How Mirka Got Her Sword

Joan of Arc was a 19-year-old peasant girl who led soldiers into war. Mirka was an eleven-year-old orthodox Jewish girl who dreamed of slaying dragons. Both of these women, one a fictional character and another a historical idol, have become points of inspiration for women. ‘How Mirka Got Her Sword’, by Barry Deutsch, is about a young Jewish girl who dreams of slaying dragons. She endures a magical pig, a witch, her step-mother, and fights a troll to make the people of her town believe that she actually isn’t insane and that she’s telling the truth about monsters. Deutsch uses a sequential structure to help the story move efficiently. The sequential structure has the parts of the story feed smoothly and connect to each other. He also uses a cyclical structure, which has the events that happen at the beginning of the story, happen similarly at the end of the story, Mirka is knitting with her step-mother at the beginning and end of the book, but her attitude is different both times. For style, Deutsch uses mainly diction, which uses specific words and phrases to give a better insight to Mirka’s life.
Joan is a 19-year-old peasant girl who claims to have been visited by multiple angels to pass on the will of God, saving and crowning the king of France. She was burned at the stake by the English enemy because they thought she had been sent by the devil instead of God, and was insane, to the point of hallucinations. It certainly didn’t help that she dressed and was adamant on having the same ‘privileges’ as men did at the time. Castor uses a sequential structure, putting the events into order and helping them flow smoothly into each other, helping the story make more sense to the reader. Castor uses the style of mysticality. She twists the tale just so to have the same legend but with the element of magic and holiness, making the tale have a sense of magical