Factors of Fantasy Literature

When you either are reading a fantasy book or want to teach a unit on fantasy there are many important factors to take notice of. The main theme of fantasy stories are suspending your disbelief and allowing you to be placed in an unrealistic world. Authors can do this in a variety of different ways and there are so many examples out there. I have been reading Charlotte’s web and I did an analysis of how E.B. White chose to go about it. He kept the setting for the most part in a very realistic setting, but allowed the characters to take the reader into a more fantastical situation. The animals in this story are humanized in the sense they can communicate with each other, they have feelings and morals like humans and are forced to make decisions, however this behavior is only between the animals. The humans in the story have no insight that the animals can talk to each other. The key to fantasy literature is to not make it too unrealistic, the reader needs to be able to somewhat relate and allow themselves to be engaged before it becomes unbelievable.