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Red Queen and the Power of Stories

Stories help the author and reader connect on a different level through character
development. Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard, is about a teenage girl named Mare Barrow. Mare
lives in a dystopia divided by blood, the Reds and the Silvers. The Silvers are the rulers of
Mares home village and the Reds are the lower, working class. Mare tells a story that reminds us
or makes us reflect on life lessons. Mares storytelling helps us connect to her and in doing so
we reflect on our own lives. Mares struggle with her identity becomes a struggle that we have
either faced ourselves and are now better able to empathize and understand the struggles with
identity endured by others. Telling and reading stories help us to develop an emotional
connection with our characters and ultimately with ourselves and with others.
We tell stories to create emotions and feelings that help us connect and relate to each
other. This was deeply expressed in the story as the plot progressed. When Mare is captured after
her powers are exposed, Queen Elara looks in her head for weaknesses and explanations of the
existence of her powers. If you know someones fear, you know them (Aveyard 79). When
Queen Elara says this to Mare she doesnt realize, that at the time emotions are what create our
identity and that she had that power over herself the entire time. As Mare discovers her identity
she is faced with many conflicts, both physical and emotional. When she discovers her powers,
and uses them against the Silvers, she is scared but also confident. After falling in love with the
princes, she is lustful. After being sent to her death and betrayed by her friends, she is regretful,
and after being saved by her friend Kilorn, from her death, she is hopeful. Her problems
choosing an identity is fraught with emotion.
Mare feels very emotional trying to balance her two identities. She realizes she must
choose one. I have lived that life already, in the mud, in the shadows, in a cell, in a silk dress. I
will never submit again. I will never stop fighting (Aveyard 94). The words mud, shadows,
cell, and silk dress describe the various homes Mare has been forced to live. Mares past
haunts her as she tries to decide between her old life with her family and her new life as a
princess. Aveyard describes the different and complicated lives Mare has had to live under to
stay alive. We empathize with Mares struggle to find and accept her identity. Stories help us to
relate to others and to reflect on and even pass on our own life experiences. This story is worth
telling because as the storys plot progressed, I became attached to the characters and began to
feel deeply what they were experiencing. I developed a relationship with the characters Mare,
Maven, and Cal. I was engulfed by their choices, actions, and feelings towards each other. It was
like I was becoming a new character in the book.
I was especially moved by Mares discovery and acceptance of her powers as she falls in
love with Cal. After she finds out that he wants the same injustice between the Reds and Silvers,
Mare leaves Cal and falls in love with his younger half-brother, and betrothed prince, Maven.
They develop a romantic connection. Mare is kissed by Cal while getting dance lessons from him
and once Maven finds out about the kiss, he betrays Mare by sentencing Cal and Mare to their
deaths. In the end Mare chooses neither of the brothers. Cal betrayed me, and I betrayed him.
And you betrayed us both, in a thousand different ways. The words are heavy as stone but right.
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So right. I choose no one (Aveyard 352). The words heavy as stone describe Mares decision
as permanent but also a hard choice. Even though the choice she makes is the right choice, it
sits heavy in her heart. I can relate to the betrayal she feels because I too was betrayed in a
relationship and had to make a similar decision. The betrayal and my choice to end the
relationship still lies in my heart like a stone.
Stories have a lot of power. They can take us to places we have never been, places we
want to go, and places we thought we would never return. We tell stories to evoke emotions,
feelings, reflections, connections, and lessons. Stories are the best way to develop self-
knowledge and explore identity. Identifying with the relationships that characters experience is
what makes the plot and theme of the story appealing, moving, and memorable. A story's
complexity helps move and develop the rising plot, introduces us to conflict and how to resolve
conflict, and keeps us reading to the end. Stories are worth telling because they allow us to
connect with characters on a different level, as if they were real. We come to relate on a more
personal level and empathize with their experience. Mare goes through many emotions and
conflicts, especially in choosing an identity. Her story reminds us that life is full of conflict and
choices. Making the right choice is sometimes the most difficult choice.

Work Cited
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Aveyard, Victoria. Red Queen. New York, NY: Harper Teen, an imprint of
HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. Print.