Strange the Dreamer

“Blue as opals, pale blue. Blue as cornflowers, or dragonfly wings, or a spring—not summer—sky.”

This is the first time that a series of parallel similes appears in reference to the blue-skinned godspawn. The imagery evokes an ephemeral feeling, creating a sense of the blue skin tone as being inherently ethereal and divine. This establishes a near-reverent tone in relation to the godspawn’s skin and creates an understanding of them as divine beings. The repetition of these similes later in the novel connects the godspawn to the idealized imagery of this moment.

“The venom sang in him, and he was something more than human. He was a god.”

Lazlo’s imaginative play as a child in Chapter 1 serves several functions. It demonstrates the power of Lazlo’s imagination and offers a glimpse of how powerfully his dreams transform him, and it also serves the more pragmatic purpose of foreshadowing the revelation of Lazlo’s true identity and heritage, for in the world of Weep, he truly is a god.

“And as for fairy tales, [Lazlo] understood that they were reflections of the people who had spun them, and were flecked with little truths—intrusions of reality into fantasy, like…toast crumbs on a wizard’s beard.”

This quote frames the importance of fairy tales to the narrative. It supports the theme of the Power of Fairy Tales by pointing to the latent truth that such stories possess and preserve through the ages.