From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 1995 15:43:00 -600

The metaphor for magic as maturity got me thinking how when Troy's magic is revealed to her family in THE HAUNTING, her father pulls away from her. She says he will never feel the same way about her again.

This is similar to what some young women seems to experience when they begin physically maturing: adult males in their lives become uncomfortable with the physcial maturing of girl into young woman and pull away from them (at risk of bringing up a book others haven't read: Marie in Jacqueline Woodson's I HADN'T MEANT TO TELL YOU THIS is struggling with this very issue).

Similarly, as Laura in THE CHANGEOVER begins to explore the realm of magic, she is also awakening to sexual feelings.

I admire the way Margaret Mahy uses magic as a vehicle to touch upon and explore these very real experiences of adolescence.

On a not altogether unrelated topic, I find it intersesting - and pleasing - that considering the tragic consequences for hundreds of women who have been accused of magic and witchcraft historically, Margaret Mahy created these two young female protagonists who boldly embrace magic as a means of salvation for someone they love.

Do you think these books were at all a conscious response to the persecution of women (primarily women) as witches in the 16th and 17th centuries?
Received on Wed 02 Aug 1995 04:43:00 PM CDT