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“Of all the creatures the owl hunted, he enjoyed mice the most. They were the best eating, to be sure, but better still, they were the most fearful, and Mr. Ocax found deep satisfaction in having others afraid of him.”
The opening scene of the novel is told from Mr. Ocax’s point of view. It establishes the fear motif, instantly characterizing Mr. Ocax as a cruel ruler whose main goal is to maintain power over others by hurting them. This quote establishes The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism as a major theme via establishing Mr. Ocax as the antagonist, simultaneously foreshadowing the framing conflict between the mice and Mr. Ocax.
“Perhaps, then, what occurred—horrible as it had been—had served Ragweed right. Then and there Poppy vowed she would never leave home again.”
This moment depicts Poppy at the very beginning of her character arc, establishing the attitudes that will undergo transformation during her quest. After the inciting moment of Ragweed’s death, Poppy retreats into the doctrine of conformity in the mouse society that she has been fed all her life. This attitude in Poppy will change as she begins to challenge assumptions about Mr. Ocax’s power.
“But as Mr. Ocax sailed deep into Dimwood toward his secret lair, he vowed to avenge himself. If mice began to get notions that they could escape him, there would be no end of trouble.”
This quote foreshadows the driving conflict in the novel and suggests something important about The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism. Mr. Ocax maintains power by controlling the mice through fear, which suggests that rebelling against this fear will topple his power. Via the foreshadowing of the narrative’s driving conflict, this quote also foreshadows one of the narrative’s core themes about The Importance of Challenging Assumptions.
“This time Lungwort’s words brought silence. Every eye looked down or away. Except for Poppy’s. She could only stare at her father in revulsion. How could he even suggest such a thing!”
Poppy’s perspective of her father changes after he announces that they will seek Mr. Ocax’s permission before moving the clan from Gray House. This is the first moment in which Poppy deviates from the assumptions that govern the rest of her family: By realizing her father’s submission towards Mr. Ocax, and furthermore being disgusted by it, Poppy implicitly challenges the validity of the mice’s acquiescence to the owl’s rule. This indicates the conflict Poppy has against her own society and develops the theme on The Importance of Challenging Assumptions.
“Yet, while everyone expressed sorrow, Poppy suspected that few grieved. Worst were the words of comfort that began, ‘Well, if someone had to be sacrificed…’”
The reactions from Poppy’s family to Ragweed’s death characterize the society she lives in: their uncritical obedience towards social norms extends to downright cruel attitudes towards outsiders and other free-thinkers. This moment drives the dissonance between Poppy’s thinking and that of her society, developing her motivations for embarking on her hero’s quest.
“Ashamed to have such worries, Poppy decided it would be better to hide them. So she said nothing. Still, it was hard to keep the heavy flag high.”
Poppy feels shame as she worries about whether Mr. Ocax will recognize her as the mouse with Ragweed on Bannock Hill, developing her internal conflict over being a coward. This establishes one of the core directions of her character arc, as she learns to overcome fear to take courageous actions that help others.
“Poppy thought she heard something new in Mr. Ocax’s voice. She tried to grasp it […] Now Poppy was sure. It was uncertainty that she was hearing.”
This moment is a significant turning point in Poppy’s hero journey and the plot of the novel. The change in Mr. Ocax’s tone reveals a vulnerability in the antagonist, developing plot, conflict, and character as it foreshadows the object of Poppy’s quest developed in the rest of the narrative.
“Mr. Ocax said he was refusing permission because of something she and Ragweed had done. How would Ragweed have turned that around? Poppy could almost hear it: Ragweed would have said, ‘What did refusing permission allow Mr. Ocax to do?’ […] It allowed him to keep the mice away from New House!”
Poppy’s revelation here reflects the heart of The Importance of Challenging Assumptions theme, as well as The Nature of Heroism and Tyranny theme. By realizing that Mr. Ocax’s actions have nothing to do with his purported concern for the mice’s safety, Poppy begins to realize that the owl serves his own aims. Although Ragweed is no longer alive in the narrative, his significance as a character is felt here as his freethinking ways inspire Poppy to examine the situation further, yielding insights that define the goals of her quest.
“Basil held out Ragweed’s earring. ‘For courage,’ he said.”
Before Poppy embarks on her quest, her cousin Basil brings her Ragweed’s earring. This moment explicitly establishes the earring as a symbol of strength and courage, evoking the boldness and freethinking that Ragweed represented and which were important in revealing important insights to Poppy (See: Symbols & Motifs). This moment also implicitly establishes the earring as a kind of talisman, similar to a magical item a hero might take along with them on an important journey. This indicates that Poppy is setting off on her quest and development towards becoming a hero, and courage will be a defining theme in that development.
