Themes

The thematic ideas of trickery, desire, secrets, and sacrifice all played large roles in the novel, The Sweet Far Thing. They all applied to each character and pushed the plot to the climax.

True desire enveloped each of the characters drastically. Felicity was willing to risk her life to save her beloved Pippa from the Winterland creatures. Ann changed her character and personality simply to impress the music director and gave up her lifestyle to sing professionally. Gemma risked being expelled from Spence Academy for sneaking off with Kartik and trying to save the Realms from corruption.

Secrets both severed relationships and strengthened their core. The secret love affairs actually strengthened the girls' friendships because they came to understand each other better. But as of Gemma's sneaking off and meeting with Circe, that caused distrust amongst the girls because they weren't sure of each other's whereabouts anymore.

Sacrifice showed true love. The sacrifices of Pippa, Miss McCleethy, Kartik, and countless others served to show that if people were madly in love they would do anything for their loved ones. This pushed the plot and made the characters more realistic because real people could relate to their devastation and depression.

Trickery both fooled and matured Gemma throughout the course of the novel. At first it weakened her but without the plots and tricks, she wouldn't have been ready for the final battle. She also used trickery when she turned her army all into Gemma so the Winterland creatures would not recognize which one to sacrifice.

Outside Ready Quotes Assignment

Trickery- This plot evolves around secret plots and trickery. Gemma's power envelopes her with visions and images that are meant to throw her off her path.

1. "I'd had higher hopes for you, Gemma. You're in over your head. I shall see this Tree of All Souls for myself" (Bray 634).

Circe fooled Gemma into giving her enough magic to break free from the well and find the mystical Tree of All Souls herself. Gemma had gone to her for advice and had spilled out secrets of the Realms, ones that Circe could use against her. But Circe had always been the vengeful type, turning against her sisters and being fascinated with sacrifice.

2. "They could make you see what they wish you to see. It will be as if you are mad" (Bray 542).

The Winterland creatures had always been coniving, evil souls that would do whatever they had to to get what they wanted. They made Gemma envision the impossible which wrapped her in distrust and mystery. They also used her weaknesses against her, plotting around Kartik and her brother, Tom.

Sacrifice- Sacrifice was quite relevant in this novel because there was much blood shed and love lost. The whole scheme of the Winterland creatures was to sacrifice Gemma to recieve her power but in turn many of Gemma's friends and loved ones were sacrificed in order to restore peace to the Realms.

3. "Sometimes we must make sacrifices for the greater good...promise me you'll keep the magic safe" (Bray 748).

In order to save Gemma, Miss McCleethy sacrificed herself to keep Gemma on her mission. This kept the plot rolling and strengthened Gemma's trust in her friends and war partners. This also signified that Miss McCleethy was not evil for she gave her life for the greater good and to save the Chosen One.

4. "He draws me to him in a kiss...He pulls me tighter in his embrace. The roots sigh and release their hold on my waist and the wound in my side is healed" (Bray 778).

In another attempt to save Gemma, Kartik sacrifices himself to the Tree of All Souls which allows Gemma to give the magic back to the land and spoiling the Winterlands' plan. This is a devastating blow for Gemma because she was madly in love with him and now he was gone. This builds her character and she is forced to move on.

Secrets- Many secrets were kept in this novel, which tangled the plot and it's situations. Although the characters were trying to keep secrets to keep their loved ones safe, it ended up destroying relationships and severing trust.

5. "And suddenly, I understand what I must have always known about them- the private talks, the close embraces..." (Bray 664).

Felicity and Pippa always had a close relationship that Gemma was extremely jealous of. But now Gemma understands why their relationship was so tender, they were secret lovers. This broadened Gemma's understanding of her friends and allowed them to actually grow closer because the newfound openness.

6. "I should have to sleepwalk through my life not to feel the pull of those lips" (Bray 219).

But Gemma's friends were not only the ones hiding a love affair; Gemma too was madly in love with a forbidden Indian boy named Kartik. She told no one of this passion and when the truth leaked out it also helped her friends understand her. This love pulled her through her mission and kept her alive.

