Some More Introductory Character Development: The Fox

The Fox reminds me of Aristotle. He is inquisitive and bright-faced, and he seeks to learn everything about Glome—right down to the land’s flora and fauna. Aristotle, likewise, was a master of plants and animals and cataloged them his whole academic life.

Two of the Fox’s first lines, pithy little sayings he uses to cheer himself, are the following:

No Man can be an exile if he remembers that all the world is one city.

And

Everything is as good or bad as our opinion makes it.

Now, I don’t remember the exact wording Aristotle uses, but he makes a point similar to the latter saying by explaining that there is a life which men should pursue because it is a truly human life, the only one worth living. Since we are different from animals in that we have reason, the life worth living must be a life devoted somehow to an intellectual development. As an educator, the Fox surely had this in mind for his educational charges, Orual and Redival.

He set about teaching philosophy, reading, and writing—though he would occasionally recite a line of poetry to Orual, who relished these moments. Often, the poetry would be followed by the line, “All folly, child.” The Fox was certainly attentive to reality, and tried to pry Orual away from all things mythical, poetic, and musical, except to sate her curiosity every so often. He wanted her to learn the “real” stuff of education.

As we’ll see later, however, this dis-emphasis on myth and deity might not be correct.

All is not folly.

-Chris