54 pages • 1 hour read
Diana Wynne JonesCastle in the Air
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
How is magic used in the book? What role does it play in setting and plot, and how does it contribute to the main themes?
The novel often plays with ideas of agency and fate, with characters forced to navigate between what is or is not externally determined in their lives. How do various characters conceive of fate and agency? How are they different or similar in their approaches to this issue?
Castle in the Air plays with many of the tropes of fairytales and folk tales, including One Thousand and One Nights (See: Background). To what extent is Castle in the Air a fairytale? In what ways, if any, does it break with fairytale traditions?
