The Arrow Of The Queen Essay

“Arrows Of The Queen” is a story that teaches us many lessons. In “Arrows Of The Queen” the author uses the motifs Abuse, Friendship, and Duty. A motif is a recurring theme, idea, or subject in a literary work. These motifs help readers connect and learn life lessons.

Abuse is the most prevalent motif in the book. The story is about the main character Talia overcoming many abusive things in her life. She was emotionally and physically abused as part of the daily life in her home, but was also emotionally and physically abused in particular by her handsome older brother, Justus. Even in the first few chapters, the author stated what Talia’s normal life was like. This was done by saying “... if Keldar lacked the necessary tools to accomplish the breaking and bending,there were others among the Holderkin who suffered no such lack” (11-12). This implies that Talia and other children in the book have been beaten many times before. From her brother, who was described as being “beautiful”, she learned to fear mean in general, and good looking men in particular. This makes it hard for her to develop trust and friendships with men once she gets out of her home and into the Collegium.

While abuse is the most prevalent motif, friendship is the second most prevalent motif in the story.

In the story, Talia learns that the best way to help herself prevent future abuse and get over past abuse is to make and be around friends. She realizes this when she is told by her first teacher-friend “...the more friends you have, the better protected you will be” (166). This shows that Talia needs to make friends to help her through bad areas in life. She starts with the girls she spends the most time with, and two of her teachers. As her first year goes on, she also becomes friends with a boy, Skif, and a retired herald, Jadus. These two become a big part of her adjusting to her new life, and getting through her problems with the Blues who target her for more

bullying.

The third most prevalent motif in the story is duty. The story gives the impression that the heralds and heralds in training are to put duty ahead of everything else, no matter what the other consequences to themselves may be. This impression is given strongly when Talia says to the queen of Valdemar, the main kingdom in the book, “... you had no choice at all; you acted for the good of all our people.” (192). This shows that she understands that sometimes hard choices need to be made, and the person who makes them has to consider the good of the country and all of the people, before her own friendships. Duty is what the Heralds of Valdemar do. They often give up any chance of a normal life to complete their duties to the country.

The author chose to put these motifs in her work to help the reader feel empathy for the main character. The reader builds a relationship with the characters by understanding what they have gone through. Readers also learn the lesson of building friendships in life to help get through the harder times in their own lives. The motif of duty helps the reader to realize and understand that some things in life have to come before others. These are some of the main lessons that are presented to readers to learn in real life.