Book report,‘Tooth and Claw’ by Jo Walton

Book report,‘Tooth and Claw’ by Jo Walton

Introduction:

‘Tooth and Claw’ was written by Jo Walton and was first published in November 2003 by Tor Books Publishers in the U.S. The book is classified under the genre of fantasy. It fits in perfectly as the characters used are imaginary. Walton uses dragons as the characters in the book, but the setting represents a human society of leadership, the church, servants and retainers, among other themes. The book won the best novel of World Fantasy Award in 2004.

Plot

The book is a tale of a family of dragons. It begins by the death of the father dragon, Bon Agornin, who confesses to his son Penn, before he dies. Confession to any local parson was against the rules of the current religion. Therefore, if anyone knew that Penn had heard the confession, he would be thrown out of the church. He gets confident when he realizes that no one will come to know of it if he does not speak about it. According to Walton (2003) fantasy novel, dragons were known to eat dragons to gain strength and power ritually. Therefore, on the death of their father, Penn suggested they should eat his remains to grow in strength and energy and also always to remember him. However, one of their brothers-in-law, Daverak, consumes more share of the dead dragon than the other, which creates a chain of disastrous events for each sibling.

One of the brothers, Avan, gets determined to sue Daverak for his greedy action. However, Penn does not want to pursue the matter as he fears that if he is called in to give evidence, he would feel compelled to mention the confession. The sisters get split up, and Selendra ends up living with Penn, while Haner lives with Daverak and her sister. The children had a pact because their father was only able to leave them a little money. The agreement was that they should all combine their share and whoever gets a marriage proposal first, uses the whole stock for their dowry. After getting the approval of the others, he would then bring the other sister to live with them.

Human Nature

The story reflects human nature well. First, there is the nature of greed that is expressed by the character, Daverak, who decides to have a more significant share of the dragon to himself. The fact that he was not a close member of the family but an in-law; he sets a chain of disaster that befalls the siblings due to his act. The second human nature illustrated is the secrecy that is portrayed by many characters in the book. First, the story begins with the father dragon in his death bed confessing something he did to his son. He told him his youthful indiscretion that he ate his sister and brother for no good reason, thus entrusting Penn with the secret. Such an act of confession was against the laws of the religion; therefore, Penn knew that knowing such information could get him in trouble. However, he convinces himself that the secret will be safe since the father was dying; thus, no one else would know about it.

Human Relationship

In the fantasy novel, Walton talks about the relationships among the dragons. Bon Agornin, the father dragon who dies at the beginning of the book, entrusts a big secret to his local parson of a son, Penn. Penn, on the other hand, knowing that hearing a confession is against the rules of the current religion, swears to keep the secret to himself. There is also a close relationship among the sibling dragons, especially when it came to sharing the wealth their father left for them. They agree to combine their wealth and agree that whoever gets a marriage proposal first, would use it all to pay off the dowry. He will then take one sister and live with her until she also gets betrothed and become independent. The siblings are connected by a family bond so strong that strengthens their relationship.

Human development

The dragons in the book live in a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses. They live in a society governed by rules meant to be adhered to. The community is also of traditions that are respected and leads to consequences if disobeyed. For instance, the burial ritual of a dead dragon involves a traditional feast where the members of the family feed on the dead dragon to gain strength and power and to grow in size. In Bon Agornin’s case, the siblings were meant to feed on his body after his death. However, the greedy Daverak decides to have a more significant share of the dead dragon to himself, despite him being just an in-law to the original siblings. The siblings meant to have an equal share of the dragon end up having less than expected.  This act sets a chain of calamities that befall the sibling dragons illustrated throughout the novel.

The dragons are also governed by a current religion that had its do’s and don’ts. For instance, the prevailing religion forbade any confession to a local parson as that was the ways of the old faith. When Penn hears a confession from his father on his death bed, he knows that it is against the rules of the current religion and he might be thrown out of the church if anyone came to know of it. When Avan decided to sue Daverak for his act of having the most significant share of their dead father, Penn knows that he cannot provide evidence of what their father said in his death bed without mentioning the confession part. Therefore, he has no choice but to take Daverak’s side since he is weaker than the other dragon; thus, he cannot win the fight.

Analysis of the Writing

Walton, in his fantasy novel ‘Tooth and Claw’ talks about the traditions and the general living of dragons. He begins with the death of a patriarch, followed by the squabbles of the siblings over the inheritance. She also talks about three dragon sisters who are trying to secure a position in the dragon world of falling in love and being independent to avoid being eaten. Walton revolves the life of the sibling dragons that go through calamities due to the sins of their brother-in-law. Thus, Walton talks about the traditions in the dragon society, i.e. the consuming of a dead dragon by the remaining ones to grow in size and gain strength.  The rivalry revolving against the siblings is not based on money or land; it is the consumption of their father by an outsider, which raises the inheritance in question.

Walton also personifies those characters in the story by giving them human character traits. Despite them being dragons, Walton describes them as being religious, classifies them based on different social classes and also talks about the privileges of females and males in society. She mentions of dragons riding trains and carriages, doing paperwork, wearing fancy hats and wigs, and drinking beer. All these are not expected of dragons as they are human traits. Furthermore, the thought of dragons carrying out these activities is unimaginable, especially with all the claws they had. Walton used exaggeration when describing these dragons and their characters in the novel.

More so, Walton talks about the place of females in society. Females are expected to get married off when they reach of age. In Walton’s novel, she talks about the sibling sisters, Selandra and Haner. According to dragons, a female is expected to turn to a blushing pink to show betrothal, and thus should be betrothed to the male dragon. However, Selendra ends up blushing for the wrong male and uses a portion to turn back to golden. This act makes her unable to turn pink again thus is married off to the irresponsible Sher, who only stood a chance in gaining the wealth once he settled down.

Type of Narrator

The fantasy novel by Jo Walton ‘Tooth and Claw’ uses the third-person view, who is the omniscient narrator. This is the all-knowing and all-seeing narrator type as he/she tells or shows the reader what each character thinks and feels in every scene, freely because he/she is not one of them. Walton talks about fictional characters, and she gives them the human traits, tells their stories and describes their actions according to her. This makes her the omniscient narrator.

Conclusion

This fantasy story is exciting due to the characters used and how they have been personified to express human traits. The characterization is excellent, and the storyline is captivating as it talks about the traditions among the dragons and how they solve conflicts, which in this case entails a court scene.

References

De Jong, I.J.F & Nunlist, R. (2016). Narrators, Narrates, and Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature. Pp. 545-553.

Jo Walton. (2003). Tooth and Claw. Tor Books Publishers; U.S.

Kronfeldner, M., Roughley, N & Toepfer, G. (2014). Recent Work on Human Nature: Beyond Traditional Essences. Philosophy Compass. 9(9), Pp. 642-652.