Thursday, January 26, 2012

Endowed Objects

One evening at Honesdale, we discussed endowed objects. The definition in my notes is: a subject or object that seems to mean something other than it is, or has significance other than the literal.  

I thought of many examples in fantasy and paranormal novels. Consider the ring, the mithril coat or Sting in Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The Harry Potter novels have too many to list. The Everafter by Amy Huntley is a novel of endowed objects as each item Madison finds allows her to revisit the time in her life when she lost it.   

Realistic novels can also have endowed objects. In Nowhere Girl by A.J. Paquette the tea box contains Luchi’s past and her future. The mountain in Louis Sacher’s Holes is the cause of Stanley’s curse and the means of ending it.  

I’ve been thinking about my novels. Over the years, I’ve “endowed” calluses, a basketball, a balcony, a camcorder, a chess set and a cane. What are the endowed objects in your manuscripts?

3 comments:

TimInMich said...
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Ann Finkelstein said...

TimInMich:I was thinking of the gun and the pamphlet when I wrote the post.

TimInMich said...

I hadn't given this any thought, but now I think I'll add an endowed object or two to Squire Tells All.
Wheeler's gun is an endowed object in my WIP, as I suppose, is the pamphlet.