The Wind in the Willows | The Wind in the Willows and the Plotting of Contrast
In the following essay, Mendelson examines the contrary states of “individualistic hedonism and communal affection” in The Wind in the Willows.
All readers or listeners know that there are really two stories in The Wind in the Willows: that of the madcap, adventurous Toad the Gaol-breaker; and that of friendship, home life, the simple joys of “messing about in boats,” the story of Mole, Rat, and Badger. The story of Toad-of-the-Highways is centrifugal, an outgoing, Odyssean song of the open road; the other is centripetal, a riverbank idyll of domestic, pastoral pleasure. And because the values of the dusty road and the riverbank seem so opposed, readers naturally tend to align themselves with one of these...
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