“The Glass Demon” Reading Response

    The novel “The Glass Demon” by Helen Grant, is about a myth surrounding the Allerheiligen glass. The glass has been hidden because people believed it was made by the devil because of its beauty. It is supposedly cursed by a demon called Bonschariant. Lin and her family move to Germany so that her father, a professor, can study and look for the glass.  Many people are being killed and glass shards are being found beside their dead bodies. Lin thinks that the two may be connected. Lin and her friend, Michel, try to stop the killer from murdering anyone else. While reading the book, I noticed that people are scared of what they don’t know.

    An example of when someone is scared of the unknown is when, on page 89, the book says, “I couldn’t help it. My mind kept on skittering back to that long ago day in my father’s study at home, when I had been so terrified by the woodcut of Bonschariant climbing out of the window. It was absurd- it was impossible-clearly, if there was any connection between the deaths and my father’s hunt for the Allerheiligen glass, it was because someone wanted us to make the connection.” Lin is scared of the legend of Bonschariant. She is afraid of a creature which she thinks is made up, being real. She fears the deaths, because she doesn’t know who, or what,  killed the people. To comfort herself, Lin tells herself that the myth can’t be true. She does this by convincing herself that a person is committing these crimes.

    Another example of Lin being scared of the deaths is on page 104, when the book says, “ ‘Look, there’s something going on here, I’m sure of it. That’s why I don’t think you should go out in the woods alone. I’m not sure they are safe.’ ” This shows that all of the deaths are growing on Lin. She is giving in to the thought that Bonschariant might be real. Her fear is creeping up on her, and she is getting scared. She’s even getting scared of going outside, because many traumatic things have happened to her in a short period of time.

    Also, on page 159 it says, “It’s not possible, I told myself. Whatever you saw, it can’t be a demon. I stared at my mobile phone in my hands, a little chunk of modern technology, loaded with fuzzy snaps of my friends back in England. That’s the real world, I tried to tell myself. There are no such things as demons. But I was afraid to turn my back to the church.” At this part of the book, Lin has just seen what she thinks is Bonschariant in the church with the Allerheiligen glass. She is horrified at the shadow she has seen in the window. She tries tricking herself into thinking that demons can’t exist, however she knows she can’t fool herself. However, she still tries to tell herself this.

    Throughout the book, Lin tries to make herself feel like she is safe, because she fears the mythical demon. She believes that demons can’t be real, and when she sees the links between the deaths, she gets scared because she isn’t sure what to believe. She fears the unknown, which is the mysterious killer.