52 pages • 1 hour read
Brian JacquesMossflower
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Greed Leads to Tyranny
Tsarmina’s defining characteristic is her greed, and she illustrates the novel’s condemnation of this trait. Nothing is ever enough for her because she always wants more. Her greed takes several different forms. She wants more power, so she poisons her father to get it. She wants to rule a kingdom and imprisons her brother so she won’t have to share the throne with him. She wants more land, so she encroaches on Mossflower Woods. She also wants more provisions and exploits the local population to get them. Unchecked greed can only go so far without the means to enforce it. In this sense, greed leads to tyranny. Theft and exploitation can only be accomplished through force. Tsarmina herself is quick to notice the connection when she says:
The stores are getting lower, since we were unable to levy tribute from the few that lived around our walls. That’s the trouble with being a conqueror and having an army to feed: soldiers are no good at providing anything unless they can snatch it away from the helpless (169).
Tsarmina perceives herself as an all-powerful conqueror, but she depends on the peasant class to supply her with food. Most inhabitants around Kotir have left, knowing their labor will only be used to fatten the army. As a result, the queen has no choice but to expand her territory to find new subjects to provision her troops. When the Mossflower residents don’t passively accept her incursions into their woods, she resorts to even more tyrannical tactics.
Tsarmina plans to capture and enslave the woodlanders. She will hold their offspring hostage under the assumption that they will do anything to protect their young. She inspects her dungeons to make sure there is enough space to hold captives. Because greed dictates her every move, the queen’s only available tactic is to tyrannize others to get what she wants. It would never occur to her that cooperation might gain her a better result.
Verdauga was slightly wiser than his daughter since he never attempted to encroach on the neighboring territory. While greedy, he isn’t as monstrously avaricious as his offspring. Only understanding greed, Tsarmina uses this same tactic to motivate her troops. She repeatedly plays her commanders against one another. Their greed for rank and power is a miniature version of her own. Each one comes to a bad end as a result, and so does their queen. By the novel’s end, Tsarmina learns that greed and tyranny only lead to death.
Generosity Builds Cooperation
The generosity exhibited by all the woodlanders toward each other and even toward their enemies contrasts Tsarmina’s greed and that of her army. An early example is Gonff’s willingness to share his stolen food with the Stickles when they are starving. He believes there is an abundant supply of everything because he can always steal more to meet his needs and that of others.
For their part, the woodlanders are loyal to the little thief and work together to arrange his release from Kotir prison. While there, Gonff gains the help of Martin in his escape plan, and the two of them work together to break the cell’s locks. Gonff’s generosity has built him a strong network of allies, as Martin learns when the two mice visit Brockhall for the first time. This is the Corim’s headquarters, and the immense burrow seems to hold an endless supply of food for the woodlanders.
At many points, the author describes feasts at Brockhall that demonstrate not only the plenty available to the inhabitants but their camaraderie toward each other:
Now that all the woodlanders were billeted at Brockhall, mealtimes were like a constant feast, so many different dishes were contributed. A pretty posy lay in the middle of the festive board symbolizing the coming together in springtime to oppose the reign of Kotir (109).
The author has clearly drawn a parallel between the abundant food generously shared with all and the alliance that has been built around that generosity. Such a scene represents a sharp contrast to Tsarmina’s greed and the short rations she allows her troops while she saves all the best food for herself.
Aside from the generosity associated with feeding and housing a multitude, the book also describes scenes in which the characters show generosity even toward their enemies. This also has the unexpected result of creating cooperation. When Martin, Gonff, and Dinny are trapped in the Screamhole with a giant eel, Martin negotiates with the creature. He offers to free it from its prison if it promises not to eat the mouse and his friends. Dinny’s excavation work would be useless without the eel’s help as the great creature raises the mice on his head and lifts them out of the pit. They, in turn, help pull him out so that he can wreak vengeance on his captors. Since his enemies are also the enemies of the travelers, the alliance works to everyone’s benefit, proving that generosity is a powerful aid toward cooperation.
The Making of a Hero
As the novel begins, Martin the mouse has no problem telling everyone who he is. He announces himself belligerently when first brought before Verdauga, Tsarmina, and Gingivere:
As the guards pinned the struggling mouse down, his voice shook with fury. ‘My name is Martin the Warrior. That sword was once my father’s, now it is mine. I come and go as I please, cat. Is this the welcome you show travelers?’ (29).
Martin’s belligerent swagger comes from a lifetime of fighting for his survival. The only legacy of his early years of combat is his father’s rusty sword. Martin’s first encounter with Tsarmina results in her snapping the sword and hanging the hilt around his neck.
The novel suggests that while Martin might be a warrior, he still isn’t a hero. The rest of the story shows his evolution from warrior to hero as he undertakes a quest. This pattern is a close parallel to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as it relates to male protagonists in many works of European and American fiction. However, Martin departs from the archetype of the solitary protagonist proving his valor in a dangerous world. He begins the story as a solitary protagonist but ends it as a valued member of a team. As such, his behavior reinforces the theme of generosity and its ability to build cooperation.
When Bella sends Martin on a quest to find her father in Salamandastron, Martin readily accepts the help of Gonff and Dinny rather than going it alone. Although finding Boar is the purported mission, Martin finds himself instead. While most quests depict the hero learning valuable lessons along the way, Martin’s quest involves making valuable friends instead. As stated, he converts an enemy into a friend when he frees the giant eel from the Screamhole.
He also makes a friend of Log-a-Log, who offers the use of his boat to sail the questors to the coast. Martin happily accepts this help without feeling the need to prove that he can make the journey without assistance. Once in Salamandastron, he again accepts help when Boar offers to reforge his father’s sword. Acting on the old badger’s orders, Martin and his friends take the sea rats’ ship and sail it back up the Moss River rather than remaining to do battle.
By the time Martin has returned from his quest, he brings back valuable aid for the woodlanders. The ship is used to dam the river and finish flooding the castle. Martin’s reforged sword is used to finish off Tsarmina. Even though this epic battle is typical of heroic literature, it should be noted that Martin was ably assisted by a community of woodlanders who cooperate toward the common goal of liberating their land. The lessons of cooperation and humility are what make Martin a hero rather than merely a warrior.
