Books Can Be Shy, Too. [Eragon Spolier Alert]

What do you think of when you hear the word, "fantasy?" The genre? Specific series like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings of The Chronicles of Narnia? That's what most people think of. What most people don't think of, however, is Eragon. It is just sad that so little people have read it. It deserves to be in the same category as the series aforementioned. It is really terrific, every last detail down from the characters to the setting to the symbolism to all the hidden meanings...but no one gets to know this because the book is so shrouded and no one knows about it. I was reluctant to read it until recently when I read the first few pages in Barnes & Nobles. I always thought it would be too long, or too fantastical for me, and other books took priority. Now I realized that I wasted 3 years waiting to read this book.

I am not very far into it, as some of the language is a bit confusing and I have to take time to really comprehend every page. Eragon is the name of the main protagonist (not the dragon as I previously thought) and he lives in what reminds me of medieval Europe. (It's not though, its in some other form of earth I guess.) A quick synopsis of the plot is that he hunts in a mystical forest called the Spine (which many people are afraid of so I thought it is important) and one day he found a curious bluish-white stone. He lives in a protected valley, and it seems like his whole country is controlled by an evil dictator who used to be a dragon rider. Dragon riders were very special to the people because they protected them and were highly respected. The only ones left are evil. Eragon's stone turned out to be a dragon egg, and when the government found out, they sent people to burn down his house. The egg matured into nearly a full size dragon that he calls Saphira. He was destined to be a rider. Eragon has sworn vendetta on these people and is going on a quest, with the old, experienced story-teller Brom, so he can kill them.


I think the main reason I am loving this fantastic piece of literature so much is because of the detail Christopher Paolini put into it. Considering he wrote the first manuscript for it when he was only fifteen, I am amazed at his extensive vocabulary and powerful writing skills. In some books, over-describing settings makes it boring and very blah. This guy manages to do it in a way that makes me question every detail, wonder if it has significance, and I think that is the sign of a great writer. The way he does this with Eragon himself is absolutely marvelous.


Usually I would be bored out of my mind, reading about a male protagonist in a fantasy novel, but somehow I am not. Paulini describes Eragon through little details, especially through his actions, that help the reader to slowly understand more about his character and traits.The fact that the story is told in third person instead of first person helps you to know him better, and get to know him like you were actually there. If you were inside his head, it would be less of a challenge to figure him out. For example, when Eragon first touched his dragon hatchling, he felt an icy pain that ran all the way up his arm and left a shiny scar in his palm. He tried to cover it up, so no one would notice. I believe this says a lot about his character. After only meeting the creature for five minutes, he was already thinking about how to be considerate and how he was already thinking of the dragon's safety.


Later, Eragon and Brom are attacked by Urgals, evil creatures that work for Galbatorix. They come to an abandoned town and find all the people dead. When they are attacked, Eragon fends off the blows coming from one of the urgals, and Brom is doing the same thing with the other. Brom is wounded very badly, so Eragon's first instinct is too lead the monsters away from those in danger, putting himself in more danger. I love how nice he is. (I know it's not the highest-level word in the world, but it is exactly what he is.) He fights them off and knocks them out with a strange power from inside him that he didn't know existed, and he nearly collapses from weakness. Before even examining himself, he hobbles to Brom to make sure that he is okay. That alone says so much about Eragon, it hardly needs any explaining. The bottom line is, Eragon always puts others before himself.


It is really a shame that this work isn't recognized by more of my peers. It would be a great book to try out, especially if you like fantasy. Like I said in the title, books can be shy, too. Eragon (the book not the character) isn't very out-there with advertisements like Harry Potter was, and how Twilight was. We make it shy, just like how we make series like the Hunger Games and Harry Potter outspoken and bubbly. (Metaphorically, of course.) Even non-fantasy readers can pull something from this book. I am excited to learn more about Eragon (the character) and dive deep into his world. Hopefully, you are too.

Extra Credit Poem

Life is an egg, fragile and weak.

We are the yolk, unprotected, so to speak.

Life is an egg, delicate and small.

We must stick together to do anything at all.

Life is a sunrise, a beacon of hope.

When we stick together, we are able to cope.

If life is an egg, small and weak,

we are one move away from a terrifying shriek.

If our fragile egg broke, what would happen to us?

The entire world would be in a fuss.

But perhaps, if we keep hoping, things will turn out for the best.

After all, isn't that really life's test?

To expect the worst, but hope for the best?

If we do that, we might all be blessed. 

But there's one thing we manage to all fail to spot.

The sad thing is we overlook it a lot.

Think about it-how could an egg really survive?

How can the fragile thing keep us alive?

The help of others, that's what we miss.

We are always wrapped up in our ignorant bliss.

It's their support that keeps us awake.

Without them, our fragile egg shell would break.

Woah, How Did I Miss That? (art post)

This painting is called Sunrise by the Ocean, by Vladimir Kush.

At a fist glance, what do you see? An egg spilling yolk and the white stuff that comes out of it, whatever that is. If you had just walked by it in a museum, would you have given it a second glance, or would you have just walked right on by, concluding you initial assumption, the one of the egg, was correct? I would just like to point out the Kush's attention to detail, and the sheer realism of it, reminds me of Salvador Dali (another great surreal artist to check out). I was googling images of paintings for a long time, when I came across this one. And I overlooked it. About half an hour later, I stumbled across it again, and I figured, hey, why not. Well, the second time I looked at it I looked closer, and saw all the details that I'd missed the first time.

Most people's first impression of it is just a broken egg, but I think that is apart of the magic of this image. At a first glance, you see the fragile world, represented by the egg, broken in two, with yolk, possibly representing happiness, spilling out as well as the white stuff, which could represent all the people the world protects. Yes, at a first glance, it seems broken. At a second glance, you notice the support systems and scaffolding supporting it. This is part of the message! You can even go one step further, and say the people are fragile on the outside but sturdy on the inside.

It's safe to assume that the ocean continues going on towards the distance. I think that this supports my statement by representing that hope continues into yesterday and tomorrow. That little figure in the foreground of the picture is toting the little shell with another person, which could represent the hard struggles that today's generations are going through so that tomorrow's have a better life. The little person towards the right of the water source is clutching their knees. I think that this person represents the people who are resistant to change, an look where's it's gotten them? The other guy is moving forward, while that guy is standing still, afraid.

This painting connects to humanity in a number of ways. First of all, it could connect to changes in governments, or the artists ideas reflecting a specific bill or law. However, I think it has more to do with society as a general. I believe it is about moving forward as the human race, not specifically this select group of people or that select group of people. It's about the fact we are all human, and, at the beginning, we were all eggs. More symbolically, we are all eggs, just waiting to be broken. Life is tough, and it's important to hold on to hope (the sun/yolk). If we do that, others will support us, and aid us, so as for humans to advance. There are some core values that all humans share, and I think this painting really demonstrates the basic needs we all have, how we overcome challenges, and our beliefs the citizens of the world.