong, believable
characters and should examine issues of the
human condition, the universal truths found
in all well-written books.
Fantasy isn’t nonsense
Nonsense
Unconventional
Fantasy
• It contradicts rules of • It is unusual. Not
• Not possible in the
logic. It doesn’t make normal. This may be
world as we know it.
logical sense.
odd or strange, but it
But it follows rules
may still be
within the limits of
• It can make fun of
reasonable.
the fantasy world the
conventional
author has created.
behavior.
• When literature
• It can help readers
understand the
difference between
what is sensible and
not sensible in the
real world.
breaks conventions, • Fantasies provide
it helps us to rethink
metaphors through
what we thought was which we can
normal.
examine aspects of
life from a different
perspective.
Some categories
• Talking Animals: The fact that animals can talk is the main
difference from reality.
• Toys and objects that come alive
• Tiny humans: people are small. Things happen in miniature.
• Imaginary worlds: Sometimes people cross between worlds and
sometimes the whole story is in an imaginary world.
• Magical powers: People (or one person) can do magic
• Supernatural tales: sometimes spooky
• Time-warp fantasies: Time travel or somehow crossing time
• High fantasy: Clear battle between good and evil
Six Fantasy Motifs
Even though all modern fantasy stories contain some sort of
magical element, some stories have a higher fantasy quotient than
others. If a story contains all six, it is either a classic fairy tale or an
example of modern high fantasy. However, if a story contains only
the motif of magic, a necessary ingredient, it is still classified as
fantasy literature.
1. Magic
2. Other worlds
3. Good verses evil
4. Heroism
5. Special characters
6. Fantastic objects
1. Magic. Magic is fantasy literature's most basic element. In fact,
each of the other five motifs is tinged by magic to some degree.
Magic is often a part of the setting, explaining otherwise
inexplicable events. In Charlotte’s Web, magic is the only one of
the six motifs to appear in the book (the ability of the animals to
think and speak like humans).
2. Other worlds (secondary worlds). In much of fantasy, a special
geography or universe is established, a place wherein magic may
freely operate. Sometimes, the whole story is in the secondary
world, and sometimes characters move in and out of it.
3. Good versus evil. The ancient, archetypal theme of good versus
evil is the basis for much fantasy. Fantasies can show how good
and evil works out in individuals. It’s usually easy to tell who is
good and who is bad.
4. Heroism. The hero's quest is an age-old pattern that is the
backbone of many of today's fantasy stories. This "hero's round"
is a circular journey, ending where it began. It’s most common
structure contains six elements.
5. Special character types. These often come from our
legendary/folk literature past: fairies, pixies, giants, wicked
witches, ogres, vampires, wizards, dwarves, elves, and so on. Or
new characters, like playing card people and grinning cats.
6. Fantastic objects. Characters often employ magical props in
accomplishing their heroic or evil deeds: magic cloaks, swords,
staffs, cauldrons, mirrors, etc.
Hero Quest Pattern
Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Monomyth)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Special birth (Danger, orphan, royalty, thought dead)
leaves home and lives with others
A traumatic event leads to adventure. A herald calls hero to adventure
Cross from security into danger.
Faces many trials. Proves self again and again. Faces self.
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
The hero has a unique weapon. It only works for him
helped by supernatural forces. Protective figure. Mentor.
Death & resurrection. The Journey into hell, Unhealable Wound, scar,
Atones for sins of the father
Hero matures becoming a “whole person.”
Return home, but both home may be changed
The Value of Fantasy
• No genre better fosters creativity than fantasy. Allows for the
imagination to create and extend metaphors in a safe (fantasy)
place.
• Children who have rich fantasy lives are less likely to be violent
than children with low fantasy lives (Biblow 1973). Children
with rich fantasy lives responded to violent films with much less
aggressiveness than children with low fantasy lives. More likely
to be verbally, than physically aggressive. More structured and
creative responses.
• All the advances in science would not be possible without the
capacity to imagine.
• Fantasy leads to the ability to imagine possibilities and to
organize and structure reality.
Fantasy as Metaphor
• Some people dismiss all fantasy as meaningless. It is
simply too fanciful for those who want reading for
young people to be grounded firmly in reality. Yet
these adults miss the point that good fantasy actually
tells the truth about life. It clarifies the human
condition and captures the essence of our deepest
emotions, dreams, hopes, and fears. If fantasy does not
do these things, it fails.
• Fantasy casts light on the realities of life much as a
metaphor illustrates truth in general communication.
• In its broad definition, metaphor is figurative language
and strengthens writing in at least three ways:
Fantasy as Metaphor cont.
1. Metaphor speeds understanding.
2. Metaphor creates interest.
3. Metaphor adds emotional appeal.
•
•
•
Yet metaphor is more than the sum of these parts. It simply involves the
reader more with the story or message, allowing for quicker learning, more
precise understanding, and longer retention because of the image.
Fantasy, which is a large, worked-out metaphor, illuminates the truths
about life in the same way.
Children can read directly about friendship, sacrifice, selfishness, the fear of
death, and death itself, but the insight is somehow more meaningful when
shown metaphorically through the lives of Wilbur the pig, Templeton the rat,
and Charlotte the spider in Charlotte’s Web.
And the case of Rainbow Fish
 Condescend = to look down on
(n: condescension)
 Didactic = oriented toward teaching
(n: didacticism)

Adult authors often condescend to child
readers (they look down on their readers)




Implies that the writer/narrator knows better than
the reader.
The story implies that that to read correctly, readers
will accept all words unquestioningly from the
writer/narrator.
Treats readers as inferior.
The voice of the narrator may sound like a teacher,
or parent talking to someone much younger who has
trouble understanding.

What is children’s literature for?



To delight? To be enjoyed? OR
To instruct? To teach? To help people learn?
Being didactic


When the main point is to teach a lesson rather than
to tell a story.
Writers focus on making their views work out more
than making the story consistent and developed.

Think about the narrative tone.
Is it didactic?
 Is it condescending?


What do you think came first in the
author’s mind?


Tell a good and interesting story.
Tell a story to teach a lesson.




What is the story about?
Is the tone condescending?
Is the purpose of the story to teach a lesson? (Is
it didactic?)
What else is the story about?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What do you think about the little fish that
asked for a scale? Is that appropriate?
Should that little fish have told everyone what
Rainbow Fish refused his request?
What did Rainbow Fish have to do to make
friends?
How did giving away the scales affect Rainbow
Fish’s identity?
What does this story imply about individual
differences?