How Does Sprout Developed Throughout The Novel

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang is a Novel written in 2000 about a Hen who raises a duckling. Sprout is a hen who wishes to be a mother, and is partly the main focus throughout the book. Sprout’s character is developed throughout the book by seeing her learn to be a mother as she grows from being timid to willing to stand up and fight for her baby's life. Hwang demonstrates reasons for Sprout being a timid protagonist by showing us that she doesn’t seem to belong with the rest of the barnyard animals in the book. This novel represents the struggles Hwang’s family or other families had in South Korea during Hwang’s childhood for being partially outcasted, because of societal norms and poverty.

In the opening of this book, Hwang

Sprout’s character can definitely be seen as dynamic as she learns to be a mother. In contrast, the weasel’s character development can be seen as somewhat static, throughout the entire book, as she remains the antagonist by continuously trying to hunt for Sprout and Greentop, who is Sprout’s child. In the end of chapter seven, the Weasel hunts for both Sprout and Greentop for the first time, but they manage to escape through the reed fields. “A dark shadow swiftly approached the reed fields. The weasel. I knew it! She froze in place and began to tremble. The weasel entered the reed fields. The stalks appeared to rustle for a moment, but then she couldn’t see anything. Knowing the weasel would come out empty-jawed, she couldn’t help but smile” (85). There’s another moment in chapter nine, where the Weasel threatened Sprout to kill Greentop and then went off to pursue him in the barnyard. ““A delectable duck,” the weasel sneered. “I’ll get him before long!” He laughed menacingly. “You’ll never get him!” “No? Even though he’s tied to that stilt? Soon he’ll be so fat he won’t be able to fly. That’s how they get tame” … “I’ll get you back. Both of you, soon enough.” … Stay alive and just watch what I do to your baby!” The weasel laughed yet again. He grabbed his chicken and disappeared into the darkness” (103-104). Sprout later on saves Greentop from the Barnyard when the farmer’s wife was moving Greentop

“The weasel was so thin, Sprout almost felt bad for him. How long had he been starving? … But now she understood: the four-legged babies whining in hunger in the hidden cave—the weasel was their mother!” (125). Before the weasel being a mother was revealed, her gender was specified as male in the book. When the weasel being a mother was revealed we start to feel sympathetic towards this character. Before finding out the weasel is a mother, she was characterized as a ruthless bloodthirsty predator. Then when the weasel being a mother was revealed, she is characterized as a desperate mother begging for the mercy of her children. Sprout makes a deal with the weasel for her to spare the weasel’s babies and for the weasel to spare her and Greentop as long as Sprout can find food for the weasel. ““If you find another source of food, will you leave my baby alone?” “Of course!” “Promise? If I told you where to find something to eat?” The weasel nodded quickly. “I promise. If there’s something else to eat, I won’t go near your baby.”” (126). This means the weasel has given up on hunting for Sprout and Greentop which was her role as the antagonist. In the final chapter of the book Greentop leaves because Sprout told him he was all grown up and ready to be with other ducks. After that Sprout wishes she could go with