“Poppy was enraptured. From that moment on, her greatest desire was to be a ballroom dancer. Oh, to glide effortlessly across the floor in the arms of a handsome mouse!”
This moment is important because it establishes dancing as a symbol of freedom—from oppression and from social convention. In this moment, Poppy cannot dance out of fear of being attacked by Mr. Ocax if he sees her out in the open; similarly, she keeps her desire a secret because it is starkly different from the activities mice usually engage in (dancing being a strictly human activity). Thus, dancing becomes something that represents freedom both from tyranny and from social assumptions. Establishing this here is important so that when dancing returns in Chapter 20, it acts as a symbol that signals that Poppy and her family have finally attained such freedoms.
“Once over the water, how could she return home? Even as she hesitated, a breeze fluttered Ragweed’s earring. The tickle it brought reminded Poppy of the reasons for her mission.”
Poppy’s fears about returning home signal that she has crossed the threshold into the world of the quest. The water symbolizes that threshold, suggesting that when she returns home, she will be transformed in some way by her quest. Ragweed’s earring symbolizes courage, motivating Poppy in the face of fear. Altogether, this moment reinforces the direction of Poppy’s character towards developing bravery, and reinforces The Power of Love theme, as both Ragweed’s love for Poppy and Poppy’s love for her family inspire her to continue.
“At first [Mr. Ocax] tried to deny the fear he felt inside him. But it was growing too fast. It could not be denied. That he, Ocax, the great horned owl, should feel fear made him livid. It was for others to be fearful, not him […] No matter what, his fearfulness must never be known!”
The fear motif returns as Mr. Ocax considers his fearfulness more explicitly. This moment parallels him with Poppy, as it demonstrates that he is just as fearful as the mice are. However, it suggests the difference between tyrants and heroes—while Poppy strives to overcome fear to help others, Mr. Ocax scorns his own fear and reacts to it by causing harm to others. This reinforces The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism theme.
“Poppy sighed. It was so hard to be courageous. So hard to be a coward. Going forward or back seemed equally awful. So much easier to do nothing. But if she did nothing, she would surely perish. What was she to do? Trying to stay calm, she reminded herself that by pressing on, she at least had a chance to make a difference for her family.”
Through the fear motif, the author reinforces the juxtaposition between Poppy and Mr. Ocax, as this moment demonstrates the differences in how both characters react to fear, reinforcing ideas about The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism. This moment also demonstrates Poppy’s character arc, as she moves towards courage and overcomes fear to make a positive difference for those she loves, reinforcing The Power of Love theme as well.
“Porcupine! The word turned Poppy numb. She could hardly breathe. She could not think.”
Poppy encounters a porcupine for the first time, heralding the first discovery of Mr. Ocax’s deceits. The author uses short, abrupt sentences here to convey Poppy’s fear and build suspense: the short, abrupt sentences mimic the erratic, shallow rhythm of her pulse and breath as physical reactions to her fear.
“Poppy was about to say her parents [had taught her that porcupines eat mice] when she suddenly realized something she hadn’t thought of before. She began to speak, but, fearful of saying the name, she held back.”
Poppy first begins to realize in this moment how deep Mr. Ocax’s lies go—and the methods he uses to control the mice through fear and keep them under his power. Although Poppy has been framed as someone with a conflicting perspective towards her family’s unquestioning obedience to Mr. Ocax’s rules, this moment demonstrates that their beliefs have affected her too, and that she too is still afraid of Mr. Ocax and not wholly able to challenge assumptions without fear. She will soon learn even more about The Importance of Challenging Assumptions.
“Poppy could only feel astonishment. This was not Dimwood the forbidding. This was Dimwood the beautiful, a luxuriant world that teemed with life, a universe that held more than she had ever seen or dreamed of, a paradise that filled her with an almost aching desire to dance through it and see more.”
As Dimwood Forest represents Poppy’s psychological journey into unfamiliar places and towards confronting the fear within herself, her transformed perspective of the setting signals her development. This moment follows Poppy’s revelation about porcupines, during which she released some of the fear that Mr. Ocax had ingrained in her by allowing herself to consider that he had lied. This signals that Poppy has begun to move past fear and take up a more informed perspective of how she has been manipulated and of Mr. Ocax’s weakness.
“The notion that the owl was afraid of anything gave Poppy considerable pleasure. Perhaps he was afraid of other things as well.”
This quote foreshadows both the key to Mr. Ocax’s defeat at the end of the novel and the momentary temptation Poppy is faced with during their final battle. Poppy is certainly dissimilar to Mr. Ocax, but here she experiences the same pleasure in his fear as he takes in the mice’s. Ultimately, however, Poppy proves that she is a hero by choosing not to torture Mr. Ocax with his fear.
