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Chapter 14: Catelyn
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Game of Thrones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Power
Climate Change and Collective Action
Gender and Power
Honor and Integrity
Identity
Summary
Analysis
Sansa and Arya are supposed to spend the day with Princess Myrcella and Queen Cersei, but Arya is not interested in going. She tells Sansa that she’s going to spend the day with her new friend, Mycah, instead. Sansa doesn’t know why Arya likes spending time with that boy, who is the son of a butcher, instead of enjoying the luxuries of royalty. But Arya loves spending time in nature with Mycah exploring and discovering animals she’s never seen before. She says she doesn’t like the queen and won’t spend the day with her. Then she storms off, leaving Sansa alone.
This passage again portrays Arya as someone who doesn’t fit within the strict expectations of Westeros, both in terms of gender norms and in terms of who she likes to spend time with. The hierarchy of Westeros dictates that upper and lower classes remain in separate spheres, but Arya disregards that idea, showing that she tends to eschew the norms of the prevailing hierarchy of the realm. Sansa, on the other hand, upholds those norms.
Themes
Sansa hears that new riders have arrived to escort the king to King’s Landing and goes to see. She is frightened by the appearance of one of the new men, Ser Ilyn, and has an awkward interaction with him. But she makes up for it by charming two of the other new men, Ser Barristan, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and Ser Renly Baratheon, Robert’s younger brother. The queen says that regretfully she’ll have to cancel their plans to spend the day together and asks Joffrey to entertain Sansa. Joffrey accepts. He and Sansa are now officially engaged, though they won’t be married for years. Joffrey is everything Sansa could want a prince to be: he’s tall, strong, and handsome. Joffrey and Sansa go out riding alone, leaving behind Lady (Sansa’s direwolf) and the Hound (Joffrey’s bodyguard).
The novel has thus far established Joffrey as an arrogant, entitled, and at times cruel person. Sansa, though, believes that because he is tall, strong, and handsome, he’s exactly how a prince should be. Sansa’s ideas point not just to her preoccupation with appearances but also to her romantic view of the world in which princes are heroes who defeat villainous opponents—an oversimplified understanding of politics that fails to grasp at the fundamentally corruptive nature of power. The novel also uses the discrepancy between Joffrey’s appearances and character to provide a subtle commentary on fantasy as a genre and fairy tales in particular, in which archetypal characters like “Prince Charming” are portrayed similarly to how Joffrey appears. The novel argues, though, that this trope is often not based in reality.
Themes
Joffrey and Sansa have a picnic and drink wine before they hear a crashing sound in the woods. Sansa is afraid and wants to turn back, but Joffrey wants to investigate. They go through the woods and see two children practicing sword fighting with broom handles. Sansa is shocked when she sees that one of the children is Arya, who is covered in mud. The other person is Mycah. Joffrey takes out his sword and approaches Arya and Mycah. He challenges Mycah to a fight before placing his sword blade against Mycah’s cheek and drawing blood. Arya hits Joffrey on the back of the head with her broomstick and then Nymeria (Arya’s direwolf) attacks Joffrey. Arya calls off Nymeria and runs away with Mycah. Joffrey lays on the ground and reacts contemptuously when Sansa tries to help.
The novel establishes Sansa and Arya as foils for each other. While Sansa meets the gender norms of Westeros, Arya has no interest in conforming to those norms. Notably, their divergence from those norms leads them to different companions. Arya finds Mycah, whose company Arya seems to enjoy for its own sake, while Sansa finds Joffrey, who is again portrayed as needlessly cruel and arrogant. It remains to be seen whether Sansa witnessing Joffrey’s cruelty firsthand will lead her to change her opinion about him.
Themes
