Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Terrible Trivium

Showcase time! Norton Juster wrote an amazing fairy tale in 1961 called "The Phantom Tollbooth." This book is written with such rhythm that it just about compels you to read it out loud even if you are trying not to. It is also largely an allegory and demonstrates facts of life in the form of symbolism. Nevertheless, we can imagine seeing the things Milo saw in the book as if they were very real.

The book's most prominent villainous resource came from a creature known as a demon. There a lot of those in this book. The one we shall be discussing in brief shall be The Terrible Trivium. Pay close attention.

The Terrible Trivium is a faceless/featureless individual who is dressed not dissimilar to Batman's the Riddler. He comes across as very charming and convincing. He offers to be your friend and claims to have your best interest at heart. I want you to understand that this creature is actually very real and he is to be avoided in the same way as in the book

This demon wants you to keep busy doing meaningless things until the end of time. For example: moving a pile of sand from one place to another with only a pair of tweezers, dig a hole with only a needle, or emptying a well with only an eyedropper. Here is the scariest part: he is extremely convincing. The victim will believe he is better off doing those meaningless things than actually striving for better. Yes, this is real, and Norton Juster knew that just as well as I do.

There are demons in this world who want us grinding our lives away at ultimately meaningless jobs. They want us to be faceless individuals just like them and never truly meet with out potential. Let me be clear: Nobody was ever meant to spend there entire lives working at a McDonald's. If that happens, it is the saddest thing ever. Human beings were meant for more than that.

The Terrible Trivium is all about taking away human potential by literally grinding them into dust over the span of their miserable lives. As charming as he is, he hates humanity. He wants them all to be nothing and freely absorbs from them everything they could have been. He is real. Norton Juster did not create a fictional character at all. You see it all around you, and he must be fought against.

Life is hard and unfair, but you have to fight it to your dying breath. Be human! Be more than what you came here as! Find your talent, or love, or whatever and make this world a better place, Don't just be a faceless cog in the machine. You were always meant for so much more, my friends. You are the human race. Please... Please, don't give up your birthright.

"If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You simply won't have the time, for there is always something to do to keep you from what you should really be doing." ~The Terrible Trivium

Thank you for reading my blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Dedicated to Shawn O'Toole.