Desire- True seekers of desire will go to the end of the world to achieve it. Each character in this novel had a deep desire that would be willing to risk life and limb for to obtain it.

7. "Me, accept me, Papa" (Bray 794).

Since Gemma's father became addicted to opium, she was deprived of the fatherly charm a girl needed during her adolescent years. She deeply desired for him to be cured and so that she could have a functioning family again. She simply wanted for him to accept her for who she was an aspiring woman.

8. "Ann comes alive with a smile. Again we cheer" (Bray 540).

Ann struggled her whole life searching for happiness. She finally found it in singing and acting. She was willing to do anything she had to to be able to sing professionally for it was her passion. When the oppurtunity arrived she risked her reputation and feminism to achieve greatness.

All the Pretty Horses vs The Sweet Far Thing

The main characters of these novels share many similiar qualities and conflicts in each book respectively. They both experience forbidden love affairs, ones which wrap their minds with thoughts of their lovers, and would risk life and limb for them to be happy (Kartik and Alejandra). They both follow the basic hero quest pattern, both are also the hero/heroine in the novel. On their excursions, they both lose a beloved friend, which temporarily slows the pace but does not stop the hero from their quest. In both trips, the hero gets seperated from their friends and has to perservere alone, but in both books they got reunited. Sacrifice is evident in each book, to return to their lover they must both make critical decisions, and they both decided that it's the loved one that wins that choice. For both characters, their parents have a drug/alcohol problem, causing distress and turmoil internally for John Grady and Gemma. These parental issues cause the hero/heroine to take up the quest, compelling them to build the characters they had in the end. The obstacles that they encountered made them considerably stronger, learning how to master their weaknesses and improve their strengths.

Hero Quest Analysis

I also happen to believe that Gemma is a hero because of what she fought for and believed in. She perservered for equality and fought against evil, a trait of a hero. Her friends would also be classified as heroes as well then, for they fought some of the battles that Gemma did as well. Each character also had personal battles they had to fight internally in a world of choas and oppression. Each would be discovered as pariah to normal society. Gemma was magical, she was a feminist, and she did things her way even if that meant consequences. Ann was pudgy, poor, and had low self confidence, all traits a formal lady should acquire. And Felicity had a deep secret that had been billowing inside her for years, she a lesbian love affair with her best friend Pippa, a twist that none of her friends or schoolmates saw coming. She also was sexually abused by her father as a child, an emotional scarring that people rarely knew about. Together, they bonded together to form a new social norm, a pact where they could be themselves and not care what others thought. That in itself also made them heroes, an inspiration for other "weird" people to be satisfied with their images.

3/5 Hero Quest Pattern Cont.

Partners: Her beloved friends, Felicity, Ann, and Pippa, assist her with entering the Realms and the obstacles at school. Prissy girls such as Elizabeth and Cecily had to be taken care and when they would return from the Realms all of the girls would have bits of magic left in them to do with they please. And Kartik, Gemma's secret love who she simply cannot stop thinking about.
Obstacles: There are many snotty Spence girls who give Ann and Gemma trouble throughout their schooling, but with the help of magic and Felicity and Pippa, she easily triumphs the girls. But the Realms was not a place of fun and games, there were many monsters to be defeated and trickery from other magical groups to overcome. Also with Kartik, she isn't sure if he loves her back, this throws her for many loops and grief in her days at Spence.
Losing Guide: Pippa tragecially died in the Realms. This loss overcomes the friends in grief but especially Felicity, her best friend. This also makes Gemma's friends trust her less, because she was the one who left her there.
Ultimate Boon: She spends the whole book trying to unravel the mysteries of other magical organizations, trying to defeat the ultimate evil of the Winterlands. But she can only accomplish this mission if she cuts down the Tree of Souls with a specific Order dagger. She searches and searches and finally finds it in something she's had all along.
Sacrifice: Instead of the tree taking Gemma as it's new victim, Kartik gives himself, caging him in it's wrath forever. This is a devastating blow for Gemma, for her one true love is gone forever. Also on her way to the Winterlands, Miss. McCleethy sacrificed herself for he sake of the mission, spilling her blood all over the Borderlands.
Climax: The epic battle that defined the Realms and magic forever. It was 40 against thousands. But they disguised themselves all as Gemma and fought ruthlessly. But Gemma finally did stab the dagger into the Tree and magic was restored to the lands.
Rescue: In the real world, she refused to go to debut or to become a conforming woman, she desired to do what she wanted when she wanted. She then decided to travel to New York, a place of mystery, adventure, and oppurtunity.
Elixir: She still came out of it with her friends, magic, and love. Although she lost her one true love, she now has the oppurtunity to love again, and this new gained freedom is satisfying to Gemma.
Master of Two Worlds: She now has control of her wild magic, her body capable for it's power. She can use it safely, and she now has the freedom to live.

