75 pages • 2 hours read
Stephen KingThe Eyes of the Dragon
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Napkins
King’s original title for the novel was The Napkins, and napkins are pervasive throughout the story. Napkins serve as symbols for good manners and for goodness in general. They become reused into rope, into a bed for Dennis, and into a lifesaving pile for Peter. They also provide the livelihood for many people who need paychecks in both Kyla the Good’s time and Peyna’s. Most of all, napkins symbolize something good that is otherwise taken for granted. Nobody thinks about napkins. They are nice to have, but they are not absolutely needed. They are like small acts of generosity; often unrewarded and quickly forgotten. However, in large numbers, napkins become important and habits formed lead to good lives lived. Small kindnesses accumulate or lead to unexpected benefits down the road. Napkins represent what evil cannot see and thus how evil is defeated.
The Dollhouse
By the time Sasha is given the magnificent dollhouse, she is an adult and no longer plays with it. The dollhouse was all important to her as a child, but getting married and helping rule a kingdom forced her to grow up. In this way, the dollhouse symbolizes a loss of childhood innocence. Getting rid of the dollhouse is a kind of coming of age. Peter, too, eventually stops playing with the dollhouse, leading it to be put in storage, but the dollhouse returns and saves Peter. This is because in King’s oeuvre, childhood innocence is one of the most effective weapons by which to defeat evil. Evil overlooks the threat of children, and Flagg overlooks the threat of the dollhouse.
Dragons
From the title of the novel to the presence of an actual magical creature in Delain, dragons signal the high fantasy genre almost on their own. The royal arms of Delain are a unicorn spearing a dragon, which emphasizes Delain’s generic setting to the point of parody. Thus, it is fitting that King kills off the dragon in the first few chapters of the novel. As an author, he is slaying the conventions of high fantasy and turning them into a narrative device (a lens through which to look: the eyes of the dragon). The dragon becomes a more figurative thing once it is on Roland’s wall. Thomas must slay metaphorical dragons, both his various addictions to wine and sleeping powders and Flagg himself, who is a magical creature but also a malevolent force that must be defeated.
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