This week was all about heroic journeys, and this week I chose to read Terry Prachett's short story called "Toll Bridge".
When I first started reading this story, I had so many preconcieved ideas about what was going to happen. Actually, before I even started reading the book, I figured "Oh, this will probably be just another story about a bridge troll", which it was..kind of. To quickly sum up the story, Cohen the Barbarian is en route somewhere when he encounters a troll family. That's pretty much the story.
Not at all what I was expecting.
I was expecting some sort of valiant battle between him and the troll, you know, something...more or less barbaric. But it wasn't. The troll, and his family, are facing hard times since not many people are traveling through, which means that he can't steal their gold, which therefore means he can't afford maintenance on his bridge. Because of all this, he's considered a lowly troll and not respected by his offspring (children? troll children? troll spawn??), his wife, or his extended family.
Again, this wasn't what I was expecting at all.
However, what I did enjoy was the realness of the story. What I mean by that is, the situation the troll is in, is something that I think many readers can relate to. The troll, Mica, is the type of troll who lives under a bridge, scares and/or kills people who try to cross his bridge, and take their gold. From what I understand from the reading, this type of troll "work", if you will, is a vocation that is very, very old; much like a carpenter or blacksmith, it's a very old vocation. However, times change and due to the changes around the area (more farms, less woods) not many people travel down towards his bridge, hence all his problems. All of this, reminds me of families that have generations of bakers, woodworkers, blacksmiths...a somewhat dying line of work. As time changes, there's a need to stray away from the old way of thinking, and start new endeavors, which means that their sons and daughters might not want to follow in the "family business". I think that's a concept that many, many people can relate to, even in this day and age.
Besides that, it was interesting to see where the short story lead, since it wasn't a traditional heroic journey. The traditional heroic journey, in a short summation, is basically when someone is called to go on a journey or quest, they go, they struggle, they may fail but get a second chance to succeed, someone important to them dies, and then they succeed and complete the journey or quest. In this story, the traditional heroic journey isn't really used. I feel like this short story would fall in between the time they decide to go on the journey and when they struggle. However, more then that, it's realistic. The troll faces problems, like I said before, that are very relatable to readers. And Cohen has to figure out how to maneuver his way around this problem. In the end, no one dies, and Cohen actually gives rather then takes from the Troll. It was an ending that I wasn't expecting and one that I really have never seen before. Was it a little anti-climatic? A bit. But, that is completely outweighed by the fact that the resoultion by Prachett is something I've never read before. And that was really, really refreshing. Plus, it motivated me to actually want to finish the story. All in all, it was just a really neat little short story that I just really, really enjoyed.
When I first started reading this story, I had so many preconcieved ideas about what was going to happen. Actually, before I even started reading the book, I figured "Oh, this will probably be just another story about a bridge troll", which it was..kind of. To quickly sum up the story, Cohen the Barbarian is en route somewhere when he encounters a troll family. That's pretty much the story.
Not at all what I was expecting.
I was expecting some sort of valiant battle between him and the troll, you know, something...more or less barbaric. But it wasn't. The troll, and his family, are facing hard times since not many people are traveling through, which means that he can't steal their gold, which therefore means he can't afford maintenance on his bridge. Because of all this, he's considered a lowly troll and not respected by his offspring (children? troll children? troll spawn??), his wife, or his extended family.
Again, this wasn't what I was expecting at all.
However, what I did enjoy was the realness of the story. What I mean by that is, the situation the troll is in, is something that I think many readers can relate to. The troll, Mica, is the type of troll who lives under a bridge, scares and/or kills people who try to cross his bridge, and take their gold. From what I understand from the reading, this type of troll "work", if you will, is a vocation that is very, very old; much like a carpenter or blacksmith, it's a very old vocation. However, times change and due to the changes around the area (more farms, less woods) not many people travel down towards his bridge, hence all his problems. All of this, reminds me of families that have generations of bakers, woodworkers, blacksmiths...a somewhat dying line of work. As time changes, there's a need to stray away from the old way of thinking, and start new endeavors, which means that their sons and daughters might not want to follow in the "family business". I think that's a concept that many, many people can relate to, even in this day and age.
Besides that, it was interesting to see where the short story lead, since it wasn't a traditional heroic journey. The traditional heroic journey, in a short summation, is basically when someone is called to go on a journey or quest, they go, they struggle, they may fail but get a second chance to succeed, someone important to them dies, and then they succeed and complete the journey or quest. In this story, the traditional heroic journey isn't really used. I feel like this short story would fall in between the time they decide to go on the journey and when they struggle. However, more then that, it's realistic. The troll faces problems, like I said before, that are very relatable to readers. And Cohen has to figure out how to maneuver his way around this problem. In the end, no one dies, and Cohen actually gives rather then takes from the Troll. It was an ending that I wasn't expecting and one that I really have never seen before. Was it a little anti-climatic? A bit. But, that is completely outweighed by the fact that the resoultion by Prachett is something I've never read before. And that was really, really refreshing. Plus, it motivated me to actually want to finish the story. All in all, it was just a really neat little short story that I just really, really enjoyed.
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