“Just because you’re scared of someone doesn’t mean you have to believe him.”
Ereth’s words to Poppy reinforce the theme of The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism by pointing out how tyrants use fear as a tool of control to influence what others believe. This quote also foreshadows how Poppy will defy Mr. Ocax and find her courage at the climax—by rejecting his lies and confronting Mr. Ocax with his own fear.
“Poppy gasped. Sitting right below the overhang near a large, closed window was an owl—an owl twice the size of Mr. Ocax.”
When she discovers the fake owl, Poppy at first thinks she’s discovered a new threat. Avi uses dashes to emphasize the shock of her discovery and the heightened stakes. He also uses dramatic irony in this moment, as the reader can likely infer from earlier chapters concerning Mr. Ocax’s experiences that the owl is fake.
“[Poppy] was about to toss the quill away when she had an idea. Grasping it by its blunt end, she swished it about a few times. It moved nicely. Like a sword.”
The simile used to describe the manner in which Poppy waves the quill—“like a sword”—evokes imagery associated with a classic hero, foreshadowing Poppy’s role at the end of the novel. This imagery prepares Poppy for her role at the climax, indicating that she is quickly approaching the crux of her hero’s journey, wherein she will be called up to find her heroism and “take up her sword,” the symbol of courage and defense (See: Symbols & Motifs). This simile evokes an image that transforms Poppy from the timid, defenseless mouse into a courageous creature capable of standing up for herself and her family.
“The owl was fake, but Mr. Ocax believed it was real. Afraid of an image of himself, he was probably fearful that he would no longer be the one to rule over the mice. But—according to Ereth—Mr. Ocax was not really a ruler. That was a lie, just as it was a lie that he was protecting the mice from porcupines, whom he actually feared himself. In fact, the owl was full of fears!”
Poppy’s realization about Mr. Ocax reveals the truth of his character and his tyranny. Avi uses the fear motif once again here to reinforce the theme on The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism and the role fear plays therein. This realization is the catalyst for Poppy’s confrontation with Mr. Ocax at the climax; it helps her find her courage as she realizes that he is not an all-powerful ruler, but a fearful creature just like her.
“Poppy felt a stirring of excitement. Here she was, Poppy, talking in a perfectly reasonable way with the great Mr. Ocax. It was she, with her new knowledge, who had gained power. Perhaps, instead of humiliating him, she could work things out reasonably so the mice could move to New House. Wouldn’t that be a trophy to bring home!”
In this moment, Poppy is tempted by the same power Mr. Ocax has grown drunk on: that of controlling others by manipulating their fears. However, this moment ultimately highlights the differences between them, as Poppy chooses to treat him with respect and attempts to reach a compromise with him. This reflects the theme of The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism, supporting the idea that fear and one’s reaction to it determine which role an individual leans into. This moment reinforces that Poppy is a hero: She had the chance to react with bitterness to all the fear Mr. Ocax has inflicted upon her and her family, but she chooses respect and diplomacy instead.
“[Mr. Ocax’s] head turned slightly. For a moment his eyes seemed to focus on her. ‘Sometimes….’ He murmured, ‘sometimes I…wonder…why I bother…to protect…you.’ With that his beak made a final clack shut.”
“For a long time Poppy gazed at the lifeless body of Mr. Ocax. She thought she should be feeling triumphant joy. Plain gladness would have been good enough. Somewhere she did feel pride. But small as she was, it was buried deep. What Poppy felt was weariness, as if she had aged four seasons over the last hour. She felt old.”
This is Poppy’s moment of irrevocable transformation, of the sort that was heralded at the beginning of her journey when, at the river crossing, she realized that there was no turning back. This moment also reinforces Poppy’s role as a hero: She does not delight in causing harm and death. Highlighting the ways in which her actions have changed her reinforces her role in the novel and signals that the object of her quest has been completed—now it’s time for the road back.
“As for Poppy and Rye, they spun round and round in a stately waltz, dancing by the light of the moon and the earring, which glittered high on the hazelnut tree.”
This final moment in the novel revisits the dancing motif established earlier to signal that the mice have finally attained total freedom. Avi uses the symbolism of the earring and the tree to reinforce both The Power of Love and the role of courage in The Nature of Tyranny and Heroism. These actions of courage and love were what saved the mice and granted them the freedom from both oppression and the unchallenged assumptions that allowed it to persist. The dancing symbolizes the achievement of this freedom, while the earring and hazelnut tree symbolize the importance of these larger concepts in achieving it.
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