#polly whittacker

1. the Heroic Ideal

2. Polly Whittacker is the biggest bookworm and overall wonderful protagonist

3. Granny is THE most wonderful back-up parent for a kid with two shitty actual parents

4. multiple female friendships! close ones! 

  a. Polly grows out of and into her friendships. Nina was a great childhood friend, but Polly had more in common with Fiona as an older teen then college student, and both friendships were important to her life and growth!

5. Thomas Lynn

6. The way Tom:

  a. heroically drives his horse-car

  b. plays the cello

  c. understands Polly

  d. also understands Granny’s perspective

7. Polly’s emotional range! How her soft-heartedness leads her to be overly nice to undeserving people like David Bragge and Seb, and yet she can also stand up for herself to Seb and Mr. Leroy and Mr. Piper.

8. the entire Bristol scene, which went from a raw and emotional low point where Polly feels “bleached” to the lovely relief of meeting the Dumas quartet

9. who doesn’t love a good Tam Lin retelling? 

10. Diana Wynne Jones actually wrote an essay called “The Heroic Ideal” about why she wrote Fire and Hemlock

11. the logic Polly and Tom learn to follow to outsmart Laurel and the Leroys

12. Tan Coul and Hero, and their friends Tan Thare, Tan Hanivar, and Tan Audel

13. how Tom sent Polly books from all around the country

14. how those books nearly always included heavy-handed hints about his situation that she never quite connected

   a. how she was annoyed that he never said he was in trouble, but realized HE HAD MADE SURE SHE KNEW

15. the NOWHERE vases

16. their Tales From Nowhere

17. Mintchoc

18. “being a hero means ignoring how silly you feel”

19. the devastating effects of embarrassment 

20. letters 

21. overall how beautiful and clever Diana Wynne Jones’s words are