54 pages • 1 hour read
Diana Wynne JonesCastle in the Air
Diana Wynne JonesFiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Which Tells of Violence and Bloodshed”
Abdullah follows the soldier to warn him. As he catches up to him, the four men stage their ambush. To Abdullah’s surprise, the soldier easily defeats them all, though Abdullah knocks out one who tries to sneak up behind using the genie bottle, to the genie’s annoyance. The soldier reveals that he showed off his bounty to deliberately bait them so he could rob them. He points out that the men will turn the tale and say that he and Abdullah attacked them. Because they are both foreigners, the villagers will believe this version of events. They take the men’s money and leave the road to cut over the hills, as they expect to be pursued by the authorities.
The soldier has a medical kit from the battlefield; he gives Abdullah lotion that almost completely heals his foot where it is rubbed raw. They theorize that it might be magical. The soldier checks out a cave as a sleeping spot, but a wild animal attacks him. They make camp elsewhere and start a fire in case the animal is nearby.
The soldier reveals angrily that the bounty story was a lie: After the war, the soldiers were left to fend for themselves. He felt that Ingary cheated by using wizards, so he decided to earn his bounty by robbing the people of Ingary, though only the ones who attacked him first. They admire the sunset; one of the clouds looks like a castle.
Chapter 11 Summary: “In Which a Wild Animal Causes Abdullah to Waste a Wish”
Abdullah tells the soldier about Flower-in-the-Night and his misadventures. He leaves out his daydreams and their strange habit of coming true and also leaves out the genie, assuming the soldier would steal it. The soldier sympathizes, saying he also fancies marrying a princess and settling down. Abdullah says he had a vision that if the soldier helps him find Flower-in-the-Night, his reward will be to marry a princess. The soldier suggests they head for the city of Kingsbury because that’s where the Ingary princess lives, as do the wizards, who might know about djinns.
In the morning, they find a small black cat trying to get into the genie bottle, revealing its secret to the soldier. People in Zanzib don’t like cats, so Abdullah tries to shoo it away aggressively. The cat transforms back into the panther from the cave for a moment. The soldier doesn’t seem to notice and cradles the cat’s kitten. He names the cat Midnight and the kitten Whippersnapper. He makes the genie grant another wish in advance to get milk and fish for them. He insists the cats come too as they set off. To Abdullah’s horror, Midnight rides on his shoulders.
Chapter 12 Summary: “In Which the Law Catches Up for Abdullah and the Soldier”
The two humans and two cats walk toward Kingsbury. They stop overnight at an inn, where the soldier pampers the cats, leaving Abdullah with a huge bill. He warms to Midnight, though he is disturbed that she becomes a panther when he annoys her. He hopes Jamal and his dog are well. The next day, they are ambushed by four constables. Abdullah and the soldier manage to escape as Midnight becomes a huge panther, scaring them off.
The soldier is furious that Abdullah left Midnight behind: He’s never seen her panther trick. The constables chase them into a bluebell wood. They convince the grumbling genie to loan them another day’s wish. Abdullah wants to go to Kingsbury, but the soldier won’t leave Midnight. He instead wishes to be hidden until Midnight finds them. The genie gleefully turns them into toads, hidden among the flowers. The constables give up and leave.
Chapter 13 Summary: “In Which Abdullah Challenges Fate”
Midnight finds them in the woods, and they both turn back into humans. The genie is smug about his trick. The soldier threatens that next time, they’ll wish to turn the genie into a toad.
They travel toward Kingsbury carefully, by backroads. Abdullah is irritated that the soldier and the cats have caused a delay in the search for Flower-in-the-Night. On the third night, they see a castle in the clouds again. They hardly seem to be getting closer to Kingsbury. The soldier suggests that for his wish tomorrow, Abdullah should request the carpet back so that they have an indefinite means of transport. He fears that if they just wish to be in Kingsbury, the genie will interpret this mischievously. Abdullah thinks that the soldier is great at getting people to do things for him, as are Midnight and Whippersnapper. He can’t believe he’s at the bottom of the pecking order.
The next day, the genie expects Abdullah to summon the carpet. Abdullah says he is sick of Fate playing with him: Fate has decreed he should marry Flower-in-the-Night but also keeps delaying it. The soldier keeps wasting wishes, the genie performs the wishes mischievously, and Abdullah is constantly on the run. Abdullah decides to waste a wish each day in order to force Fate to step in to bring about his marriage to Flower-in-the-Night. Abdullah wishes for Jamal and his dog to be transported to safety to work in the kitchens of the nearest palace other than the Sultan’s. The genie grumpily concedes he can’t twist that one much, but still has a mischievous look. The genie expresses a hope that Abdullah might free him one day, but Abdullah thinks that if he was no longer captive, he wouldn’t stick around to help him find Flower-in-the-Night.
