65 pages • 2-hour read
Dragon Rider
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Background
Literary Context: European Children’s Fantasy and the Hero’s Journey
Dragon Rider is a work of European children’s fiction inspired by folklore and classic quest narratives. This genre depicts children going on adventures, facing dangerous threats, and exploring concepts such as good versus evil. European children’s fantasy traditionally draws on European folklore about magical creatures, such as dragons, elves, dwarves, and other beings. European children’s fantasy also follows the classic structure of the quest narrative.
The quest narrative, also known as the hero’s journey, is narrative structure first identified by American mythologist and scholar Joseph Campbell in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this narrative structure, the protagonist is sent on a quest, usually to find a particular place or object. The narrative comprises 17 stages, organized into three acts, each of which represents an important part of the main character’s inner and outer journeys.
The “Call to Adventure” occurs when the protagonist is given an opportunity to go on a quest. The protagonist initially refuses the quest, needing a guide or mentor to give them a form of supernatural aid before accepting. Eventually, the hero faces “The Road of Trials,” a series of challenges, dangers, and setbacks, over which they triumph with a combination of courage, cleverness, luck, and the help of friends and allies. “Supernatural Aid” step comes from a figure like Gandalf in The Hobbit or Dumbledore in Harry Potter. Like Dorothy’s ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz, the magical aid or talisman allows the protagonist to access the powers they already possess.
The protagonist’s quest ends when they have reached their goal and received the reward, having learned a valuable lesson about themselves and their world. They return to the ordinary world, but they have changed and see that world—and themselves—in a new light. In this world, they can return to their ordinary lives or become a leader, who embarks on new adventures and helps create change.
The hero’s journey is popular in much children’s fantasy, but is particularly prevalent in German children’s fantasy, such as The Neverending Story by Michael Ende and The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. In children’s literature, the hero’s journey is a metaphor for the coming-of-age process, in which children develop a more mature sense of self after facing challenges that adults cannot help them to solve.
Genre Context: Ecofiction
Dragon Rider engages with ecological concerns, such as environmental degradation and habitat loss, stemming from the rise of human intervention in their natural environments. As such, the novel joins an increasingly relevant subgenre called ecofiction, which interrogates humanity’s impact on global ecology. Broadly, ecofiction examines the interconnections between humanity and nature, and “raises important questions about man’s place in the system: Will man continue to ignore the warnings of the environment and destroy his source of life?” (“Front Matter.” Eco-Fiction. Ed. John Stadler, 1971).
In ecofiction, the natural or nonhuman world isn’t just a backdrop. According to Jim Dwyer, author of the bibliographic study, Where the Wild Books Are: A Field Guide to Ecofiction (2010), the environment is “a presence that begins to suggest that human history is implicated in natural history” (Dwyer, Jim. “What Is Ecofiction and Why Should We Read It?” Inside Chico State, 2010).
In ecofiction, human interest is not the highest priority or only legitimate interest. Rather, the genre focuses on the ethics of human accountability to the environment.
Early examples of children’s literature with environmental messages predate the coining of the term “ecofiction” and have been around for at least a century. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and the works of Henry David Thoreau are examples. The genre became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with the beginning of the environmentalist movement in response to the West’s increasing energy consumption, industrial development, and nuclear technology. The genre is particularly popular among science fiction and fantasy writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin in The Word for World is Forest and Octavia Butler in Parable of the Sower.
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