54 pages • 1 hour read
T. KingfisherNettle & Bone
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Genre Context: Fairy Tales
A fairy tale is a story, typically written for children, that features magical characters, a clear protagonist with a good versus evil dichotomy, and fantastical settings. Many fairy tales have roots in traditional tales told before written records. Some of Western culture’s most famous fairy tales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, and Pinocchio. Common motifs that link most fairy tales and define the genre include supernatural adversaries and powers, helpers, and magic objects.
The conflict in fairy tales centers on an innocent protagonist facing a seemingly insurmountable foe. The protagonist must receive help from natural and supernatural helpers and family members to vanquish their adversary. In the American cultural context, Disney movies are central. Most of these cinematic versions of traditional fairy tales feature an innocent female princess who faces corruption by an evil adversary; the young woman must recruit the help of a supernatural friend and romantic interest to defeat their foe. The level of autonomy and engagement of the female protagonist varies drastically from tale to tale. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959) features a princess who plays no part in her rescue. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), the titular young woman’s actions are limited to flight from her foe. Cinderella’s kindness leads to her salvation but not her direct action. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone subverts this norm, placing the princess at the heart of the action. Marra saves her sister from the evil monster, who happens to be the prince. This subversion manifests in two ways. First, Marra’s grit and determination, not her beauty or supernatural ability, lead to the princess’s rescue. Second, Kania does not fall in love, but she does hold together two kingdoms and save her son.
Kingfisher also uses genre tropes and common fairy tale motifs to support her tale, adhering to the genre in many ways. This adherence creates a more significant impact on her subversion with Marra. The novel centers Marra’s quest, casting her as not only the heroine but also an underdog who will ultimately triumph. The death of the monstrous prince comes at the hands of a knight who followed a princess into battle who is not in need of saving; rather, the princess is the instigator. Kingfisher thereby illustrates the historical oppression of women in fairy tales. Her protagonist, accordingly, prevails through her wit and skill rather than by the magic or bravery of others.
Literary Context: The Hero’s Journey
The hero’s journey, which is one of the most common narrative structures in fiction, defines the distinct stages and events in the quest of a specific type of protagonist. Based on Jungian psychology, Joseph Campbell popularized the hero’s journey in 1949. Nettle & Bone follows Marra as the young woman participates in her own hero’s journey.
Campbell breaks the hero’s journey into three acts: Departure, Initiation, and Return. Within the arc of the hero’s journey, the first act encompasses five steps: “The Call to Adventure;” “Refusal of the Call;” “Supernatural Aid;” “The Crossing of the First Threshold;” and “Belly of the Whale,” a stage during which the hero accepts the need to undergo metamorphosis. The second act encompasses another five: “The Road of Trials;” “The Meeting with the Goddess,” at which point the hero obtains items that will help later on; “Woman as the Temptress,” during which the temptation may not necessarily be a woman; “Atonement with the Father,” which entails the hero confronting the greatest power in their life; and “Apotheosis,” when the hero reaches a deeper understanding. Finally, the third act contains six steps: “The Ultimate Boon,” “Refusal of the Return,” “The Magic Flight,” “Rescue from Without,” “The Crossing of the Return Threshold,” “Master of the Two Worlds,” and “Freedom to Live.”
These three acts see the hero, often reluctantly, called to adventure and learn that they must undergo a great trial for their community or loved ones. Then, the hero travels on the “Road of Trials” where they find allies, temptation, and deadly challenges as they begin to gather the wisdom and tools needed to overcome the issue that prompted their adventure. Often, these tools and wisdom permanently shape the hero through personal growth as they learn more about the world they inhabit and come to realizations about the nature of the world, often through meeting with a metaphorical “Goddess” or being of power. In the third and final act, the hero returns to their original world, be it a simple town or their family. The hero often finds that they are too changed after mastering “Two Worlds,” their original life and the life they found while adventuring. The hero, forever changed, often cannot return to their pre-adventure life and instead must find a new life as they have radically changed over the course of their journey.
Many authors follow this narrative template, the most famous of which might be the original Star Wars saga. As Campbell defines it, Luke Skywalker’s path follows each step of the hero’s journey. Fairy tales typically follow this story arc too, so much so that the narrative arc is often called the monomyth, as Campbell posited that the structure could be found in the mythology of every human culture on earth. As with the fairy tale genre, Kingfisher also uses Marra to subvert expectations with the hero’s journey through her gender and lack of inherent ability. The hero’s journey thus serves as the narrative background through which Kingfisher explores gender and cultural norms.
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