Ostudent 1

Aname Ostudent
Professor Lewis
English 115
11/12/14
Proposal for Green Paper:
The Dragon as a Status Symbol in Simon R. Greens Blue Moon Rising
For my final paper on Simon R. Greens novel Blue Moon Rising, I will be looking at the
dragon and its role in the novel. Dragons, no matter which mythology you look at, are symbols
of strength and power. They can be creatures of light or darkness, of life or death, but they
always represent a fierce dominance. In Blue Moon Rising, the dragon is sought after to prove
the courage and brawn of the hero, Rupert. He is sent to kill the dragon and bring back the
dragons imagined wealth of riches that are in its den, as it is believed, especially in Western
Europe that dragons guard over gold and precious jewels. Instead, Rupert comes home with a
new friend- the dragon. Despite the people believing Rupert to be incompetent in killing a
dragon, he is still given a nominal amount of respect because the dragon follows him. Rupert
may not have killed the dragon but he still controls the dragon, or so the people see it. The
dragon acts as a status symbol for our hero.
I chose this topic because of the impact the dragon has in the novel, despite not showing
its face for more than a handful of chapters. His importance is just as great as the unicorns or the
High Warlocks. I plan on using The Dragon Hunt by Mary Barnard to talk about the history
of the dragon to show how it has played out in mythology; this will allow my readers to

Ostudent 2
understand why Rupert was sent to kill the dragon to prove his worth to his kingdom. While
some may try and argue that the dragon plays a minimal role in the novel, I will use my
secondary sources to provide examples of the prestige a knight acquired by coming face to face
with a dragon and living. Rupert does not need to kill the dragon in order to gain influence over
people; he survived an encounter and tamed a dragon, which is almost as grand as killing a
dragon.
I plan on introducing the history to the dragon first, then talking about how/why he plays
a minimal role in the plot of the novel, and following that up with the importance of the dragon
to Rupert and his reputation. I will conclude about how the significance of the dragon is not
hindered by his constant sleeping because his role in the novel is not to move the plot but to
elevate the status of Rupert.