Children's Literature - The Owl Service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Children's Literature - The Owl Service - Essay Example Gardner’s story continues the legend into the modern era. Alison and her family along with Gwyn and his family are caught together in a generational re-enactment of the story that typically ends in disaster thanks to the magic of the valley in which they live. The story’s relationship with the legend can be traced within the language and structure of the individual scenes such as the one found at the beginning of Chapter 20 in which Gwyn attempts to convince Alison to run away with him. The passage in question begins with the changes in the atmosphere around the house. This atmosphere introduces the building tension of the legendary story and the conflict between ‘Lleu’, who is symbolically represented, and Gwyn for Alison’s affections. The oppressive atmosphere is suggested on a physical level first, opening with the knowledge that â€Å"the weather changed overnight. A wind came, dragging clouds along the mountains.† This oppressiveness is brought down to the human level by Nancy, who â€Å"went about in silence and did her work with a perfection that made the house unbearable† yet Alison is afraid to leave it for fear her mother may see her leaving her appointed place. This mother is an unseen presence in the seen, just as she is in the story, yet she is always watching, always aware of what is going on, â€Å"Mummy saw us up the mountain. She was watching through binoculars. She was waiting for me.† This ever-present, al l-seeing eye introduces the concept of being watched over by less-than-sympathetic supernatural eye without moving outside of the realm of the natural and the normal. This is what Jackson suggests is the heart of the menippean fantasy. â€Å"It does not invent supernatural regions, but presents a natural world inverted into something strange, something ‘other’. It becomes ‘domesticated’, humanized, turning from transcendental explorations to transcriptions of a human condition† (Jackson 1981: 17).