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The Phantom Tollbooth Wiki Information
The Phantom Tollbooth
is a children's adventure novel and a modern fairy tale published in 1961, written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through. He finds himself in the Kingdom of Wisdom. There he accepts a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom, acquires two faithful companions, and has many adventures. The book is full of puns, and many events, like Milo's sudden jump to the Island of Conclusions, are the consequences of taking English language idioms literally.
Juster claims his father's fondness for puns and The Marx Brothers' movies were a major influence. [1] The Phantom Tollbooth
was an "instant classic" when it was first published in 1961 and has never gone out of print since. [2] Critics have compared it to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
series of books in terms of classic appeal and importance.
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THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH TICKETS
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Plot summary
Milo comes home from school one day to find in his bedroom an anonymous package containing a miniature tollbooth and a map of Lands Beyond. He assembles the tollbooth, takes the map, drives through in his toy car, and instantly finds himself driving on a road in Expectations. Enjoying the ride, he pays no attention to his route and soon becomes lost in the Doldrums, a colorless place where thinking and laughing are not allowed. However, he is found there and rescued by Tock, a watchdog with the body of an alarm clock, who joins him on his journey.
Their first stop is Dictionopolis, one of two capital cities of Wisdom. They visit the word marketplace, where all the world's words are bought and sold. After an altercation between the Spelling Bee and the blustering Humbug, Milo and Tock are imprisoned by the very short Officer Shrift. In the prison, Milo learns the history of Wisdom. Its two rulers, King Azaz the Unabridged and the Mathemagician, had two adopted younger sisters, Rhyme and Reason, who had settled all disputes in the kingdom. Everyone lived in harmony until the rulers disagreed with the princesses' decision that letters and numbers were equally important. They banished the princesses to the Castle in the Air, and since then, the kingdom has been plagued with discord and disharmony.
Because the officer only likes to put people in prison, not to keep them there, Milo and Tock leave the dungeon and attend a banquet given by King Azaz, where the participants literally eat their words. King Azaz allows Milo and the Humbug to talk themselves into a quest to rescue the princesses. Azaz appoints the Humbug as a guide, and he, Milo and Tock set off for the Mathemagician's capital of Digitopolis to get his approval for their quest.
Along the way they meet fantastic characters like Alec Bings, a little boy who sees through things and grows until he reaches the ground, and have adventures like watching Chroma conduct his orchestra in playing the colors of the sunset.
In Digitopolis, their first stop is the mine where numbers are dug out and precious stones are thrown away. They eat subtraction stew, which makes the diner hungrier. The Mathemagician erases the mine with his magic pencil eraser, he and Milo discuss Infinity, and Milo proves to the Mathemagician that he must allow them to rescue the princesses.
In the Mountains of Ignorance, the three intrepid journeyers contend with lurking, obstructionist demons like the Terrible Trivium and the Senses Taker. Milo thwarts them from stopping his quest by using gifts he has received in Wisdom. After overcoming all obstacles and their own fears, the questers reach the Castle in the Air. The two princesses welcome Milo and agree to return to Wisdom. When the group leaves, Tock carries them through the sky, because, after all, time flies. The armies of Wisdom welcome the princesses home, King Azaz and the Mathemagician are reconciled, and all enjoy a three-day celebration of the return of Rhyme and Reason.
Milo says goodbye and drives off, feeling he has been away several weeks. Off ahead in the road he spies the tollbooth and drives through. Suddenly he is back in his own room.
He awakens the next day full of plans to return to Wisdom, but when he returns from school the tollbooth has vanished. A new note has arrived, addressed, "FOR MILO, WHO NOW KNOWS THE WAY." Milo becomes sad and hopes the tollbooth will return to him some day. However, he looks around him and finds that the world is now beautiful and interesting.
Characters
Main characters
- Milo
, a boy aged about 10, the main character. He is a sort of "everyman", without a distinctive personality, but brave and clever when needed. Milo is bored with life prior to receiving the tollbooth.
- Tock
, a "watchdog" who becomes a loyal companion to Milo. His body is an alarm clock.
- The Humbug
, a large, bombastic, beetle-like insect who craves attention and is always wrong. Milo's other companion.
- King Azaz the Unabridged
, ruler of Dictionopolis and lover of words.
- The Mathemagician
, ruler of Digitopolis and lover of numbers.
- Rhyme and Reason
(also known as The Princesses of Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason
). Adopted daughters of the Old King of Wisdom.
Minor characters
- Faintly Macabre
, (Aunt Faintly) the Not-So-Wicked Which. When she regulated all words used in public, she became so stingy with them that people became afraid to talk at all.
