Many kings are born into royalty. It is their fate to become a king. In the book Parzival by Katherine Paterson, the main character, Parzival, becomes king a different way. It is his own free will that led him on a great journey to become a knight, and furthermore a king. This free will led Parzival to become King because of his curiosity, bravery, and generosity.

Parzival became royal as a result of his curiosity. On page 8 Paterson wrote, “‘Tell me,’ he (Parzival) said, ‘Are you the one called God?’” (He said to the two knights.) Parzival didn’t know a lot about the world, and when the knights came he thought they were God. The knights told him their job was to protect people, and this inspired Parzival to become a knight. Without his curiosity, Parzival would have asked questions, which led him on his journey to be a knight. Not only was Parzival interested in learning new things, he was also courageous.

Parzival’s path to royalty started with his bravery. On page 12 Paterson wrote, “‘Never fear mother,’” the boy (Parzival) said, ‘I will avenge my people with this javelin.’” Parzival wasn’t scared to become a knight and protect people from the brothers, Lahelin and Orilus. The brothers stole two of his kingdoms, so Parzival wanted to get his kingdom’s back. Parzival wanted all of the good people to be ruled by a fair king. This is significant because his bravery, and his desire to help and protect others, helped continue his path to become a knight. Not only was Parzival fearless, he was also considerate.

Parzival became king because he’s generous. On page 40 and 41 it says, “Two ships foundered on the rocks of the river-ships whose whole cargo was food… then he (Parzival) carefully parceled out all of the food, so that no one would have to little or too much.” He gave the people equal amounts of food, which was a sign of his generosity. His selflessness to give everyone equal amounts of food was what made the queen want to marry him. Parzival’s consideration for other people enabled him to become king.

Parzival had to make his own decisions about life, which is how he started the journey to become king. His free will triggered his journey to become a knight, and a king later on. Parzival is similar to King Arthur. King Arthur became king through making the choice to pull a sword out of a stone. Because of their free will, and their choices, both Parzival and Arthur became king.

In humanities we all wrote an essay about Parzival. Parzival was the name of the book and main character in the book we read. It’s about a boy who is a king, but doesn’t know it. His father was the king, but died in battle as a knight. His mom didn’t want him to die as well, so the moved to the forest so parzival would never know about this. She kept all information about his life away so he wouldn’t die. He figures out about all this anyway and becomes a knight at his own free will.