The book Elvira by Margaret Shannon is a story
of a young dragon who is born looking and acting just
like all the other dragons. Yet, as she gets older, Elvira becomes different.
While the other dragons are interested in fighting with each other and eating
princesses, Elvira prefers to make daisy chains and design dresses.
Because of her differences, Elvira is bullied by the other dragons and
made fun of. She finally chooses to leave and go live with the princesses.
At first she is also ostracized by the princesses, but when they realized
that she wants to be one of them instead of eating them, they adopt
her as their favorite pet. They dress her in pretty dresses and paint
her nails. One day Elvira's parents mistake her for a big princess who
looks tasty to eat. When Elvira makes it clear that she is a dragon
and not a princess they take her home so she won't be mistaken for a princess again.
At first, when the other dragons hear that Elvire has come home, they visit to pick on her. But, instead,
they are excited by her dresses, and she makes dresses for them also.
The book Elvira deal with philosophical
issues such as aesthetics, which is the branch of philosphy that studies
beauty and art. Elvira is interested in things she finds aesthetically
pleasing such as beautiful dresses and daisy chains. The other dragons
find things like fighting to be pleasing. This makes her
different from the other dragons. Elvira also deals with philosophical
issues such as ethics. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that deals
with things such as morals. Elvira's morals tell her it is wrong to
eat princesses. This is at odds with the ethical system of the other
dragons who think it is quite all right to eat princesses. Elvira
also deals with the philosophical issues of epistemology, which is the
branch of philosophy that studies how we know things, and ontology,
which is the philosophical branch that studies what existence and identity
are. For example, how does Elvira know it is wrong to eat princesses?
Also, what does it mean for Elvira to have an identity that is different
from all the other dragons?
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