3/5 Hero Quest Pattern

Birth: Gemma Doyle was born with magic flowing through her veins and she was destined to be the priestess/Chosen One. Her mother was part of a magical organization named the Order, which Gemma would come to learn about with age.
Calling: Gemma spent her childhood years in the plains of India, playing with tigers and growing tan. Until Gemma's birthday when her mother was slaughtered by a member of the Order, she was summoned to Spence Academy for Girls. She had to lie and say her mother died of cholera but the truth gnawed inside her, scrating to get out.
Supernatural Guide: Her guide came in the form of a rugged, teenage boy, who at first tried to divert her from magic all together. He desired to silence her visions and not allow her to enter the realms, but being the feminist that she is, she ignores his constant suggestions and enters, soon to bring her beloved friends, Ann, Felicity, and Pippa. But this guide she soon fell hard for, loving his illusiveness and forbidenness.
Crossing the Threshold: When she steps foot in Spence Academy, there is no returning to India. Her mother was murdered, her father addicted to opium, and her brother a know-it-all twit, she has no where else to go in her life.
Land of Fulfillment: She finally enters the magical realms after realizing her powers. Here she and her friends can be whatever they want to be, they can turn dirt into diamonds or a tree into their dream man. Nothing can stop them in the beautiful place, they can be friends forever and live in complete happiness.

Desire (more characters)

The trio at Spence Academy was not the example of uncontrollable desire in this novel. Pippa and the factory girls were trapped in the Realms for eternity.
Pippa- After she died, she unknowingly ate the berries of the Realms, trapping her there forever. This changed her personality greatly, influencing her dark sides. Once Gemma gave her some magic, she could not stop the urges for more, the need for power. She went to the extent of killing one of her friends in the Realms as a sacrifice to get her own power from the evil Winterlands. She craved beauty, power, and control.
Factory girls- After they died in a tragic fire in which they were locked into the building and could not escape they simply desired safety. Pippa saved them from the Winterland creatures and led them to a castle in the Borderlands. Pippa was their master in some sorts, teaching them to be ladies and they had to obey her orders. They worshipped Pippa by the end of the novel, soaking in her beauty and power. They wanted to be safe again and Pippa gave them temporary relief and they would go to any extent to get that peace, even killing one of their own as a sacrifice.

A Dismal Past

Another theme of the book is letting go of the past will open new doors for the future. It is prevelant throughout the novel in each of the characters.
Ann, she was born a poor, pudgy, average girl who had prospects of a future. She was destined to a life of servitude and labor. But when the ultimate oppurtunity approaches, she has to swallow her past and do something for herself for the first time in her life. She had always been a talented singer and when she and her friends sneak away from Spence to fulfill her dream, she forgets to past and throws herself into her new profession.
Felicity, she had been raped by her father multiple times as a small child, shielding her from love from any man. Her best friend had died in the first book, but Pippa was not only her best friend she was her lover as well. This loss shood Felicity to the core, but she had to let her go and move on. Once she let that idea go, she moved to Paris in hopes of loving and living again.
Gemma, her mother had been murdered, her father was addicted to opium, she had an unloving brother, she was burdened with magic, and her boyfriend sacrificed himself for her. Her life was constant harship, but her feminist independent views pulled through. After her Spence education, she moved to New York, in hopes of a new future of freedom and unrestricting love and friendship once again.

