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Pickles the Fire Cat as monomythic hero
Nov. 17th, 2010 11:48 pmYou know, I'm somewhat skeptical about the universality of Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces scheme, but yesterday I noticed that Pickles, the titular hero of Esther Averill's The Fire Cat, actually goes through most of the stages of a classic Hero's Journey.
He's got the female helper (Mrs. Goodkind) and the mysterious sage mentor given to gnomic utterances ("a Fire Chief knows many things"). He's got a Chosen One prophecy of sorts (look at his big paws!) There's a quasi-Call and Refusal of the Call (the abortive adoption by Mrs. Goodkind and Pickles' return to his barrel).
The Crossing of the First Threshold is his stranding in a tree (after cruelly harassing another cat) and rescue by Joe the fireman; then we have a gradual initiation into the world of the firehouse, as Pickles experiences the self-imposed trials of learning to slide down the pole, ride on the truck and assist in firefighting. There isn't a Temptress.[1] But Pickles' great confrontation is internal, his mastery over his own youthful irresponsibility and hostility toward littler cats.
After being awarded the Ultimate Boon by the father/mentor (his fire hat), Pickles then has to take the additional step of learning kindness to his fellow cats, finally returning full circle in the redemptive rescue of another cat in the aforementioned tree behind Mrs. Goodkind's house, and revealing himself as master of two worlds.
I think that of all of Jorie's storybooks, it's the one that fits the schema best (several of Bill Peet's books hint at it, but are far looser, and William Steig's original Shrek! is a parodic inversion). It's the circular structure, ending with Pickles returning transformed, that really does it.
1. This guy says Pickles is gay, but his evidence is even flimsier than mine; then again, these old hero stories always have a lot of homosociality in them, at the very least. But the book doesn't really function very well as a subversive celebration of diversity, given the homogeneous-looking human cast and traditional gender roles; it seems old-fashioned even for 1960. For that you'd be better off with, say, Todd Parr.
He's got the female helper (Mrs. Goodkind) and the mysterious sage mentor given to gnomic utterances ("a Fire Chief knows many things"). He's got a Chosen One prophecy of sorts (look at his big paws!) There's a quasi-Call and Refusal of the Call (the abortive adoption by Mrs. Goodkind and Pickles' return to his barrel).
The Crossing of the First Threshold is his stranding in a tree (after cruelly harassing another cat) and rescue by Joe the fireman; then we have a gradual initiation into the world of the firehouse, as Pickles experiences the self-imposed trials of learning to slide down the pole, ride on the truck and assist in firefighting. There isn't a Temptress.[1] But Pickles' great confrontation is internal, his mastery over his own youthful irresponsibility and hostility toward littler cats.
After being awarded the Ultimate Boon by the father/mentor (his fire hat), Pickles then has to take the additional step of learning kindness to his fellow cats, finally returning full circle in the redemptive rescue of another cat in the aforementioned tree behind Mrs. Goodkind's house, and revealing himself as master of two worlds.
I think that of all of Jorie's storybooks, it's the one that fits the schema best (several of Bill Peet's books hint at it, but are far looser, and William Steig's original Shrek! is a parodic inversion). It's the circular structure, ending with Pickles returning transformed, that really does it.
1. This guy says Pickles is gay, but his evidence is even flimsier than mine; then again, these old hero stories always have a lot of homosociality in them, at the very least. But the book doesn't really function very well as a subversive celebration of diversity, given the homogeneous-looking human cast and traditional gender roles; it seems old-fashioned even for 1960. For that you'd be better off with, say, Todd Parr.