KidLit Forum

THE RELUCTANT DRAGON by Kenneth Grahame

Early intertextuality ? !
-poem like beginning : “Footprints in the snow have been unfailing provokers of sentiment ever since snow was first a white wonder on this drab-coloured world of our”.
-also in the beginning there is reference to English writers: Wordsworth – Lucy Gray (http://allpoetry.com/poem/8452819-Lucy_ ... Wordsworth ) and Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, chapter 11 – Finds Print of Man’s Foot on the Snow
-even the way of getting dressed is somehow poetic: “…a mere brute fight for the necessary clothes, and lacing of boots seemed a clumsy invention, and the buttoning of coats an unduly tedious form of fastening…”
-reference to a Norwegian fairy tale: The Giant with no Heart in His Body collected by Asbornsen and Moe
-there is also an indirect allusion to Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant: “she dragged me (… ) through a gap in the hedge of an obviously private character(…) in a garden, well-kept, secluded most un- dragon-haunted in appearance”

British- like attitude:
1. “But that’s not British and we want a real British beast” (there is a dragon on the flag of Wales: red dragon on a green and white background).
2. they have tea, marmalade, apricot jam; the people in the village bet on the fight = paradox: although they want to get rid off the dragon, they still place their bets on him
3. start the conversation talking about the weather: “Charming weather we are having”
Characters: 1. Boy = has no name (not even one given by his parents)
2. a real Man
3. Charlotte
4. circus-man = resemblance to Arts and crafts movement as the circus-man is an artist, sings, etc. So he is the most appropriate to tell a story. In fact, he had a feeling as if he expected to tell the story “I knew … I will tell you a story”
5. the dragon: seen by the shepherd:
- makes noises like heavy sighings
- grunts
- as big as a four cart-horses
- covered with shiny scales (deep blue)
- a sort of flicker over his nostrils
- has scales, claws, tail
: seen by the Boy:
-purring with a happy regularity
-most modest and retiring dragon in the world
-a real gentleman
: seen by the villagers:
-tell tales of murder about him YET they see him “to be the feather in the cap of the village” = they are proud to have him
:seen by himself:
-happy: “I am happy up here as the day’s long”
-active mind, always occupied
-friendly: “I haven’t got an enemy in the world… too lazy to make them”
-polite: “Very pleased to make your acquaintance”
-sense of humour as he tells antediluvian anecdotes
-a happy Bohemian: an unconventional lifestyle involving music, artistic and literary feature.
-artist with “artistic sensibilities”

6. St. George has got thick fair hair, brave gentle voice, gracious face, gentle expression, he is well-equiped

There are words of wisdom all over the story:“Rules always come right if you wait quietly” (Boy)
“Character’ll bear the strictest investigation” (Dragon)
“Try to remember that the noun governs the verb” (Dragon)
“History teaches us that the greatest rascal often possess all the domestic virtues” (St. George)
“This is an evil world (…) all the wickedness in it is not entirely bottled up inside the dragons” (St. George)

By the end of the story the dragon is fully integrated into society = he gets drunk = that being the consequence of being a member of the society.

In terms of conflict management we can conclude that the fight is a win / win situation for both parties (the dragon and the villagers represented by St. George): “St. George was happy because there had been a fight and he hadn’t had to kill anybody… the dragon was happy because there had been a fight, and so far from bein hurt in it he won popularity and a sure footing in society. The Boy was happy because there had been a fight, and in spite of it all his two friends were on the best of terms. (…) all the others were happy because there had been a fight and – well, they didn’t require any other reasons for their happiness”
This last fragment is good for teaching past perfect

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Monika Bandi