KidLit Forum

TROLL BRIDGE
by Neil Gaiman
Low fantasy elements (non-rational events occuring in a rational setting):
- the mentioning of the existance of haunted houses, ghosts, witches ,, hungry and flapping and dressed completely in black,,
- the coloured rocks: brown, purple, black = first they are terrific rocks but in the end they are covered with mud
- the whole path that seems to be a dream that needs to be interpreted:
- bridge = turning point in his life (events that had happened), stepping stone, the place where he can have flash-backs of the future (all the things he hasn’t done yet)
- wooden gate
- ,, I was nowhere’’ (it happens in dreams when you don’t know where you are )
- ‘The meadow on my side was a wheat field
- ‘My bare feet were soundless’ – still the troll hears his steps: “I heard you Jack. I heard your trip-trapping over my bridge”.
- the troll = why a troll? - because in fantasy the inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme.
- fractures in time = the 3 ,, attemps,, to get to the bridge

THE PATH
“It was perfectly straight”
“It travelled in a straight line, and was perfectly flat”
“My path was always flat and straight”

First the path (that is always flat and straight) is refered to as it, then it is refered to as my path (the same happens to the bridge too, that in the end it becomes ‘my bridge’)
His path = his lifetime, he continuously comes back to the bridge as it is his path = his fate
“The meadow on my side was a wheat field; the other was just grass” – in terms of dream interpretation (if we still consider the path as a dream) it can suggest an encouraging life if he follows that path while the mud that paved the top of the bridge can refer to frustration, a weighed down feeling by a situation, problem, or relationship (this can be associated to the unshared teenage love “I fell for her like a suicide from a bridge”)
3 “attempts ” to get to the bridge:
1. driven by curiosity: 7 years old (when the wood seemed to be a fairyland) – the path is discovered
2. driven by adventure: 15 years old; together with Louise
3. driven by nostalgia: he calls for the troll
The landscape – and in the same time the atmosphere – changes too:
1. nature, a few houses
2. more houses ,”sodium yellow streetlights”
3. cars, graffiti painted, icecream wrappers, crisps packages, condoms
After each “journey” he fulfills the things / actions that previously he used as excuses for not having been eaten by the troll.

1st time excuses
I haven’t loved at all yet.
There are books I haven’t read.
I’ve never been on an airplane.
I can’t whistle yet.

2nd time excuses (some previous ones are fulfilled )
You have grown in life and experience
You’re not (innocent)

Did you learn to whistle?
There’s so much I haven’t done.
I’ve never had sex.
I’ve never been to America.
I haven’t done anything. Not yet.

3rd time excuses (previous ones are fulfilled)
- he’s got a family
- he is getting older
- moved to London
- he isworking in London
- travelled to America (so has been on an airplane)
The troll = the alter ego of the hero?
In my opinion it can’t be an alter ego as the troll it is physically described by the 7years old boy and not by the adult. The alter ego is supposed to be psychologically similar to the character’s, but the description of the troll does not fit with the “profile” of a 7 years old child.

NICE: “Trolls can smell the rainbows, trolls can smell the stars (…). Trolls can smell the dreams you dreamed before you were ever born.”

The original story is "Three Billy Goats Gruff", which is classified by Aarne-Thompson under the Eat-me-when-I'm-fatter plot. The three meetings with the troll can be considered to be the three billy goats at different stages of their life.

Metafictional elements are manifold. The writer is present and he wants us to know that he is there: "It's good for children to find themselves facing the elements of a fairy tale - they are well-equipped to deal with these." The writer is giving us an explanation for the child's words:"it was daylight and I don't remember being scared."
The writer intervenes directly when making a comparison which might seem unsuitable: "Her gawky way of walking (like a faun just learning to walk which sounds really dumb, for which I apologize"