After finishing this novel, I most definitely had an "awww" moment at the end and then realized how happy I was for Lissar. She has been a consistent strong character throughout the book and I feel like the ending of the book gave her justice and closure at the same time when it came to what happened between her and her father. An added bonus was that she met the person she was destined to be with, Ossin. I believe Ossin's character really proved himself as well at the end of the book. I got the impression that Ossin was just lazy for not going after Lissar the first time so when he stood by her side when she spoke to her father and then ran after her when she fled I thought he fulfilled his duty as being her love interest.
As I thought, Ash ends up bringing both Lissar and Ossin together. When Lissar is torn whether or not to be with Ossin and marry him we get a description of Ash walking over to Ossin and leaning on him.
"And then Ash moved forward from Lissar's side, and leaned against Ossin's leg, and sighed. And they both looked down at her," (372).
Ash, in so many ways, helps Lissar through her journey. Lissar makes it known to Ossin that she has scars and wounds that go deeper than most and he accepts her for that and compares her to Ash who has a visible scar on her side. I loved this moment because it really bonds both Lissar and Ash together because they truly have been through everything together.
One thing I asked myself after finishing the novel was how this story would be different if the main character, Lissar, was a man. This is something I hope to explore when writing my extended response paper.
I found it very interesting myself that the last thing the reader hears about Ash is her doing something to help Lissar through another struggle. I almost compare Ash to the fairy godmother in Donkeyskin because of this - granted, Ash was much more helpful than the fairy godmother was.
ReplyDeleteI found myself wondering what would have happened to Lissar if Ash had not existed. Each problem that Ash helped Lissar through I thought about and decided that she probobly would have let herself die after her father's attack. I then thought that IF she could have gotten through that on her own, what would have happened when she was wondering around in the woods...
It became a long thought process and somewhat pointless seeing as how Ash is as much of the story as Lissar is.