A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-14

Chapters 15-22

Chapters 23-30

Chapters 31-37

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

“Just Bread!”

As a motif, Mona’s insistence that she works with bread, “just bread!” recurs often. She believes that her magical ability is minor, weak, and useless for anything more practical than making dough rise and keeping bread soft. Other characters tell her that her ability is more impressive than she believes and push her to do more with her magic than she initially believes she is capable of.

For instance, when Mona tells Master Gildaen that she works with “just bread,” he retorts that he likewise works with “just water” (166). Yet, he is a respected royal wizard. In their brief conversation, he tries to instill some confidence in her, saying: “You’re not that weak, youngster. Wizards have done more with less” (168). Likewise, when the Duchess tells Mona about the Carex invasion and asks for her help, she assures Mona of her strength, saying: “[W]ithout the use of magic, you have managed to bring down a powerful traitor and recall a negligent ruler to her senses. I shudder to think what you might accomplish with the use of magic” (210). Yet, once again, Mona retorts that she only works with bread.

After this conversation, however, Mona accepts the responsibility to do whatever she can with her abilities and discovers that her power is effective when she puts her mind to it. This motif highlights Mona’s lack of self-confidence and her misconception of what real talent and power look like. As Gildaen and Lord Ethan explain, few wizards have impressive abilities. Rather, they find creative ways to leverage the abilities they possess to their best effect.

Bob and the Gingerbread Men

Bob the sourdough starter and the gingerbread men are not merely products of Mona’s magic, but small extensions of her will, symbolizing her emotions. As Mona explains in the first chapter, she accidentally brought Bob to life in a moment of panic and fear. Her intense feelings “supercharge[d]” (9) the magic, which gave life so forcefully that she does not think anything could kill him now. Thus, Bob is both an explicit result of Mona’s fear and a symbol of that fear. As an extension of that fear, Bob is also deeply protective. This is why he is so effective as a defensive weapon against first the Spring Green Man and later, the Carex invaders.

Similarly, the gingerbread men symbolize Mona’s emotions at several points in the plot. In the beginning, they symbolize her joy and playfulness as she makes them dance for customers. Though Mona speculates that different ingredients influence their personalities, it is just as likely that her feelings as she bakes them influence them as well. This is apparent first in the primary gingerbread man she animates in Chapter 9, into which she pours more magic than usual because she feels tense, angry, and afraid following Tibbie’s death and her experience with Oberon. This gingerbread man stays alive indefinitely, like Bob, because it came alive at a moment of intense need. It displays a similar protectiveness, such as when it stands sentry while Mona sleeps. Likewise, the gingerbread men Mona makes to cause mischief in the Carex camp symbolize her outrage and hatred. Each baked creature Mona brings to life thus represents the primary emotions she feels in the moment of animation.

Magic

Magic itself is also a symbol in the novel. In addition to being an important element of the plot, magic symbolizes difference, particularly in connection with the theme of Difference and Prejudice. In the setting of Mona’s world, some people possess magical abilities that mark them as different. In smaller cities, there may be a few dozen wizards; in large cities, there may be a couple hundred. This is a small percentage of the overall population. Some city-states are more suspicious of wizards than others. In some places, wizards are required to register with the government or are placed in ghettos.

In Riverbraid, however, those with magic are largely treated the same as everyone else. When Oberon accuses wizards of being spies, and announces a registry, Mona believes that even the non-magical citizens will be angry and rise to their defense. Spindle disabuses her of this notion, explaining that most people do not seem to object because they were always “a little iffy ‘bout magicker talents, even the little piddly ones” (122), and therefore might think a registry is a good idea. Mona is shocked to realize that magic has marked her as more different than she realized. Anything that marks people as different automatically marks them as suspicious, dangerous, and unwelcome. Thus, magic symbolizes the kinds of differences for which people have historically been condemned and mistreated.