The soldier seems to have overheard some of this. He says he doesn’t follow Abdullah’s logic but doesn’t seem to mind. They keep walking toward Kingsbury. Abdullah uses his next wish to request that the bandits, whom the genie turned into toads, be turned back into men, despite the genie’s objections.
Chapters 10-13 Analysis
This section features the first appearance of a literal embodiment of the title, as Abdullah and the soldier see a castle in the clouds. This symbol appears several times and has elaborate features that undermine the idea that it’s just a shape in the clouds, but the features change with each appearance. Wynne Jones signposts that this is a magical phenomenon, and she also suggests that it will be central in the plot, given that it recalls the title. However, it seems unreachable and far-off, reflecting how Abdullah feels about his quest at this point in the story: It is unclear how he is ever going to make progress.
He continues to move from one predicament to the next, escalating the ongoing motif that he is always being pursued. Now he is on the run from this new country’s constables. Abdullah compares this to the Sultan’s guards but also to his own relatives before his adventures began, who were always seeking him out to put pressure on him. The chronic sense of being besieged or pursued by others adds to his feeling that he is never in control of his life, and he becomes overwhelmed by the idea that other beings are deciding everything. Although he owns the genie, which theoretically gives him power, he feels that the soldier and the cats always manipulate him into getting their own way, and even the genie manages to twist his wishes for his own ends of causing mischief.
Abdullah’s dilemma ties into the theme of Personal Agency Versus Fate: Abdullah can’t see any way to seize control, so he instead decides not to make any active choices toward his goals and relies on the concept of “Fate” to bring about the prophecies. In this section, he knows from his previous misadventures with the Sultan that “Fate,” like the genie, can play tricks, as both prophecies and wishes can be interpreted in different ways. Wynne Jones plays into the typical fairytale trope of magical trickery to stack the odds against Abdullah, as whatever path he chooses seems fraught with risk.
However, she also shows that Abdullah is, in reality, still making choices: His wasted wishes are actually acts of kindness toward other people, as he chooses to turn the two bandits back into humans and send Jamal to a nearby palace where he can safely find work in the kitchens along with his dog. Abdullah’s repeated consideration of Jamal and his dog, which unexpectedly helped him in Chapter 6, foreshadows their importance later in the plot. The genie’s look of mischief as he grants this wish promises they will reappear and creates mystery over how this will happen. Abdullah’s actions, even when he is on strike from making choices, show the irony in this intention—it is not possible not to make any choices, as even choosing passivity is a choice.
In fact, Abdullah does have a plan in place at this time. They make their way toward Kingsbury, promising an advancement of the plot. However, Wynne Jones creates a sense of unease about this plan, suggesting it may not work as intended, as they are pursuing this for questionable reasons. The soldier has suggested that the wizards there might help, and he also believes that he is destined to marry a princess if he helps Abdullah. However, the soldier does not paint the wizards as selfless or fair: He claims they are responsible for defeating his country through the unfair use of magic. The story about the princess, meanwhile, is a lie made up by Abdullah. This section builds tension, as though Abdullah has found traveling companions, everyone has ulterior motives, and none of the characters can trust each other. The soldier even reveals that his backstory about the bounty is a lie designed to trick people so he can rob them, and Abdullah in turn is lying to him.
Even the two cats represent a mystery and a potential danger, as Midnight has the ability to turn into a huge panther. This develops the theme of Navigating the Lines between Fiction and Reality, as nothing is as it first seems, with the lines between fiction and reality constantly blurred. One of Abdullah’s challenges is working out what is true and what is just a story, both in the characters around him and his understanding of “Fate.”
Even though Abdullah is wary of these characters, he nonetheless develops sympathy for them, learning from his time with them. He realizes they both act in self-defense. The soldier has been left out in the cold by the war without any help, and only attacks those who attack him first. He sees how carefully Midnight cares for her kitten and that she only turns into a panther to protect him. In light of her behavior, he starts to reconsider his distrust of cats. This section facilitates character development for Abdullah—his quest is not simple, and he is forced to reckon with the way he sees himself and the world.
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