Essay On Crispin The Cross Of Lead

The novel Crispin: The Cross of Lead, written by Avi, is a medieval tale that intertwines drama and action with an underlying theme of the intersection of fate and social status. The book is set in England in 1377, during Europe’s dark ages, and its protagonist is a peasant boy on a feudal manor. Social structure during this time was very rigid, and Avi uses it as both context and a theme. Crispin, as a serf bound to his lord’s land, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. But as he grows and becomes more independent, Crispin discovers that he can transcend the social boundaries that precluded his freedom for so long. The story of Crispin begins with two main characters: the young Crispin and the burly jester known as Bear. Though they both had similar beginnings, Crispin and Bear led very different lives before they met. Crispin, on one hand, was born an impoverished peasant boy in the tiny village of Stromford as the son of the wealthy Lord Furnival and his out-of-wedlock partner, a woman known as Asta. Because of his illegitimacy, Crispin “existed in a shadow” (pg. 12 ch. 3), seemingly fated to lead a servile existence as a serf. Only the passing of his

One of the most prominent reasons for this change is his pursuit by John Aycliffe's men and the subsequent revelation that he is Lord Furnival’s son. Widow Daventry tells Crispin that his noble blood “is only… poison” (pg. 247 ch. 49), and Crispin realizes that “to be a Furnival would be part of a bondage,” (pg. 253 ch. 50). He learns the details of Bear and John Ball’s brotherhood, and how they believed that the social structure “was wrong and could be made right” (pg. 229 ch. 45). When Crispin finally rescues Bear from the dungeons and leaves the city, he truly becomes an unfettered master of his own destiny, no longer content with being disconsolate and condemned to a life of