A man walks past you on the sidewalk and you see a solid gold coin like object hanging on a chain around his neck. A few minutes later you see another person, this time a woman with the small “coin”. Within a day everyone you walk past are wearing the small “coins”, you see them hanging in the windows of jewelry stores. A week later you hear vendors shouting “Moons, moons, get your moons.” Puzzled by this you ask a vendor what he means “Get your moons.” He says that you can buy a moon and another on will replace it. That is what happens in the story Many Moons by James Thurber.
James Thurber is a very good writer, and he wrote this story in the comedic mode. This story is a comedy because the princess is sick in the beginning which is normal. Soon the princess wants the moon, but if she didn’t get the moon she wouldn’t get better. The fact that the princess wants the moon is the conflict and once the king realizes that everybody thinks the moon is too far away the king sees that you can’t get the moon. When the court jester comes along and explains that the moon is whatever princess Lenore thinks it is. Also the next night the moon would shine on and the king knew that. Again the court jester is the smartest and asks the princess why the moon is in the air, and she replies that the moon grows back every time somebody takes it. Thus the normalcy is regained and the whole palace is relieved.
While the mode of the story is very important, every story needs characters. The most important and the smartest is the court jester. The court jester comes through when all of the kings consulters fail to save the princess or to protect her. Of all the people in this story, the court jester is the smartest. The next character is the king. The king will do anything to keep Lenore alive. The royal mathematician is the person who figures out crazy things that are impossible. The lord high chamberlain is the person that gets things that don’t exist. And the royal wizard is the wizard who can do anything that doesn’t involve bringing the moon to Princess Lenore.
While all stories have characters, you need to have symbols for a story to work. The first symbol is the moon. The moon symbolizes the love the king has for Lenore and the beauty of nature. The lute that the court jester has symbolizes the beauty of manmade things. Also the lute symbolizes the music of the people from medieval times and the skill of craftsmen. The moon also symbolizes the varied knowledge of the people. The necklace is a symbol wealth power and beauty.
As you can see there are many things that make up a story. If you get the individual things it is nothing but if you combine them you get a beautiful story. Filled with surprises and awesome endings stories can be thrilling. If you can read you should.
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