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

mother and the news of Lord Furnival’s death gave him a reason to flee.
Bear, meanwhile, was raised to be a priest, but he ran off to join a traveling circus. Adept in the arts of music and performance, he is opposed to the government and church, and has adopted the motto “Let it be as it may be!” (pg. 75 ch. 16). While Crispin is confined to the social structure, Bear seems to transcend it. The differences between the two are highlighted when the two first meet in an abandoned town. The terrified Crispin says Bear’s ideas “sound like… treason,” (pg. 75 ch. 16), and becomes “convinced that Bear was mad.” (pg. 100 ch. 21).
As the pair begin their life together, however, Crispin starts to embrace his master’s ideas. These changes do not come easily, and Crispin still finds himself sinful and destined to go to hell. He tells himself “I am only bad” (pg. 111 ch. 24) and that Father Quinel’s death was God punishing him. Crispin is also shocked by Bear’s ideas that “every man should be a master of himself” (pg. 112 ch. 24), and responds that “all men belonged to someone,” and “God himself put us in all our places” (pg 116 ch. 24). Nevertheless, the numerous people he spies on the way to and in Great Wexly shows him that servitude and aristocracy are not the only available ways of life. Crispin even states that he “saw more people in one moment than I had seen in all my life together,” (pg. 166 ch. 34).
It is only in the final section of the book that Crispin fully understands the possibility of taking control over his own destiny.

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

poverty.
Over the course of Crispin: The Cross of Lead, innumerable changes occur in all aspects of the story. One of the most intriguing themes of this book, however, is Crispin’s transition from a life confined to the feudal system to one where he doesn’t let fate and status control him. Avi uses this theme to not only add to the story, but also provide a setting that is beginning to see signs of change. After all, it was during this time that political and economic changes began to erode the foundations of life during Europe’s Dark Ages. The author also adds to the atmosphere by using a slew of medieval terms and details. The story does, however, progress quite slowly until the end, and parts of the book do seem somewhat unrealistic. And yet in spite of its flaws, Avi’s novel Crispin: The Cross of Lead is a truly wonderful read that is recommended to anyone interested in historical fiction.