The Sword and the Stone, the first book of T.H. White's The Once and Future King, tells of Arthur when he is a boy until the point when he is made king. Arthur lives with his foster father Sir Ector and his foster brother, Kay. While in the woods one day looking for Kay's hunting hawk, Arthur met the wizard Merlin, and brought him back to be his and Kay's tutor. Merlin, knowing that Arthur is destined to be king, teaches him lessons that will help him in the future. Many of these lessons consist of turning Arthur into animals for him to see their different ways of governance. Arthur also finds some little adventures when he meets King Pellinore, and when he and Kay meet Robin Wood (not Hood). In the end, Arthur while looking for a sword for Kay, finds a sword that had been stuck in an anvil. The person who could pull this sword from the stone was the rightful king of Brittan, not knowing this Arthur pulls the sword out to take it to Kay. When it is revealed what sword it is and how it was obtained, Arthur is made King.
I love this book. If I had a favorite book, this would likely be it. I really like the dialogue, and how, unlike Mallory, White delves deep into the characters personalities, reasoning, and feelings. The book is written very well and with a lot of feeling, as though White wants you to not be in the story, but in the people in the story. Mallory made events into a storyline, and did well with that, but T.H. White took events and looked at why people would do the things they did, what effects they would have, and what lessons they could teach. The story seems almost secondary.
My most favorite part in this first part of the book was when Merlin and Arthur first meet, and Merlin realizes that they have only known each other for an half hour. It breaks my heart when Merlin says "So little time to pas?" and the big tear rolls down his cheek. The whole idea of him living his life backwards is really tragic to me. When he meets people, it is his last time ever seeing them. When he met Arthur, he already knew things that would happen to him, and probably knew him better than anyone else. Arthur was his best friend, but the last time that he gets to see him, Arthur doesn't really know him at all. It is confusing, and just sad.
I love this book so much, I have already read it so I can very well make predictions, but I am so happy to read it again. It proposes so many things to think on, it is more than just a story.
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3 comments:
I'm glad you're enjoying the book and that you have read it before - I think it is one you can read many times and learn different things with each reading. In all the lessons that Merlin teaches Arthur, do you find one to be more important than the others or they all necessary? How does TH White's portrayal of Arthur differ from Malory's portrayal?
I think that all the lessons were important because, like with changing into all the different animals he could compare and actually realize which were better and why. Or take the best peices from each. It is important to know how things work wether right or wrong, better ways or worse ways, to realize the imperfections to either avoid them yourself, or just to realize the out come. Sometimes things seem as though they are good but turn out for the worse.
T.H. White's protrayal of Arthur is more real and human. He has struggles to find his ideas. He has thought prosseses and human emotions. He is a good person but not because that is just what he is because he beame that way. Malory seems to protray him more as a heroic figure who just is. Probably because Malory doesn't sem as interested in character development. In The Once and Future King you realize Arthur as a heroic figure but not just because he is one, but because he was just a man who fought hard for ideals and betterment through all the pain and struggles.
I agree with you - to me, Arthur seems almost childlike at times and in this first book it is hard to see him as a becoming the great leader we know he will become
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