Desire

Uncontrollable desire wraps each of the young girls at Spence. Felicity simply cannot get enough of her beloved Pippa, feeling genuine happiness again in her life. Ann auditions as the lovely Nan Washbrad for a musical and is victorious, never in her life has she felt such happiness and glee. And Gemma is uncontrollably in love with Kartik for she dreams of him nonstop and is her object of affection and desire. The magic is also addictive for each of the girls. They feel they need it to be happy and is like a seductive drug, getting worse with time. Gemma is now using her undefined magic in her real life not only the realms. She uses it to temporarily fixed her messed up family, trick teachers, transform Ann into Nan Washbrad, and to make herself feel better when her life is dismal. The return of Miss McCleethy is of utter joy for most of the students at Spence Academy except the trio. She is a member of the Order, hungry for power. Gemma is surrounded by schemes and plans but none of them are revealed to her or the reader. Libba Bray makes the reader feel as if they were Gemma Doyle because both Gemma and they want to know what is going on in the Realms and figure out the ploys.

Magic Returns

The construction of the East Wing is the entertainment for the girls of Spence Academy in a form they've never had before, men. They never miss an oppurtunity to go over and "check out how the construction is going" or "sketch the new East Wing". But Gemma is utterly disappointed when Kartik is not among the bunch of workers, a pang of worry disrupting her heart. One misty night, Gemma is able to open the realms back up again because of the new door in the East Wing (where the Winterlands were closed forever). She frantically grabs Felicity and Ann and are overjoyed to be back in the realms at last. Felicity, the archer, Ann, the beautiful singer, and Gemma, the magical one all play with the thing they missed most in their lives. But getting back into the realms is not all fun and games, alliances must be formed and magic restored. Worst of all, when they the deceased Pippa, she is not the same as she used to be. One of the themes of the book is desire is uncontrollable, this is proved when Felicity is blinded just by the mere sight of Pippa. Also they raving desire for magic is worrying because they need to share it and not be greedy, or the whole magical world will go into chaos. Their teenage hormones raging along with the magic, anything could happen next.

New Troubles at Spence

At the beginning of this book, it starts off right after winter break (when Gemma closed the realms). Ann, the low esteemed troubled girl, has to deal with all of her fellow classmates being debuted in the spring while she is stuck being the maid for her cousins because she is from a poor family and is at Spence on a schaolarship. Not only does she have to deal with her friends recieving all of her dreams but now that the realms are closed, she has no sanctuary to be what she wants to be. She has always given herself cuts on her arms, but Gemma instinctively notices that they have started coming in more frequent intervals. And Gemma's other best friend, Felicity, is the rebel who seems to have everything she wants handed to her. But little does Felicity know that she may not be sponsored to have a debut, therefore not allowing her her grandmother's fortune, which would force Felicity to grovel at her father's feet. Both friends nag Gemma to open the realms again, but Gemma simply cannot make the shimmering door appear in her mind. Kartik also has not been seen since the last realms trip, which depresses Gemma, for she longs to see her face and kiss his lips once more.

The Sweetest Far Thing

This novel is the ending of the trilogy including The Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and now finally The Sweetest Far Thing. These novels create a new world from the late 1800s Britain, a place where women were expected to be poised and elegant and to follow all of the rules. When Gemma Doyle is forcefully relocated to Spence Academy, a school made to get girls ready for their debuts, she turns the tables around. She and her friends, Felicity and Ann, make their own stories as they prepare to become women. But that's not the only thing that's special about Gemma, she has a fantastic power of being able to go into another world, the realms. This is a place where a person can be whatever they want to be, stunningly beautiful, amazing singer, have the guy of a girls' dream. But it is not all fun and games when Gemma if forced to leave her beloved Pippa behind and close them off to all magic forever. To add to her mix of confusion, she falls in love with an off limits, gypsie guy named Kartik, who is mysterious and handsome. Her drug addicted father does not help the matter and her over-the-top conservative brother only seems to make matters worse as she fights to find what is right and how to set her world right again.

