Despereaux Theme

In the Tale of Despereaux by Kate Di Camillo, we have a tiny mouse named Despereaux, who overcame all odds by surviving his unusual birth; he’s the last of his mouse litter and the only one to survive, the tiniest mouse anyone has ever seen, and he’s born with his eyes open. With a little light and hope, the book loving mouse turned out to be the hero that saved Princess Pea in the end. Light and darkness plays a major role in this book, the two contrasts are separated into two scenes, and which is where most of the novel is taking place, the castle which has a lot of light shining through the windows and the dungeon with darkness. The light represents all things good, whereas the darkness represented all things bad. Although Despereaux was

Here, we see, no matter how bad the deed is, characters still get a chance of redemption. Although Roscuro never forgives the look that princess Pea gives him when he accidentally kills her mother, princess Pea forgive him for kidnapping her and keeping her locked up in the dungeon. Princess Pea is a very forgiving person as she also forgives Miggery for teaming up with Roscuro on getting princess Pea to the dungeon. Miggery goal is to ultimately take Princess Peas place and become the new princess but that backfires on her. We also have Despereaux forgiving his father, for sending him to the dungeon with all the rats to

“Reader, do you think that it is a terrible thing to hope when there is really no reason to hope at all? Or is it (as the soldier said about happiness) something that you might just as well do, since, in the end, it really makes no difference to anyone but you?” It’s unusual for a narrator to speak director to readers, of course the narrator knows someone is reading and that there needs to be some transitioning dialogue so the readers can better understand the characters and the scenario. But to actually pause the story, talk to the audience and have insightful questions is strange to me. By the time I got the end of the book, I got used to it by then, but it took a while to get used to. Many times the narrator speaks directly towards the end of the chapter, many times it’s either to reassure our hope, give us a little foreshadowing, or to ask us insightful questions to think about as we read. The one that captured my attention is: “Reader, do you know what “perfidy” means: I have a feeling you do, based on the little scene that has just unfolded here. But you should look up the word in you dictionary, just to be sure.” That small section kept coming up in my mind all throughout the book as deceitfulness and treachery plays out all throughout the book. Most of all, we see Roscuro and Miggery treacherous plot to lure princess Pea to the dungeon so Roscuro can have his revenge. And