The Tale of Despereaux — Chapter 1

Narration Prompt

Summarize the chapter in no more than four sentences. Then identify the literary or philosophical tradition the chapter is participating in, and evaluate whether DiCamillo extends the tradition or merely borrows from it.

Discussion Questions

1. DiCamillo's opening sentence is a deliberate annunciation scene drawing on the Christian iconography of Mary and Gabriel. Is the borrowing conscious literary craft, an unconscious convergence on a universal pattern, or a deliberate ecumenical gesture that lets readers of different traditions recognize their own myths in the same image?
2. Despereaux's name (from 'despair') is in tension with his behavior (smiling at light from the moment of birth). Is DiCamillo making a philosophical claim about the relationship between language and identity, and does this claim relate to the long debate between essentialism (names determine destiny) and existentialism (we make our own meaning)?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide