"Courage, Truth, and Honor"

The Tale of Despereaux

A. Synopsis of the Plot:

A curious little rat named Roscuro falls into the Queen of Dor's soup on the infamous soup day.
It frightens the timid queen so much so that she dies and leaves the king and her daughter, Princess Pea, to mourn and consequently ban soup day and all rat kind. Roscuro trying to escape the guards falls into the dungeon which is also Ratworld and it found by the leader and taken under he wing. Everyone in the kingdom of Dor becomes so sad that all the colors leave and it stops raining. At the same time a courageous mouse named Despereaux is exiled to Ratworld for the inability to be taught mouse like behavior at mouse school, like scurrying about, timidity, and the tendency to be easily frightened. Also at the same time a servant girl to the Princess Pea named Miggery Sow wants so bad to be a princess herself very badly. Roscuro tries to make things right with Princess Pea and apologize but she instead goes into a panic attack when she sees him. He is so upset that he talks Miggery into kidnapping the princess so they can eat her in Ratworld. Despereaux comes to her rescue and she is saved.

B. Characters:

• Roscuro: Is a sea rat with pirate like clothing and an earring. Is thoughts at first are noble, but like anyone who has ever been hurt he falls into heartbreak and seeks revenge. You know that his character is truly good because in the end he forgives Princess Pea and helps save her life. This change of character makes him a round, dynamic charcter.
• Despereaux: "A hero doesn't appear until the worls really needs one"

Is a petite mouse with larger than life ears. He is unlike the other mice in that he is naturally corious instead of timid or scared. He learns to channel his natural curiousnes into courageousness when he reads a story book about a gentlemen knight. This makes him a round, dynamic character as well.

• Miggery Sow: "She had so much heart that it left a mark on her back"
  

Is a heavy set servant girl/ pig feeder who resembles a pig herself. She wishes to become a princess so badly that she ends up stealing some of her things to pretend. This longing is so deep that she is convinced by a rat to kidnap the princess so she herself can take the thrown. After the princess is recovered she ends up finding her real father, she was adopted, and she learns to be content with her life as "his princess". This makes her a flat, dynamic character.

• Princess Pea: "Whenever you have hope you are nobody's prisoner"
  

Is a beautiful long blonde haired young girl, with big blue eyes. She is the kings daughter. She feels a prisoner to the grievous state that her father makes the kingdom after her mother dies, but somehow she keeps hope. She wishes that things would go back to the way they used to be. She has agrudge in her heart against Ros for the death of her mother but learns to forgive him in the end, and there by freeing the color back into the kingdom of Dor and causing it to rain. This makes her a round, dynamic character.

C. Discussion Questions:

• In this film, the scene being shown sometimes contradicts what the narrator is saying. Can you point to any instances of this? What might the contradiction mean?

In the very begunning of the story the narrator tells us that rats hate the sun, they sneek around because they are afraid of people, and they never ever talk. While she is saying this you see Ros wake up on a ship in the sunlight stretch and walk over to his human friend and have a discussion about a fairy tale story. I think this reminds us that the point of fairy tales is making our own assumptions and applications. If all we ever do is read literature for the aphabetical words we will miss a vital part.

• How does the story deal with harsh, realities such as poverty, death, and greed with children involved?

The story teaches about how poverty can lead to a since of "rule breaking". That point of desperation causes people, and in this case rats, to make desicions they would not normally make based on need. They address death as being gloomy, but stressing the point not to stay int that state of grieving for too long, because you will miss the things you naturally love. They adress greed along with the first point I was talking about.

• This story takes on the form of a fairy tale (for children, nonetheless). As with many fairy tales, there is no “clear” moral and yet there are clearly important issues of morality discussed. In general, are fairy tales useful for examining our lives? In particular, is this one? How?

I think you can examine your life in the most petty things. Jesus discribed our worries in accordance with one small bird, saying that he supplied the bird's needs and that we should never worry. In this way, I can examine my life and my worries. It is not the WAY you examine yourself, it is what you do with your examinations. This story is useful in teaching forgiveness. Everyone needs to forgive because that unforgiveness can cause us to unintentionally hurt someone we do not mean to in the process.