Becoming a man: The story of Tristran Thorn There were two things that drew me to read the novel,

Stardust. First reason was that I have watched its film adaption a couple of times. Secondly, the novelist, Neil Gaiman, was highly acclaimed by most of the people that I know. Neil Gaiman is an English writer known for his works, American Gods, Sandman, Mirrormask, Beowulf, and The Graveyard Book. Most of his works that Ive seen were in the genre of fantasy that really took my interest. Another thing was that they were all mysterious and weird in most of the ways. Stardust is a story revolving around a young man named Tristran Thorn. He went off a journey in search for the star because of the promise of his hearts desire, Victoria allowing him to take her hand. In his adventure, he met a little man, a woodnymph turned into a tree, a star named Yvaine, one of the prince of Stormhold, Primus, the witch-queen, Lilim, the mischievous Ditchwater Sal, and his long lost mother, Lady Una of Stormhold. In the end, Tristran did not end up with Victoria but with Yvaine, he became the King of Stormhold after ten years, and then he died leaving his wife, Yvaine. The film adaptation of Stardust was directed by Matthew Vaugn and released in 2007. There were a lot of comparisons made from the film adaptation to the novel. Most of the reviews I read favored the film. The novel was far different from the movie, as expected. But Neil Gaiman became an awful man in the eyes of the public by killing a lot of characters in the book, especially the unicorn, and not giving a happy ever after to his fairytale. The film was good but very predictable. All the clichs of a fairytale and a romantic-comedy were all there. The villains all died, Victoria regretted not choosing Tristran, and Tristan had a happy ending. It took four years before Neil Gaiman gave permission in the film adaptation of Stardust. Although, the plot were really different, I think he gave his permission because the main subject of his book was in the movie, if only the moviegoers would look into it deeper. Neil Gaiman started off his story with how a fairytale would start, There was once a young man who wished to gain his Hearts Desire. By this, people would have expected a very generic movement of a fairytale coming from the criteria implemented by a Walt Disney film. There would be a very troubled main character that goes off to his adventure and have his happy ending. However, in Stardust, Neil Gaiman has killed a lot of characters, with the killings narrated carefully. Instead of a happy ever after, Neil Gaiman became realistic telling his readers, Not forever-after, for Time, the thief, eventually takes all things into his dusty storehouse, but they were happy, as these things go, for a long while. He had given Tristran to Death and had ended in somewhat a very dramatic Yvaine as, She says nothing at all, but simply stares upward into the dark sky and watches, with sad eyes, the slow dance of the infinite stars.

Neil Gaiman had established the desire or dream of Tristran that he wanted to achieve. However, this desire turned out to be manipulated by the society surrounding Tristran in the other side of the wall. Victoria was described as the hearts desire of Tristran. that symbolizes what the society dictates of a man. Tristran was supposed to marry someone, have a family, and have children. That was the normal thing expected in a normal world. Another thing is the arrangement of their father pertaining to the determination of who will be the eighty-second Lord of Stormhold. It was either the deaths of the princes would be justified or avenged in the fight to the crown. It would be justified only if they were killed by their siblings and avenged if they were killed by other people. The third rule was at the encounter of Tristran with the little man and Primus, in which the help given by Tristran was returned. There were a lot of things that were left out of the story that kept me wondering, such as Fellowship of the Castle and the immortality of Yvaine. This represented the continuation of life. There are times that you can never have your hearts desire but life would move on to the point where it reaches the end while the other people will only be starting. Neil Gaiman was somewhat a very cruel man and at the same time very witty in his works. My favorite part was the story of the fieldmouse that goes:
A fieldmouse found a fallen hazelnut and began to bite into the hard shell of the nut with its sharp, ever-growing front teeth, not because it was hungry, but because it was a prince under an enchantment who could not regain his outer form until he chewed the Nut of Wisdom. But its excitement made it careless, and only the shadow that blotted out the moonlight warned it of the descent of a huge grey owl, who caught the mouse in its sharp talons and rose again into the night. The mouse dropped the nut, which fell into the brook and was carried away, to be swallowed by a salmon. The owl swallowed the mouse in just a couple of gulps, leaving just its tail trailing from her mouth, like a length of bootlace. Something snuffled and grunted as it pushed through the thicketa badger, thought the owl (herself under a curse, and only able to resume her rightful shape if she consumed a mouse who had eaten the Nut of Wisdom), or perhaps a small bear.

It was funny in a way that there are lots of things that can happen whichever path that people would choose. Maybe it was just about how you make out of it. You can choose to follow your hearts desire but in the end you will still die. If that happens, you can never achieve what you wanted all along, which I think was happiness in the case of Tristran. Neil Gaiman was seen to be very merciless in the way he ended with death. The narration on Tristran giving up Victoria, even though he already had his promised fallen star, somehow turned out the point of realization for Tristran. He has changed a lot and became a man. He had realized that his supposed hearts desire was not something he can continue to fight for.

Tristran Thorn, I believe, achieved his true happiness by knowing what to do with his life. The way in his becoming of a man was to learn, to gain knowledge, and to be content. He can never be content in marrying someone who is in love with somebody else because of the pain and insecurities that he would have. It is not about him settling with Yvaine instead, but his choice in trying to be happy. He became a man not because of his adventures, him having his word of honour or him being a king. It was more of knowing, accepting, and taking action to what he can do and what he cannot do in due time. Another realization of this kind was of the witch-queen, Lilim. It was quite disappointing because she died in the film adaptation wherein her conversation with Yvaine in the book was really strong move by Neil Gaiman and very interpretative. The witch queen tells Yvaine, If ever you get to be my age, you will know all there is to know about regrets, and you will know that one more, here or there, will make no difference in the long run. It was very dramatic and suggestive. It was not because the witch queen finally gave up to give way their love story but it was because she now know that she can no longer have her heart (Yvaines, the star, heart). Neil Gaiman was successful in sharing this idea to his readers. It was the same case with the movie, but the people were somehow blinded from this because of the things that took much of their attention which was the love story, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and the happy ending. The novelist who tells the public what he thinks it should know is seldom so successful as he who tells it only what it wishes to hear, for his readers would always rather have their sentiments confirmed than their knowledge enhanced. (Hale 1914, 120) Literature Cited Hale, Beatrice Forbes-Robertson. 1914. What women want: An interpretation of the feminist movement. New York: F.A. Stokes Co.. Accessed October 04, 2012. http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/2573589?n=2&s=4&printThumbnails=no.