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67 pages 2 hours read

Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017

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Symbols & Motifs

Dreams and Nightmares

The most significant motif in the novel are dreams, which take different forms in the novel. Dreams are established as a significant motif in Chapter 1, with Lazlo’s vivid imagination and fantasies of Weep, and in Chapter 2 when the reader learns Lazlo’s eponymous nickname for the first time: Strange the Dreamer. Dreams are the primary motif associated with Lazlo, and they inform his greatest strengths—hope, optimism, faith, and knowledge of magic—in the novel.

When Sarai is introduced in Part 2, she is framed as a foil to Lazlo. Her primary motif contrasts Lazlo’s, for while he is just a dreamer, she is the Muse of Nightmares. Through the motif of nightmares in Sarai’s character arc, Laini Taylor explores the complex nature of good and evil. While dreams are a positive force in relation to Lazlo, in relation to Sarai they become weapons of destruction. Taylor uses the nightmare motif to suggest that there are two sides to every coin; just as nightmares and dreams are made from the same cloth, lines between good and evil are not so clearly defined.

In Part 3, dreams and nightmares intertwine when Sarai enters Lazlo’s dream of Weep. This is ultimately what motivates Sarai to transform the way she uses her gift. Lazlo’s dreams have a special quality to them; they are unlike anything Sarai has ever seen before (215), and to her they are “a realm of wonder” (218). Lazlo’s open-minded, idealized view of Weep, imbued with every fantastical thing from his childhood, allows Sarai to embrace the possibility of hope and transforms her view of herself and her agency.

Together, the motif of nightmares and dreams reflect the novel’s themes on Love’s Capacity to Heal and Transform and The Power of Stories and Fairy Tales. The two are inversions of each other; as Sarai learns that she can turn nightmares into dreams, she unlocks her own potential to choose good instead of helplessly accepting her gift as a curse and reflection of her darkest self. Similarly, Lazlo’s capacity for hope, idealization, and wonder through the gift of his dreams helps him develop the confidence he needs to take action at the end of the novel, as he realizes that it is in the world of dreams that he is most effective (500).

Moths

Moths are first foreshadowed as a motif in the Prologue. Their appearance there, wherein they try to lift the unnamed girl’s body, establishes a connection between moths and magic throughout the story. When Sarai and her gift are introduced in Part 2, the moths symbolize both Sarai’s unconsciousness and the disgust she initially harbors toward her gift. The moths are vehicles for Sarai’s own emotions toward herself, and as her perspective on herself changes throughout the novel, so do her feelings toward her gift.

While the moths are primarily depicted from Sarai’s perspective, Part 3 offers an alternative view of them from Lazlo’s perspective. While for Sarai the moths are manifestations of her darkest self, for Lazlo the moths bring nothing but joy; their presence signals Sarai to him, and they are the tether that keeps the two connected in their dreams. The moths thus become a vehicle for dreams, love, and transformed self-perspective, supporting the theme of Love’s Capacity to Heal and Transform. Ultimately, the moths symbolize Sarai’s character arc in the novel, as she transforms from a character struggling with deep shame and self-disgust into one who can recognize her agency to choose compassion and mercy.

Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are present in the novel from Chapter 1 and recur as a motif throughout the narrative, supporting the theme of the Power of Stories. The novel opens with descriptions of Lazlo’s dreary childhood at the monastery, where his only refuge is his imagination and the stories of Weep. Lazlo’s love for fairy tales drives him throughout Part 1, as he earns a reputation for being a dreamer and having an academic interest in fairy tales. He feels that fairy tales are “reflections of the people who had spun them, and were flecked with little truths” (41), an encapsulation of the role of fairy tales in the narrative. Lazlo’s knowledge of stories and fairy tales consistently grants him special insights and advantages. It is Lazlo’s information from the book Miracles for Breakfast that gives Thyon the secret to the alchemical process that distills gold, and Lazlo’s knowledge of Weep and its stories that earn him a place among Eril-Fane’s delegation. Lazlo accurately predicts Weep’s problem in Chapter 15 because of his knowledge of seraphim myths. The fairy tale motif imbues the setting with a mystical atmosphere, and as Lazlo’s knowledge of fairy tales gives him advantages in the world of Weep, it reinforces the idea that fantasy reflects truths in reality.

Blue

The color blue has a heavy connotation in the city of Weep. The godspawn’s blue skin marks them as Mesarthim and objects of repulsion. It is a physical marker of their separation from humans, one that causes particular feelings of despair and self-loathing in Sarai. Taylor uses repeated similes to alter the tenor of her tone when describing the blue of the godspawn’s skin: “Blue as opals, pale blue. Blue as cornflowers, or dragonfly wings, or a spring—not summer—sky” (2, 92). In latter parts, Taylor adds other similes like “blue as five murders waiting to happen” (92) and “Blue as tyranny and thrall and monsters in the streets” (105). The altered tone distinguishes the discussion of the blue of the godspawn’s skin and signals it as a motif in the novel.

Blue also recurs as a motif in the design of Weep. In the stories Lazlo is told of the city in Chapter 1, and in his dreams of it during Part 3, the streets are lined with lapis lazuli (10, 215). The recurrence of blue in Weep’s design challenges the threatening connotation that might otherwise have been assigned to it through the citizens’ hatred of the gods. The juxtaposition of blue as a motif both in the physical bodies of godspawn and in the color scheme of Weep itself suggests the entwinement of these two worlds. This reinforces the novel’s theme on war, vengeance, and the power of empathy to break cycles of hate and vengeance. The color blue demonstrates the overlap between the two worlds, reinforcing the idea that they have points of connection that they can use to facilitate understanding.

The White Eagle (Wraith)

The white eagle, whom readers later learn through Sarai’s point of view is called Wraith, recurs at several key moments throughout the narrative, although its symbolism is not clear in the novel. Wraith first appears in Chapter 7, heralding the Tizerkane’s arrival in Zosma. When Lazlo mentions the eagle to Eril-Fane, however, the warrior appears disconcerted by the presence of the bird. In Chapter 13, Taylor reveals that it is Wraith who brings the godspawn children the seeds by which they have independently sustained themselves all these years; the godspawn thus regard the eagle as a kind of deity itself. At the end of Part 2, Wraith is seen by the narrator in the sky above Weep as the Godslayer and his delegation ride in, and Lazlo glimpses Wraith in the sky at the end of Part 3 after the disastrous confrontation at the citadel. Wraith’s final appearance is at the end of the novel, when Lazlo finds one of the eagle’s feathers buried in his subconscious in Chapter 61, implying that Wraith may be connected to Lazlo’s true identity.

Because none of the characters in the novel appear to entirely understand the true nature of Wraith, the white eagle is framed as an entity separate from both gods and humans. Wraith’s significance as a symbol is not explained in this novel, although the eagle’s appearances at key moments of the plot suggest that it is some kind of spirit guardian that guides events when necessary. The mystery of the white eagle may receive illumination in later installments.

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