Dealing with Dragons

Cimorene, the novel’s protagonist, is a princess of the kingdom of Linderwall. Although she is a strong character and role model, she also embodies the Not Like Other Girls trope, which denotes a character whose intelligence, independence, cleverness, or other powerful characteristics are listed as reasons why they are not like other girls. It is important to note that this formulation is inherently problematic, because although it attempts to explode existing gender stereotypes, it nonetheless implicitly frames the female gender as inferior. Although Cimorene uses her Cleverness and Wit as Forms of Power, she and Alianora are the only princesses who are not characterized as being shallow and “silly.” However, because the novel deliberately invokes fairy tale tropes and archetypes in order to satirize them, Wrede’s overexaggerated characterizations are designed to critique the fact that fairy tales reductively portray women and girls as hopeless, powerless, and in need of saving by “heroic” men.

Cimorene begins and ends the novel as a polite person who is nonetheless assured of the inherent value of her own personality and interests. As such, while she is a round character, she is also quite static, and she never shies away from

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now