Inkheart

“He had never ever sent her off to her room so brusquely. A foreboding, clammy and fearful, came into her heart as if, along with the visitor whose name was so strange yet somehow familiar, some menace had slipped into her life.”

Through indirect characterization, Meggie’s surprise at Mo’s brusqueness illustrates how patient and kind Mo usually is with her. His unusual behavior also indicates that something is wrong, which tells Meggie that her fears and suspicions are justified. Meggie’s sense of foreboding foreshadows the upheaval and chaos that Dustfinger’s arrival brings.

“‘I don’t suppose you’d get any fun from terrifying people until their knees were so weak they could hardly stand?’ he [Dustfinger] asked. ‘Nothing gives Capricorn more pleasure.’”

Capricorn conforms to the image of the hyperbolically cruel and evil overlord that commonly features in fantasy novels. Dustfinger’s explanation foreshadows the cruelty that Capricorn displays when Meggie finally meets him in person. Capricorn acts as a dramatic foil to Meggie, the static villain to her dynamic heroism.

“‘No child,’ she said as she pressed the handle with almost solemn reverence, ‘has ever passed through this door, but as I assume your father has taught you a certain respect for books I’ll make an exception today. However, only on the condition that you keep at least three paces away from the shelves.’”

Elinor Loredan is initially characterized as strict and somewhat snobbish, valuing her library above all else. Meggie finds her manner patronizing and irritating, as she is old enough to love and respect books and doesn’t appreciate Elinor’s condescension. Meggie’s character arc is boosted by her change of heart about Elinor’s personality, as she bonds with Elinor and comes to see that Elinor’s strictness is evidence of her love and respect for books and literature.

“He made the torches disappear as if the darkness had devoured them, bowed to the speechless Meggie with a smile, before once more spitting fire out into the night’s black face.”

Dustfinger embodies The Complexities of Loyalty, and his enigmatic duality is epitomized in the show he puts on for Meggie in Elinor’s backyard. He entertains Meggie with an incredible display that brings her great joy, but also provides a distraction for Capricorn’s men to raid Elinor’s library and abduct Mo. The author’s use of figurative language includes strong imagery in this passage and personification with “the darkness had devoured them” and “the night’s black face.”

“She stood there for so long that Dustfinger eventually closed his eyes so as not to look at her, but then he heard her weeping and his face turned hot with shame.”

In an example of Dustfinger’s complex loyalty, Dustfinger feels conflicted over his actions. Dustfinger betrays Mo, but he feels shame and pity for the pain he causes Meggie in doing so. Dustfinger’s innate goodness is overpowered by his grief and frustration at being transported unwillingly out of Inkheart into a world he hates. He takes no joy in hurting Meggie and Mo, but his desperation to return home wins out.

“There was a crackling noise when they turned to us – like someone slowly unfolding a piece of paper. I still had their names on my lips: Basta, Dustfinger, Capricorn.”

Mo explains to Elinor and Meggie how Teresa, Meggie’s mother, disappeared into the world of Inkheart, and Basta, Capricorn, Dustfinger, and Gwin came out of it. This builds The Power of Literature into something literal and makes books into forces that shape and transform lives. The way that Funke’s characters have the power to bring fictional characters to life symbolizes the metaphorical way fictional characters “come to life” for readers.

“‘I read until I couldn’t hear my own voice anymore,’ he went on, ‘but your mother didn’t come back, Meggie. Instead, a strange little man as transparent as if he were made of glass appeared in my living room on the fifth day, and the mailman disappeared just as he was putting the mail into our mailbox.”

Mo explains the unpredictable nature of his gift: He cannot control who or what is pulled into and out of the books he reads. This makes him reluctant to ever try reading Dustfinger back into Inkheart, and leads him to give up trying to pull Teresa back out. This foreshadows his summoning of Farid from Thousand and One Nights in exchange for one of Capricorn’s henchmen, as well as the later exchanges that occur when Meggie reads.

“Dustfinger cast him a glance full of hatred. Face rigid, he watched Capricorn’s men throw more and more books into the braziers. In the end there were more than two dozen copies of Inkheart on the piles of firewood, their pages crumbled, their bindings wrenched apart like broken wings.”

Capricorn forces Dustfinger to watch as he burns the copies of Inkheart. This highlights Capricorn’s cruelty: It brings him joy to cause Dustfinger distress and devastation as Dustfinger watches his chances to return to his own world disappear. It also complicates Dustfinger’s loyalties; he only aligned with Capricorn because Capricorn promised to send him back to the Inkheart world. Capricorn’s heartless betrayal destroys any trust Dustfinger had him in and pushes Dustfinger to “ally” with Meggie’s group, though he still favors his own goals.

“‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to cut a pattern in his face the way he decorated mine,’ he said. ‘I only want to scare him a little.’ And he had already bent down to cut through the leather thong that Basta wore around his neck. It had a little bag closed with a red drawstring hanging from it. Dustfinger leaned over Basta and swung the bag back and forth in front of his face. ‘I’m taking your luck, Basta!’”

Basta and Dustfinger are presented as foils to each other. Basta chose violence and scarred Dustfinger’s face for life when he was placed in a situation of power. Dustfinger is presented with the opportunity to hurt Basta in return, but he chooses not to. He does, however, attack Basta’s deep superstitions by stealing Basta’s lucky charm; this shows that Dustfinger is nuanced, rather than being wholly, statically “good.”

“The night was not dark enough to hide what lay on the lawn outside: a shapeless mount of ashes, pale gray in the moonlight, gray as moth wings, gray as burnt paper.”

Capricorn’s cruelty is once again foregrounded in his decision to burn Elinor’s precious books as an act of revenge for her escape. Although devastating and traumatic, this act of vengeance actually helps to develop Elinor’s personality. Elinor, who has grown close to Mo and Meggie as they’ve faced Capricorn and his lackeys together, focuses on her human connections with Mo and Meggie in her time of despair. This shows Elinor’s growth and her developing maturity, which occurs even though she is already an adult.

“‘Here!’ he said, dumping them on the table. ‘They all begin with this single upright stroke followed by the three up-and-down lines. Just the way you drew it.’”

Flatnose, like Basta and all of Capricorn’s henchmen, cannot read. Funke uses a lack of interest in literacy as a negative trait seen only in the unintelligent and cruel villains. On the other hand, characters who love to read—like Meggie, Mo, and even Dustfinger—are depicted as discerning, compassionate, and intelligent. This serves as an example of the motif of Literacy Versus Illiteracy and supports the theme of The Power of Literature.

“There’s still one copy of the book left, and I’m going to get my hands on it. Don’t look at me like that. Do you know where he keeps it?”

Dustfinger enlists Resa to help him to find the final copy of Inkheart. This builds the theme of The Complexities of Loyalty, as Resa’s involvement gets her caught and sentenced to death. Though Dustfinger knew he was endangering Resa—who he also knows is Meggie’s mother and Mo’s wife—he still asked her to take that risk for him, yet he deeply regrets it when things go awry. However, this incident is the catalyst that leads to Meggie seeing her mother for the first time, which motivates Meggie and Fenoglio to come up with the plan to save them and kill Capricorn.

“Meggie snuggled down under the scratchy blanket, took Mo’s sweater out of her backpack, and put it under her head. ‘Please,’ she whispered as she opened the book, ‘please get me out of here just for an hour or so, please take me far, far away.’”

In an example of The Power of Literature, Meggie uses books as an escape and a comfort. She and Mo love and revere books and respect their ability to transport a reader into an entirely new world. Meggie draws on this power here, while she is away from her father and being kept as a prisoner for a cruel and terrifying man. Shortly after this, Meggie discovers that she can also read beings out of stories like Mo—in this way, Funke plays on the irony of making wishes that have complicated consequences, which is common in the fantasy genre.

“‘They’re—they’re all looking forward to this execution.’ He said in a faltering voice. ‘Those Black Jackets are in a really good mood.’”

The cruelty of Capricorn’s henchmen is evident in their excitement at the prospect of the violent deaths of Dustfinger and Resa. Farid, in reporting this, shows his youth, innocence, and compassion in his fear and disgust over the Black Jackets’ excitement. Mo, meanwhile, displays his unwavering loyalty to Meggie as he fixates on the knowledge that Capricorn will never willingly set her free, but he also shows his compassion in treating Farid with trust and kindness as they talk.

“The last sound she heard was Fenoglio’s pen scribbling over the paper, writing word after word as fast as a weaver’s shuttle turning black threads into colorfully pattered cloth.”

This simile renders Fenoglio’s powers of writing as a kind of magic, as Fenoglio creates something beautiful and powerful out of nothing. The reverence implicit in the simile speaks to The Power of Literature, as Funke portrays books as transcendent, magical objects. The fact that this comes from Meggie’s point of view also conveys Meggie’s deep appreciation for writing and literature.

“You’ll read the Shadow out of the book for him. But his old friend will be slightly changed! I guarantee that! I, Fenoglio, master of words, enchanter in ink, sorcerer on paper. I made Capricorn and I shall destroy him as if he never existed.”