Arranged Marriages

Arranged marriages could turn out good or bad in certain cases of Chinese women. For example Lily was very lucky with her match. He was from a wealthy, high ranking family which brought Lily up and he was an honorable man. They had a love for each other that was brought out mostly by when they were seperated. They worried for each other when they were apart and both loved their children dearly. Lily also did all she could to please him, this way she could get what she wanted but also because her husband had done so much for her. Lily also became Lady Lu, a prominent figure in Chinese history. She bore 3 handsome sons and one beautful daughter who were the prized possessions for both of them. But it could go drastically the other way for some women, such as Snow Flower. She was married to a butcher, the lowest on the status chain. This also implied that he sinned daily, killing animals and eating them greedily. He also beat Snow Flower frequently for no reason. Although she was an obedient loving wife, he did not recognize this until she was on her death bed (because of his beatings!). Arranged marriages stuck women with men they did not love most of the time and also could be fatal in terms of emotional and physical health.

Love

There are many types of love in this novel. I believe the saddest love of all is the one between parent and a daughter. "We love our parents because they take care of us, but we are considered worthless branches on the family tree. We drain the family resources. We are raised by one family for another. As happy as we are in our natal families, we all know that parting is inevitable" (See 59). This proves that girls were truly "worthless". Their only reason for life was to breed sons and if they did not do that, they were shunned and humiliated because the husband would soon pick up concubines. To be a woman it meant obedience. If a woman was obedient they were welcomed into their new home and if they bred sons they were praised. All Lily wanted in the book was attention from her parents, love from them, and later on the attention and praise from her in-laws. She did this through obedience because she knew them they would notice her. She followed all of the rules and suggestions during her pregnancies and was so awarded by three sons and a daughter, Jade. But when her in-laws died she then became Lady Lu, she finally had the power in the household. But obedience was still drilled into her heart and brain, affecting her relationships with her true friends and family.

Snow Flower's Character

Snow Flower led a desolent life. She began it as a wealthy baby with everything a young Chinese girl would want. She had the clothes, recognition, and the house. But everything went downhill when her father became addicted to opium. He spent all of his money on the useless drug and did not plan to make any more money. As her lifestyle spun down her match maker aunt made a laotong match for her with a rising girl. She had to learn how to do chores, eat less, and made do with what a family has. Her laotong Lily brought inspiration to her and kept her going in life. She felt a deep passionate love for this girl and she taught her valuable life lessons. Even with almost perfectly bound feet Snow Flower was left to marry a butcher, the lowest on the status chain possible. He was not only a sinful, dishonest man but he also beat her mercilessly. Snow Flower had many miscarriages (most likely from the beatings) but then he would get angry that she miscarried. She was completely stuck, the only relief was Lily. But then Lily changed, she started to give Snow Flower practical not loving advice and soon cut off from Snow Flower completely. On her death bed was the last time she witnessed her laotong's love and it was final relief going in to the afterworld.

Lily's Character

Transformation was prevelant throughout this entire novel. A carefree child running the plains of China to a foot bound obedient girl. A lonely daughter longing listlessly for love to a much desired and loved woman. A loyal and loving friend to a cold heartless mistress. Although not all of these transformation were positive it proved that all of the obstacles in Lily's life happened for a reason and her character throughly changed through her life. People coming and leaving Lily's life also influenced her drastic differences. Snow Flower, her husband, Master and Lady Lu, and her children all played a role in her transformations. Other than the obvious physical changes that occurred when she became a lady she also felt the emotional struggles and strains. Her only relief was her new found laotong who came into her life at the exact correct moment. But becoming Lady Lu did not completely benefit her well being. She began to concentrate more on money and her husband, not realizing that she was pushing away her best friend. She had been trained so hard that she did not contemplate that the rules aren't always for the best, they do not always benefit everybody. As a lady there are certains things that are not allowed but some should be broken...