The Tale of Despereaux

“The April sun, weak but determined, shone through a castle window and from there squeezed itself through a small hole in the wall and placed one golden finger on the little mouse.”

In the very first chapter of the novel, Kate DiCamillo personifies the sunlight in order to introduce the idea that young Despereaux is divinely anointed. Even though the light is weak, like Despereaux is small, it is still as beautiful and hopeful as the small mouse is.

“Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.”

This quote introduces one of the novel’s major themes: nonconformity. At this point, it is too early to know what “interesting fates” entails, so the narrator creates tension by foreshadowing. This kind of conspiratorial narration is also a common literary device in fairy tales, where the narrator strings together seemingly unrelated events through the power of omniscience, delighting in these secrets with the reader.

“‘Royalty,’ the king said, ‘has many responsibilities. And one of them is not getting personally involved with even the distant relatives of one’s enemies.’”

The king tries to influence Pea’s sense of personhood by alluding to the authority that is royalty. He sees royalty as duty-bound and above all else, in the same way that Despereaux is ordered to be more mouselike and Roscuro is encouraged to indulge in ratlike evils. Ironically, as Pea exercises empathy by pushing back against stereotypes, she exhibits the more royal, “responsible” attitude her father wishes to instill in her by being intolerant.