The Phantom Tollbooth - Chapters 16-20

[Prof. Sky Alton]

We’ve reached the end of Phantom Tollbooth. Here we’ll be discussing chapters 16 through 20 as well as the book as a whole.

I’ve been warning you throughout to use spoiler tags to avoid ruining the plot for others but do you think that’s really necessary here? The book is full of so many little scenes and vignettes that the actual journey ends up being less important than the accidents discovered on the way (which was arguably the lesson Milo was meant to learn). The same goes for Rhyme and Reason: do you think they were really important or were they just what some people term ‘a McGuffin’, an excuse for the hero to go on a quest where more interesting things can happen? Would the story have worked as well if Milo had simply been on an adventure without a goal at the end?