Term of Award

Spring 2019

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English (M.A.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Literature

Committee Chair

Richard Flynn

Committee Member 1

Robert Costomiris

Committee Member 2

Caren Town

Abstract

Children’s fantasy series have been set in the Medieval Era, a way to explore contemporary themes. This use of the Medieval Era is known as medievalism, where authors can explore contemporary issues by comparing them to the past (Bradford 3). Brian Jacques, the author of the popular children’s series Redwall, uses many aspects of the Medieval Era such as prophecies, glory, and battle, and visions or dreams to effectively spin a good yarn while commenting on the religious development of England in the late twentieth century. English moral was down due to the devastation of World War Two and religious ideals were facing rebuke by the rising notions of secularism. To present this in his series, Jacques's use of Medieval religion is superficial because his characters do not recognize the Christian God. Instead, the Redwallers follow the call of Martin the Warrior, Redwall Abbey’s, patron and founder. In addition, Jacques makes use of Arthurian legend to set Martin apart from the other warriors and woodlanders in the texts Martin the Warrior and. By the end of Luke the Warrior, Martin has become the spiritual center of the texts, and his spirit returns to guide the Redwallers in times of danger. The Redwallers do not believe in a heaven or a hell (though an afterlife is mentioned in Mossflower) and Martin returns to secure earthly paradise and not to grant heavenly salvation.

OCLC Number

1111578180

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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