Student Writer: Emma Hohmann

This week’s featured writer: Emma Hohmann

School: Saint Stanislaus School

Age: 10

Grade: 5

Teacher: Mrs. Falkowski

What have you learned in school that makes you a better writer? To have structure in what you are writing.  Don’t say one thing In a sentence and then a totally different thing in a sentence.

What is your favorite book? Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

What do you like to do outside of school? I like to play soccer and in the winter time I like to ski.  I also like to read.

Emma’s writing:        

Once Upon a Time the Light was Good

And the Dark Was Evil

Kate Dicamillo, the author of The Tale of Despereaux, uses light to represent goodness and dark to represent evil by having good things in the light and evil things in the dark.   In the light she wrote about the good mice and people.  The people filled with the most goodness and light in their heart are Princess Pea and Despereaux.   In the dark she wrote the evil rats and prisoners. But not everyone in the dark is bad, like Chiaroscuro who in the beginning is half good and at the end of the book becomes all good.

            Chiaroscuro also known as Roscuro “a rat with manners” says Miggery Sow (p167), throughout the book is good and evil. When he was young he saw light for the first time, when he saw it he did not look away, for he let the light and goodness dance inside of him. In the middle of the book he becomes evil and wants revenge. He sat alone in the dark for the rest of the time before his evil plan fell into place. That is one way Kate Dicamillo made evil represent the dark and light to represent goodness, through Roscuro.  

            To have light represent goodness and dark to represent evilness she wrote about soup because it always brightened up people’s days. In the light all the good people loved soup but the good queen loved it the most. During the middle part of the book soup was made illegal after the queen died from it her last words were “there is a rat in my soup” (p112). Soup was somewhat evil and was put in the darkness in the dungeon were the evil rats are. That’s another way goodness represents light and evilness represents the dark.

            Miggery Sow described as a “cauliflower-eared” (p154) girl is both good and evil. She is good in the beginning but things changed after she went down in the dungeon to deliver the jailer’s meal. She is tricked and thinks that the evil plan she is about to do is going to let her become the princess. She does not realize that she is being evil at the time, because she is not “the sharpest knife in the drawer” (p152). That’s another way its shown that goodness is light and evilness is dark.

            Kate Dicamillo used these images and many things to have light represent goodness and evil to represent darkness.  These images are shown throughout the book The Tale Of Despereaux. My opinion of the book is that its action filled and filled with light and darkness. The whole book is about two sides living in two separate places one dark and evil and one full of lightness and good. That’s how Kate Dicamillo has light represent good and dark represent evil.