Gossamer (novel)
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Gossamer is fantasy/sci-fi book for young adults by Lois Lowry.
| Author | Lois Lowry |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Walter Loraine Books |
| Released | 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 140 (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-618-68550-9 |
Where do Dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? Drawing on her rich imagination, Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The book's protagonist, Littlest One, affectionately called Littlest, is out on a dark night. As she and her mentor, Fastidious, stealthily sneak into a woman and her dog's home, they lightly touch objects, collecting pieces of memories, or fragments, as Littlest calls them. She wonders if she is a dog or a human being, which the latter is silently accepted by Fastidious.
Back at their home, Fastidious constantly complains about her student to Most Ancient. Thin Elderly and Fastidious decide to switch jobs, so Thin Elderly becomes Littlest's mentor, while Fastidious is assigned to a modern house with no stairs.
It is revealed that Littlest is part of a small subcolony of dream-givers. Through touching, they gater fragments such as colors, words, sounds, and scents. They then combine the fragments to become dreams, and they give the dreams to humans, and sometimes pets. It is called the bestowal. They were always invisible, and learned to dissolve, or become invisible.
The woman and her dog, Toby, then take a walk in daylight. She was lonely, but she reflected that her life was to change.
The next night, Thin Elderly and Littlest go back to the woman's house. On the way, Thin Elderly explains to be gentle in the touching, and not to delve, or to be touching too deeply. Everything had a menacing underside, and one who picks up menacing pieces become a sinisteed, one who inflicts nightmares. Thin Elderly gladly discovers that Littlest has the gossamer touch.
Littlest had not bestowed before, and Thin Elderly decided to teach her how. As an example, he inserted a dream into the woman's dog. He explained that he had pulled up fragments and then hold them until he could no longer. Littlest then bestows a dream of a kiss to the woman.
The woman, in the morning, was to take an eight-year-old boy into her household. She describes him as "angry," as told by the social workers. He would arrive on Friday, and his name would be John.
While Littlest ponders of the wonderful dream fragments from plates would make, a young dream-giver named Strapping was also thinking about dishes. His home, assigned as a punishment, was a dilapidated and messy place. As he gave his assignment, a lonely woman, a dream made of fragments from plates, she cried out, "John!" mournfully.
When John arrives at the woman's house on Friday, he finds it disapproving to his liking. While he acts indifferent to his caretaker, she is still sweet and kind.
At the Heap, Most Ancient calls a meeting. He reports that a Horde of sinisteeds may be appraching, with a particular victim, and to be careful and prudent.
John is furious that he has no electronic game systems to play with. He threatens to run away, but the woman dissuades him. While he scowls and complains, the woman seems to find it slightly amusing.
That night, Littlest and Thin Elderly hear a sinisteed breathe itself through the walls inside the house. It inflicts a nightmare into the boy, John. He cries out in his sleep, and the woman calms him with a story of a boy named John. After that, Littlest and Thin Elderly gather comforting fragments to reverse the effect the sinisteed had.
In the day, Strapping's assignment spoke into the phone for a job. She was signing to be a receptionist, while smoking. She tells the other end of the phone to tell her son that he'll be back home soon, and she loved him, and she dreamed of him last night.
Meanwhile, John is doing the lady's housework and taking her dog, Toby, out for walks. He threatens to shoot people, and to kill Toby, but the woman just waves them off cheerily.
Littlest, at night, decides she must touch the dog. Thin Elderly protests, as they must not touch living creatures, but gives in. Littlest notices how tender John was to his pink seashell, Toby, and a chrysalis he had found. She gathers fragments from Toby, and bestows them.
Strapping's assignment works well at a school. She reflects on how bad she had been toward her son, John, and her husband, Duane. But maybe her new job could yield some good results, and bring her some friends. She'd never been allowed to have friends before.
Thin Elderly is proud of Littlest's bestowal. John was happy in his dreams. She explained that she knew why a stuffed donkey's name was Hee-Haw because she had touched things. The fragments she collected had a bit of a story in each one, and she pieced them together in her mind.
Strapping, on the other hand, is satisfied with his work. He had been dull and drab, and he had no interest in dream-giving. So as a punishment, Dowager, another dream-giver, had assigned him to the woman. In a way, Strapping discovers he had a liking and a hope for the woman, and gave her dreams of hope, and a future with her son.
John scowls at Toby, who was stealing his breakfast. He tells a story to the woman about someone who ate dog food. He says darkly that his father made him do it because the son had been bad. As a little boy of three, the boy had been running around the house naked, and peed on the floor. So his father had rubbed his face in it, because he had been like a dog. So the boy had to eat dog food for dinner. The father harshly laughed, but the mother was sorry, and cried, and got hit. The woman realizes that John is telling a story about himself, and what had happened to him.
At night, Littlest and Thin Elderly discover that there was to be a Horde coming to inflict on John and the woman. Littlest bestowed dreams of hope and happiness into John, but meanwhile, almost got trampled by the Horde. John was dreaming of happy things, then terrible, then kept shifting back and forth between happy and terrible. Littlest strengthened him after the Horde left, calling upon the dreams she had bestowed unto him. The same happens to the woman.
John's mother proudly enters her son's name into her computer. He would be going to Rosewood Elementary soon.
The woman and John are all happy about the new school. They decide that John's mother could take care of the lucky shell each morning.
Littlest later discovers that she would have another assignment. Littlest discovers that she had started to love the boy. They were not permitted to, however, because love was a human emotion, and they were not human. They are imaginary, and within the night, stories, and dreams. At the Heap, Most Ancient handed her something. It was another young dream-giver, what Littlest had been. It was New Littlest, because Littlest wouldn't have been the Littlest forever, as with Most Ancient and Thin Elderly. So Littlest was something else. She was Gossamer.
[edit] Characters
Littlest/Gossamer: Littlest is the name of the young dream-giver at the beginning of the book. She is quite carefree, and is curious about everything. She gains the name Gossamer for her gossamer touch.
John: John is the young boy that Littlest and Thin Elderly receive as their assignment. Ever since he was little, he had been abused by his father. He is eight years old, and softens towards the end of the book.
John's Mother: John's mother is not explicitly named in the book. She had led a hard life with John and her husband, Duane. She was an intelligent woman, but was forbidden in social and intellectual events by Duane. They got divorced, and she becomes a secretary at John's school.
Toby's Owner: Toby's owner is also not named in the book. She was an old woman, about sixty or seventy in age. She used to be a schoolteacher, but retired a while ago. She lives a happy life with her dog, Toby, and is sweet in every way. She used to have a sweetheart that died in the war in France.
Thin Elderly: Thin Elderly is the dream-giver that ends up becoming Gossamer's instructor. He is quite experienced, and patiently answers Littlest's questions and is not offended. He takes care in his dream-giving, and is quite happy with it.
Most Ancient: Most Ancient is the most ancient one at Gossamer's Heap. He is like the leader, and tends to digress frequently. Although he has a faltering memory, he is wise in many ways.
Strapping: Strapping is a young dream-giver from a different Heap from Gossamer's. He used to be a bit casual and didn't care a bit about dream-giving. But after he got assigned to John's mother as punishment, he becomes more affectionate and caring.
Fastidious: Fastidious is another dream-giver of the Heap. She is extremely irritable and is impatient. She used to be Littlest's mentor, but switched places with Thin Elderly. She is hinted to be quite old, and she tends to complain a lot and enjoys modern conveniences, such as stairs.
[edit] Publication information
Walter Lorriane Books. Copyright 2006 by Lois Lowry.
[edit] External links
- Lowry's website
- Complete list of books by Lowry
