Reflections on Part Two (I don’t have fun title names =(

I’m not gonna lie, as much as enjoyed the second section of Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, I found myself feeling somewhat disappointed in the way McKinley concluded.

Throughout her novel, McKinley challenges traditional genders roles surrounding binary conceptions of strength and courage while using a highly gendered middle-ages society to set the scene. While I did find the first section slow, I felt that McKinley was purposefully elongating the sections in which Aerin questioned herself. I believe that McKinley’s purpose was to construct Aerin’s doubt based in her gender identity. While Mckinley is obvious at times, such as when Aerin ponders her own worth as sola because she considers herself plain, there are other situations which are subtler. The fact that the people assume her to be a witch’s daughter, and that she is known more for her horse riding ability and swordship, both put her in an unfavorable light with the townspeople. However, if she were male both her ridership and ability with a blade would be strong traits for a young warrior, and her right as first sola would guarantee her a spot on the throne and the respect that comes with it. McKinley makes sure that Aerin questions her birthright constantly, so that the reader is aware how little Aerin views her own worth in the kingdom, even as a first sol.

 With all this set-up one would expect Aerin to overcome the odds and become queen but somehow this doesn’t happen. While I was grateful that Aerin became literally the most incredible warrior in the entire book, I was disappointed that this is as far McKinley’s challenge to the patriarchal Damarian society goes (I know that I am leaving out so much that McKinley challenges, but the point of rulership and self-reliance should def be a challenge that is levied). Tor is forcefully made king. While he is just, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Aerin is the rightful heir to the throne, and McKinley makes little to nothing of this. That entire section where Aerin turns down the throne made little sense to me (though if you disagree, please write to me in the comments because I may have missed something =). While I did feel a little disappointed that Aerin gave-up her birthright, I was more disappointed that it was only after she was married to Tor that she was treated well by the people of Damar. To me, this felt like Aerin was unable to be beloved by the people, for whom she fought a dragon and some weird shapeshifting demon dude, were not willing to accept her royal lineage unless the king had approved of her (to be fair Arlbeth was supportive of his daughter, but his distancing from her didn’t help her standings with the citizens of Damar). This is why I am a bit torn on the ending. Though she does rule as queen, it seems like this moment is undercut for the reader by the fact that she is somewhat reliant on Tor. However, I really could be reading this situation wrong, and part 2 took me so long to read with sleepy eyes. If anyone has a point of clarity or wishes to inform me of their opinion on the subject, please leave it in the comments.

 

-Nick Foulon

4 responses to “Reflections on Part Two (I don’t have fun title names =(”

  1. mahinasmith Avatar
    mahinasmith

    I agree wholeheartedly that the ending is a disappointment. Though it is true that Aerin is not the rightful heir to the throne because “her mother wasn’t even permitted to be an Honored Wife” (McKinley 161), I think she should have either challenged that record or told Tor that she did not wish to be queen. Aerin clearly had unfinished business between her and Luthe and it is unfair that she has to force a part herself to “sleep peacefully for many long years” to pay a debt to a country that never gave her anything (McKinley 235). The ending chipped Aerin into a wife sacrificing something greater because she had to do her duty. Her sacrifice is honorable and selfless, but overall it is meaningless because she ends standing in the shadow of her husband. In my opinion, it was not a sacrifice worth making.

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  2. malyschm Avatar
    malyschm

    I agree with both of you that diminishing Aerin’s character by reducing her from hero and ruler in her own right to the secondary wife figure is the literary easy way out. Rather than make a point of a strong female character returning to save her kingdom with all of the respect she is due for accomplishing the (basically) impossible, McKinley ‘chickens out’ of resisting the patriarchal structure that denies women’s ability to lead/rule just as well as men can.
    In the back of my head I somewhat agree with McKinley’s ending though, because I know that the fickle public perception of Aerin’s character is more realistic than we may want to admit. Her longstanding identity as the ‘witch’s daughter’ overshadows all of her other accomplishments: when she returns to the castle in Damar after defeating Maur, people initially praise and are in awe of her for her success. However, the positive perception soon changes as people begin to argue that she was only successful because she was not entirely human/only another monster could defeat another monster, which validates socially isolating and fearing her.
    Because the line between legendary and monstrous is as thin as the one between brilliance and madness, I feel that her tactical retreat to the submissive wife character provides her with the disguise she needs to hide the fact that she ~actually~ isn’t entirely human any longer (ironic that her whole human self at the beginning of the book was more publicly controversial than her half human self at the end). Ultimately, the ‘wife’ role, rather than the ‘ruler’ role allows her to watch over the kingdom whilst understanding that the people will never fully trust/love her because of her parentage/accomplishments, and coming to terms with that relationship dynamic.

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  3. edwardslo Avatar
    edwardslo

    I also finished the book unsatisfied with the ending. I felt like Pierce did in Lord of the Rings – disappointed and angry Aerin gave up her sword to be a queen. I do agree with malyschm’s arguments that this ending is realistic, specifically in regards to the fickle nature of individuals. However, if this was McKinley’s intention behind changing Aerin’s role from knight to queen it wasn’t properly conveyed to the audience. McKinley could have included a section in the end explicitly mentioning the respect Aerin deserved as a heroine but unfortunately did not receive due to various circumstances. In some ways, the end felt very “Disney-ified”, with a marriage and a happily ever after.

    Another element I wondered about was Aerin’s power as a queen. An element that readers are exposed to in many mediveal patriarchal societies is the lack of any powerful female agents of change in the political realm. So even though the Queen is the most powerful female in the political realm, we see that in this setting gender matters more than status. If the Queen does have any positive change in the kingdom, it is typically only seen in regards to poverty and charity, at least in my experience. Therefore I question what type of Queen Aerin was, due to her strong personality we’ve seen throughout the novel. She is loud and obvious about what she desires, and so how would she fare as someone working in politics? Does Aerin end up with any political influence, or is she just a figurehead?

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    1. edwardslo Avatar
      edwardslo

      *medieval

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