Fenoglio tells Meggie of his plan to rewrite a portion of Inkheart to ensure that the Shadow kills Capricorn rather than Dustfinger and Resa. Once again, Fenoglio’s near-magical powers are emphasized; the written word is praised as magical and powerful. Ironically, Capricorn (who thinks that literacy is unnecessary and ensures that his henchmen cannot read) will be vanquished by something he put little stock in—a few written sentences.

“Nine years is a long time. I celebrated all your birthdays. You’re even lovelier than I imagined you.”

In keeping with the theme of loyalty, Resa shows her unwavering loyalty to her daughter when she tells Meggie she constantly thought of her while they were separated. Meggie, as a “good” person, already wanted to rescue the prisoners from Capricorn’s cruelty, but her motivation grows even stronger when she gets full confirmation that Resa is Teresa, her long-lost mother. Funke rewards loyal and loving characters like Resa with happy endings.

“‘Hey, Dustfinger!’ called Basta. ‘I knew you couldn’t do it! Give me my knife back. You don’t know what to do with it anyway!’”

In Dustfinger and Basta’s final confrontation, Funke further illustrates how they are foils of each other. When Dustfinger finally gets the upper hand, he has the opportunity to kill Basta—an act that would objectively benefit the side of good, but that would put blood on Dustfinger’s hands and pull him further from the side of good. At the last minute, Dustfinger decides not to kill Basta, even though Basta would definitely kill him if their roles were reversed. Basta, predictably, views Dustfinger’s restraint as weakness rather than a sign of his goodness.

“As for Elinor, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She would have rather seen her favorite niece again anywhere but here.”

Elinor is shocked to be reunited with Teresa (Resa), her beloved niece who vanished into the world of Inkheart nine years earlier. However, their reunion is tainted by their dire circumstances: Elinor and Resa are both sentenced to die at the hands of the Shadow, Capricorn’s evil minion. Elinor and Resa’s presence also raises the stakes for Meggie, who is being asked to summon a creature to kill her mother and her great-aunt. If Meggie and Fenoglio’s plan to rewrite Inkheart fails, Meggie will lose two of her closest family members.

“When Dustfinger took the plate away the fairy didn’t even raise her head. Dustfinger put his hand into her glass prison and carefully took the little creature out.”

Dustfinger and Basta are further presented as foils through their respective treatment of Tinkerbell. Basta’s indifferent cruelty is epitomized in his decision to keep Tinkerbell in a glass jug in his room to bring him good luck; he is indifferent about the suffering this causes her. On the other hand, Dustfinger gently extricates Tinkerbell, prioritizing her freedom over any luck she might bring him. This shows his values and his lack of desire to harm others for no reason.

“Silvertongue was staring at the photo as if nothing else in the world existed.”

Mo finds the photo of Resa in Dustfinger’s backpack. He realizes that the woman who tried to help Dustfinger to find the copy of Inkheart is his wife and Meggie’s mother, read back into his own world. This foreshadows their reunion and adds another layer of complexity to the rescue mission, as Mo must now save Resa as well as his daughter.

“‘That’s not true.’ Meggie’s voice rang out over the arena so loud and clear that she herself was alarmed. ‘He’s here!’ She held up the book. ‘Never mind what you do to him. Everyone who reads this story will see him—you can even hear his voice and see the way he laughs and breathes fire.’”

Meggie bravely points out that even if Dustfinger was killed by Capricorn’s men, he lives on in print, adding to the theme of The Power of Literature. Her loud and clear voice illustrates her courage as she publicly and intentionally diminishes Capricorn in front of his supporters. This boldness shows Meggie’s growth and maturity, which has occurred over the course of her Hero’s Journey.

“The Magpie reached over Meggie’s shoulder. ‘What’s this? What are you reading?’ But Meggie jumped up and backed away from her. ‘He remembered,’ she read on in a loud, clear voice, ‘and he was determined to be avenged - avenged upon those who were the cause of all this misfortune, whose cruelty poisoned the whole world.’”

In the story’s climax, Meggie displays her strength and maturity by carrying out Fenoglio’s plan even when Mortola tries to stop her. In this instance, Meggie’s composure is crucial: She must act like a brave, confident, and resourceful adult to ensure that nothing goes wrong and that Capricorn is eliminated forever. Meggie nearly succeeds; she only falters when she must face the reality of taking a life, even that of someone as evil as Capricorn. This proves that although Meggie has greatly matured, she is still young and innocent and has a good heart.