The rule following, intelligent girl, goes by the name of Alex Bailey. In the book, “The Land of Stories,” written by Chris Colfer, Alex is on a search for the most wanted criminal in all of the kingdoms, the Masked Man. Alex had reason to believe that the Masked Man is her late father, who faked his death in the real world and fled to the Fairy Tale World. After witnessing him steal a potion from a castle, Alex has been searching near and far trying to uncover the truth about her father.
After looking for over five months, with the help of her friends, she continued to look throughout all the kingdoms, no matter how hard it got. After trying for so long, and yet no progress being made, Alex had given up. Distraught and disgruntled, Alex ran into Rook, her ex-boyfriend, who knew where the Masked Man was hiding. After the great news, Alex’s ambition and determined rekindled, allowing her to do whatever it takes to find the Masked Man, leading into one of the the themes, determination fuels perseverance.
In the beginning, Alex and her group of friends, which included Red Riding Hood, her twin brother, Conner, Jack, Froggy, and Goldilocks, were looking for the Masked Man, one of the most wanted criminals throughout the kingdoms. Alex had reason to believe the Masked Man was her late father. After searching around for five months, trying to find anything that would lead them to the Masked Man, they finally found his whereabouts. On page 33 and 34, it states, “Meanwhile, the Masked Man crawled through the opening of the chimney and stepped onto the roof. … YOU’RE NOT ESCAPING THIS TIME! Alex yelled. … The Masked Man rolled off the roof and plummeted back to the earth. … The Masked Man fell through the clouds below and disappeared from sight. ” Alex came face to face with the Masked Man, almost too good to be true. Alex was determined to find the Masked Man over the course of five months, because she needed to find the answers to her questions about his true identity, but in the blink of an eye, he vanished.
It is also stated on page 40, “I’m afraid our search for the Masked Man is far from over,’ Froggy said, breaking the tension. It could be interpreted that Alex was trying very hard to not give up, as she kept getting mad and over-stressed over this and wanted to stopped the search, but Alex Bailey would never give up that easily. Instead, she just worked harder and persevered through everything that was happening, more determined than ever. Even though Alex and her friends had searched the surrounding area and found nothing suggesting the Masked Man had ran through the woods, Alex continued looking for him, completely ignoring the fact that the search spanned over a radius of miles and nothing turned up.
She was determined to find him, no matter how hard she had to work. Even though Alex had the pleasure to be the new Fairy Godmother after the previous one had passed, she neglected her responsibilities in order to carry on with the wild-goose chase. This of course did not please the Fairy Council. On page 60, it states, “I’m going to find the Masked Man and prove you wrong, with or without your help’.. ‘Then I’m afraid we have no choice. … For the first time in history, we hereby ungodmother you. ” As a result of not being Fairy Godmother, Alex also lost her powers granted with the responsibility of the job.
The fact that Alex was powerless didn’t affect her determination to find the Masked Man. It would merely make it harder, but not completely impossible. After Alex got angry after getting demoted, she fled to the late giant’s castle. It could be argued that Alex had just given up, and wanted to get away from everyone, and this is a good point because Alex had been so overwhelmed from everything happening in her life, except it fails to acknowledge Alex’s personality. This isn’t the first time Alex has been stressed out of her mind before, and it surely won’t be her last.
When Alex had been stressed before, she knew had to handle it, and refrain from lashing out. Normally, Alex would have stopped for a moment and relaxed and continued to work through it, and so it was surprising that she had ran away from the problem, for that is not the Alex Bailey we know and love, but Alex had reasoning behind her decision. While she was in the castle, she was clearing her mind and figuring out different ways to find the Masked Man. It turns out, Alex had never lost her determination and perseverance, she was just addressing the issue from a different angle.
On page 93, it states, “Now, on top of being overwhelmed, Alex was all alone and probably thought the entire world was against her (including her brother). ” After she had vanished into hiding, Alex was all on her own, with no help from anyone. That was yet another obstacle, but Alex Bailey would never give up that easily. Although she didn’t have any magic or friends to help her through her adventure, she still had her eye on the prize and she continued to persevere, although it would be a lot harder than before.
Eventually, after Alex had given up, thrown in the towel, and decided to go home, she took the long path right through the long and twisting forest. She was tired of not making any progress towards stopping the Masked Man and wanted more time to clear her head and figure out how to break the news to her friends. While in the woods, she ran into Rook, her exboyfriend, and his horse, Cornelius. He was trying to find Alex, for he had great news! On page 146, it states, “Cornelius and I have been looking everywhere for you! … It’s a long story-but we’ve been following the Masked Man! e told her.
We know where he’s been hiding! ” Rook had heard about the search for the Masked Man, and wanted to help Alex, therefore, he followed the Masked Man. Some people might interpret Rook as a guy who just wants Alex to get back together with him and rekindle the love they had for each other, but clearly Rook is just a kind and caring guy who just wants to help people, including his ex-girlfriend, in which he wanted to spark back her determination again. That is the kind of person he grew up as and demonstrated this on several occasions throughout the other books.
After Rook had explained it to Alex, she was ecstatic! Before she had given up, but now she was more determined than ever! She was ready to overcome any obstacles standing in the way of the Masked Man. She had to go tell her friends and get them to join her again. After an hour worth of persuading, Alex’s friends decided to help her again in the search. After being led to the cave in which the Masked Man was hiding, they discovered a stack of books, sitting in the middle of the moist, dark cavern.
Alex knew for a fact that was where the Masked Man was hiding, she had that feeling in her gut. So everybody waited in the cave until they discovered where the Masked Man was. They never did come face to face in that book, but that doesn’t mean Alex had lost her determination. She was ready to interrogate the Masked Man once they faced each other. In conclusion, Alex never gave up hope. She finished what she intended to start, and overcame many obstacles in the process.
Alex Bailey may have had magic powers in the beginning to help her in her journey, but throughout the book, she became less dependent on them and did things on her own. Everyone thought eventually she would give up, the idea of finding the Masked Man was just too impossible, but Alex continued to persevere through anything, once her determination was rekindled. Anyone, no matter the age, race, or whether or not they have magical powers, can do just as Alex did and find determination to help persevere through the tough times, no matter how difficult it becomes.
