Changing Self, Changing Other: Patricia Mckillip's the Changeling Sea As Feminist Fairy Tale (Critical Essay‪)‬

PATRICIA MCKILLIP, IN HER AUTHOR'S NOTE TO THE CHANGELING SEA (1988), remarks, "The story of the true human child stolen by fairies and a changeling, a fairy child, left in its place is very old and very familiar." McKillip's note draws attention to fairy-tale motifs present in the story, and the novel depends, to a certain extent, on readers' recognition of such motifs and the expectations they create. Like many fairy tales (whether traditional versions or rewritings) and many young adult novels, The Changeling Sea tells the story of the maturation of its protagonist, and by using the changeling motif, McKillip suggests both the confusions and the potential power of adolescent development into adult sexual/romantic and social roles. Despite the pre-industrial setting and patriarchal society of the novel, McKillip does not depict these roles for the female protagonist, Peri, as traditional gender-defined possibilities. McKillip's use of the changeling motif to describe the condition of adolescence, including its awakening to sexuality and desire, represents that awakening within a context that affirms female power and community while deconstructing binary oppositions; as a feminist fairy tale, the novel values female agency as transformative of individual and community. Fairy-Tale Context