"The Wind in the Willows"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame is a popular story in part because it appeals to adults as well as children. It looks at how through skillful technique and deliberate attention to detail, Grahame crafts a world that is realistic and fantastical and how by giving the characters in this story human qualities and emotions, he successfully appeals to readers of any age. It analyzes Grahame's use of parallelism such as the personification of the animals and the representations of the river and the Wild Wood.

From the Paper:

"Another aspect of the story that makes it appealing to adults as well as children is the idea of friendship, which again represents real life. The characters exhibit admirable qualities that all should aspire to at any age. They are friendly, hospitable, strong, and even painfully truthful when they need to be. Grahame does well to create characters that are different from each other, each with his own quirks and weaknesses that may remind us of people we know. For example, when Rat is tempted to run away with Sea Rat, Mole stops him because he looks in Rat's eyes and "saw that they were glazed and set and turned a streaked and shifting gray -- not his friend's eyes, but the eyes of some other animal!" (213). Mole also demonstrates true friendship by taking Rat's mind off of his wanderings and encouraging him to write."

More papers on "The Wind in the Willows":

• Comparison Essay # 103644 : "The Golden Compass" and "The Wind in the Willows"
• Analytical Essay # 133047 : "The Golden Compass" and "The Wind in the Willows"
• Comparison Essay # 121214 : "Friendship in Children's Stories"

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