My two themes are Oppression versus Liberty and Power of Choice, both of which I have outlined in the video. The book is based in the late 1800s when the status of women was very different from that of today. The women were all brought up to be proper ladies whose goal in life would be to marry a wealthy lord, have children, take care of them. The process would repeat again. This status of women was clearly outlined in the book. However, as always, there are always a group of women who had different and more open views about society and equality of gender.
The video starts off with the heroine of the book Gemma whose mother mysteriously dies in India. Devastated, she and her father move to England and she is enrolled into the Spence Academy for girls. Gemma is a girl who dislikes being oppressed like the women of those times. She longed to be free, see the world at her will, do as she pleases, talk as she pleases. However, such behaviour would be considered highly inappropriate for women in those times. At the boarding school, she meets more girls like herself who have broad-minded and radical views about the world and its ways. These girls then quietly met in a secret place every night and let go of all their inhibitions. They discovered the power of freedom when they “enter the realms”, which is where the fantasy part of the book comes in. Once they got hold of that magical power, they were able to control it as they wanted to. They entered the magical realms where life was a perfect paradise. There, each of their greatest dreams and wishes came true. They were free to do as they pleased. They created illusions; alternate worlds where the world would be as they wanted it. However, things soon got out of hand.
Power of Choices
Once the girls experienced the power of magic, they tasted liberty; the liberty to do whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, this happiness didn’t last for long. The girls had misused to magic and had created a fake world where everyone lived a lie. This set off a chain of terrible events in the magical realms and their worlds came crashing down. The magic was gone and world was back to its dull, dark reality. The girls were devastated by this, and one of them, Pippa had become trapped in the magical realms.
This is the theme of ‘power of choices’. The girls had been oppressed in the rigid Victorian style of living for so long, that when freedom came, they didn’t know how to properly use it. They became obsessed with freedom and they did as they pleased, thus misusing magic and their freedom. The girls were well aware that doing so was wrong, but they were so engrossed and intertwined into the magic that they weren’t able to tell good from evil. At multiple times in the novel, they had the power to choose whether they wanted to magic for good or not. However, they failed in choosing the right path, which ultimately and catastrophically ended tragically. In the very end, they learned their lessons, but it was too late. The magic was gone, and they wouldn’t be able to taste the same freedom ever again.
