Hogfather | Themes & Symbolism

Hogfather Significant Topics

Hogfather is, first and foremost, an examination of Christmas and childhood. It lampoons most stereotypes of the holiday, along with many images from children's literature. Pratchett is particularly interested in the relations among altruism, power, and consumerism. Death, in his Hogfather role, is almost arrested because he distributes presents for free during a shopping mall appearance—to the shopkeepers, the entire function of the Hogfather is subverted if none of the parents have to buy anything (compounding his crime, he gives the children what they want instead of what their parents want them to want). Other familiar elements include the "Good King Wenceslas" myth—a king tries to give a pauper mounds of largesse that the pauper does not want and cannot possible stomach so that the king can feel both magnanimous (for one night) and paternal—and the "little matchgirl" story. Pratchett has particular fun with the latter, deftly pointing out the...
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