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Buttercup's Baby: 3. Buttercup and Westley
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Princess Bride, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fact vs. Fiction
The Value of Cleverness and Humility
Love, Loyalty, and Friendship
Authorship and Storytelling
Fairytales and Growing Up
Summary
Analysis
As Fezzik falls after Waverly, he sees the rocks at the bottom. He kicks in the air and starts getting closer to her. He makes silly faces at her and she laughs, thinking that this is just another fun game.
The “messing with time” in Buttercup's Baby shows the reader that this work is one that will keep them on their toes and make sure they're asking questions every step of the way.
Themes
Going back to right after Waverly's birth, Morgenstern explains that Waverly and Fezzik are strangely connected. Fezzik knows when Waverly is sick or hungry, which makes him the perfect babysitter. Waverly calls Fezzik “Shade,” as he sits between her and the sun to shade her. They play games and swim around the whirlpool.
Morgenstern also never notes whether or not Fezzik is somehow still possessed at this point, which could explain the strange connection between him and Waverly. Again, however, the reader can only question and decide for themselves what Morgenstern is trying to do.
Themes
Returning to Fezzik and Waverly falling, Fezzik reaches Waverly and pulls her close. He reasons that if he lets his back hit the rocks first, he might save her. They make silly faces one more time and Fezzik closes his eyes. He thanks God he is a giant.
By offering a sense of closure for Fezzik in terms of how he thinks of himself, Goldman shows that by this point in Fezzik's journey, he understands that he can use his body to help those he loves.
Themes
Goldman explains that when he reads this to Willy the first time, Willy is silent for a while. Then, Willy insists that Fezzik can't die and asks who invaded Fezzik. Goldman tells Willy that those are great questions. Addressing the reader, Goldman says that, like Willy, he doesn't believe that Fezzik is going to die. He lists a few of the questions he has: what's up with the Unexplained Inigo Fragment, who's the madman, and who did invade Fezzik.
When Goldman lists his own questions for Buttercup's Baby, he shows the reader what he wants them to finish the novel with: the knowledge that one of the main purposes of literature is to encourage readers to think critically and ask questions so that, like Willy and Goldman, readers can come of age and understand their worlds.
Themes
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Goldman says that he and his readers have all traveled a long way from when Buttercup wasn't yet the most beautiful woman in the world. He says that readers write him often, and he loves seeing people wearing Princess Bride tee shirts. Goldman says he knows that Fezzik, Inigo, Buttercup, and Westley have some hard times coming to them, but he hopes that Morgenstern will let them be happy in the end.
Mentioning the wider community of readers (and movie viewers) helps Goldman end his story by telling the reader that most important to him is that through The Princess Bride, he's created an international community of people who all love the novel's heroes just as much as he does. The novel, in other words, is bigger than just the novel—it's the combined weight of everything else pertaining to the novel too.
Themes