- Alec Bings
, a boy of Milo's age and height who "sees through things". He grows downwards from a fixed point in the air until he reaches the ground, unlike Milo, who grows upwards from the ground.
- Chroma
, conductor of an orchestra that plays all the world's colors.
- Dr. Kakofonous A. Dischord
, a scientist who enjoys creating unpleasant sounds such as "a blindfolded octopus unwrapping a cellophane-covered bathtub."
- The Awful DYNNE
("awful din"), a genie who collects noises for Dr. Dischord.
- The Soundkeeper
, who loves silence, rules the Valley of Sound. Her vaults instantly categorize and keep all the sounds ever made in history.
- The Dodecahedron
, an inhabitant of Digitopolis with twelve faces, each of which shows a different emotion.
- Officer Shrift
, a very short man, the police force of Dictionopolis. His name is a pun on the phrase "short shrift."
- The Lethargarians
, small creatures who live in the Doldrums, who nap a lot.
- The Spelling Bee
, an expert speller who accompanies Milo.
- The Half Boy
, a boy who is only .58 of a person from an "average" family, which had 2.58 children.
- Canby
, a frequent visitor to the Island of Conclusions, who is as much "as can be" of any possible quality.
- King Azaz's advisors: the Duke of Definition
, Minister of Meaning
, Count of Connotation
, Earl of Essence
, and the Undersecretary of Understanding
.
- The Whether Man
, who deals with "whether" things are rather than the weather.
Demons of Ignorance
- The Terrible Trivium
, a faceless, humanoid demon. He seduces passers-by with easy but pointless tasks.
- The Demon of Insincerity
, a small fuzzy animal whose only purpose is to mislead.
- The Gelatinous Giant
, a cowardly mass of gelatinous flesh, hidden in the mountains of Ignorance.
- The Triple Demons of Compromise
, who never go anywhere because they constantly compromise.
- The Horrible Hopping Hindsight
, a demon with eyes on its rear end.
- The Everpresent Wordsnatcher
, a filthy bird who deliberately misinterprets whatever is said.
- The Senses Taker
distracts passers-by from their quests by filling their senses with pleasant illusions.
- The Overbearing Know-it-All
constantly offers his incorrect opinions to anyone nearby. He is often accompanied by the demon, the Gross Exaggeration
.
- The Threadbare Excuse
, a weak but very persistent demon who clings to anyone who will give him a ride.
- The Gorgons of Hate and Malice
, two disgusting slug-like demons.
- The horned Dilemma
, whose name is a literal application of the idiom "to be on the horns of a dilemma."
Critical reaction
Critics have always acknowledged that the book is advanced for most children, who would not understand all the wordplay or the framing metaphor of how to achieve wisdom. [3] [4] Writers for sophisticated audiences, like the reviewer in The New York Times
, have focused on the children and adults able to appreciate it; for them, it has “something wonderful for anybody old enough to relish the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland
and the pointed whimsy of The Wizard of Oz
". [5] It is now generally acknowledged to be a classic of children’s literature. [6]
The book has been translated into several languages. [7]
Adaptations
- In 1969, animation director Chuck Jones adapted The Phantom Tollbooth
into a full-length feature animated film.
- In 1995, Juster adapted Tollbooth
into a libretto for an opera.
- Various stage adaptations have been created and performed. In 2004, The Phantom Tollbooth
was adapted as an official theatrical screenplay by Patrick Sayre and Cole Taylor.
- In 1987, composer Robert Xavier Rodriguez adapted a chapter of The Phantom Tollbooth
into "A Colorful Symphony" for narrator and orchestra.
- In 2008, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts launched a 6-month tour of a children's theater adaption of The Phantom Tollbooth
.
In popular culture
- The online game Kingdom of Loathing
has a "Phantom Trollbooth," though it is similar in name only. [8]
- NBC's TV show Parks and Recreation
features a reference to the book in the second episode of the first season.[vague]
References
- Dobbs Ferry Middle School Production of The Phantom Tollbooth press release from Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District website
- The Phantom Tollbooth: Context from SparkNotes
- Saturday Review 45, no. 3 (20 January 1962): 27.
- Mathes, Miriam. Library Journal (15 January 1962): 84.
- McGovern, Ann. “Journey to Wisdom.” The New York Times, November 12, 1961, p. BRA35
- Jays, David. "Classic of the Month: The Phantom Tollbooth." ''Guardian'' (London, England) (31 March 2004): 17.
- An Interview with Norton Juster, Author of ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' by RoseEtta Stone from The Purple Crayon
- Phantom Trollbooth from the Kol Wiki
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