The Knight in Rusty Armor

Discuss the novella’s personification of animals like Squirrel. What does this strategy add to the text’s meaning? How does it relate to the novella’s allegorical meaning and central themes?

Read another famous allegory, like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, or John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Compare it to The Knight in Rusty Armor, looking for similarities in their structure, language, and themes. What do these narratives have in common? How do they use allegory to illustrate their points?

Analyze the concepts that Merlin titles “ambition of the mind” and “ambition of the heart.” Consider the differences between the two and how those differences manifest in the knight’s character arc. At what point does he shift from “ambition of the mind” to “ambition of the heart”?

Discuss the roles that sociability and friends, and solitude and aloneness, play in the novella. Why does the knight need to develop both of these things? What is their relationship to one another?

Consider the moments in the text when the knight experiences hesitation and self-doubt. Why does he experience doubt and fear in those moments? How have doubt and fear shaped his life? What strategies does he develop to get through those moments, and how has his attitude toward them changed by the end of the novel?

Analyze the role of “Sam” in the novella. Why does the knight encounter a voice he calls “Sam,” rather than simply slowly changing back into Sam? How does Sam help the knight in a way that Merlin, Squirrel, and Rebecca cannot? How would the story change if Sam weren’t a presence?

The novel ends with the knight standing atop the Summit of Truth without his armor. Trace his journey throughout the narrative, noting where he lost each bit of armor. To what realizations do these moments correspond?

Choose one of the side characters in the novella, like Juliet, Squirrel, or Rebecca. Write an essay that explores their role in the text, both in terms of plot and theme.