Dragon song: origins and cultural significance

Dragonsong

Metaphor, "the coast was bare as rock" (14). Imagery, "The Red Star again spun close to Pern, winking with a baleful red eye" (McCaffrey xii). Simile - "And since the old auth had a memory like a seine net" (47). Hyperbole - {Hoping that she wouldn't pull down the Cliffside and bury the queen, clutch and all" (56). Personification - "When the little queen saw Menolly putting the eggs in the sack, she began to have hysterics" (56). All of these literary devices add texture and depth to the novel, and make it more than just narration. They illustrate the characters and make the novel more interesting to read.

Vocabulary - Telepathic (noun) - "Men and women with high empathy ratings or some innate telepathic abilities were trained [...] (x). It means to communicate without using the senses, like speech. Fosterling (noun) - it means a foster child, not a "true" child. "Yanus had told Elgion that a fosterling had undertaken the task" (43). Nebulous (adjective) - cloudy, misty, or lacking form. "Even something nebulous as fog" (63). Unorthodox - (adjective) "Her unorthodox behavior had waned" (64). It means not conventional. Imperious - (adjective) it means overbearing or domineering. "Squeaking an imperious command to her followers" (72).

Menolly - "So, Menolly took her sleeping furs and a glow and went to one of the unused inner rooms where no one would find her" (63). She is a loner, and can get along on her own. "Curling around her hand as she spread oil on their softer belly side" (91). She is kind and gentle, and cares about others. She'd a little pipe among her things, a soft, whispery reedpipe, and she began to play it" (15). This shows she loves her music, and she is a good musician, an important part of the story.

The Little Queen - "The little queen's furious complaints" (56). The author wants to make the little queen seem almost human, so she gives her human qualities. "The queen marshalling her bronzes to position her eggs just right" (57). She is a leader, and this shows it. "She squeaked shrilly at the others." (89). She is a leader, but she has a fiery temper, too.

The story is about Menolly in the fantasy land of Pern. She is a special girl who can play music, even though she isn't supposed to, and who wants to be different from other people. She runs away because she cannot play her music, and develops her independence and sense of herself while she lives in the cave and takes care of the fire-lizard babies. She has many adventures, and learns there are other societies that are more liberal than her own. Finally, her own Harper finds her and discovers she wrote two of the songs he sings, and he allows her to take her place at Harper Hall to try to become a leader of her people.

Theme - the theme of the novel is the roles of men and women, and that Menolly cannot do the same things men can do. "Yanus would certainly have looked askance at any able-bodied lad who spent too much time tuning" (80). No one will admit a girl can be a tuner, or should be a tuner. "She wondered if he didn't want her - a mere girl - to play men's songs" (16). This shows her place in society and how she does not fit in. "I must have one basin for the greens, auntie" (29). The women do "women's" work like cooking and cleaning, and take care of the men; they don't have an equal society.