"Not My Best Side"

In this poem the characters are not what you are expecting them to be in the traditional sense. Dragons are supposed to be fire-breathing ferocious creatures however here, the dragon has no interest in killing the maiden or causing any harm, instead he is more worried about how good he looked in the portrait. Maidens are supposed to wish to be rescued and fall in love with their knight in shinning armor, while in this story the maiden finds her self attracted to this green, scaly dragon and she really wants nothing to do with the knight. The knight who would usually be looking to save the maiden so they could go live happily ever after, instead looks at rescuing her as a job and really doesn’t care to do anything with her.

All of these ideas and character roles tie into the idea that this really isn’t their best sides. They disgrace the idea of a traditional fairytale character. At first when you read the name of the title and the dragon’s point of view you assume it is referring to the dragon who was so worried about them getting his best side for the portriat. But then you read on and if you think about it that really isn’t the case. Every thing we thought we knew about the traditional “fairytale” is completely skewed in this story. All of the characters are not playing the roles that they traditionally should be which is exactly what the title, “Not My Best Side,” suggests.