A beast with the head, wings, and talons of an eagle and the body of a lion. This animal is the title to Charles Baxter's short story, Gryphon. The mythical creature is an illustration of the boundless nature of the ideas introduced to the main character, who is a boy in the fourth grade. Being so young, the ideas fascinate the boy in a manner to which he believes them to be true. Posed ideas fascinate the reader as well, and yet they are not fully explored throughout the entire story. The ideas in question are contradictory to generally accepted laws on Earth, like 6 multiplied by 11 being 66. The boy is told that it can be 68 sometimes. Who tells a kid such a thing? Miss Ferenczi, the substitute teacher.

Wouldn't it be nice if that were true? If numbers and words could be 'right'' in any form? Throughout the storytelling, Baxter makes Miss Ferenczi’s claims increasingly enticing. Despite a lack of conflict, an explanation for the substitute’s presence is what keeps the tale going. From the moment Miss Ferenczi enters the room, it is like the students have been transported to another world. As a character, she is strange because she is different from anything the students have encountered. Unrestricted by lesson plans, she tells them facts, legends, and weaves them together all of the while, speaking of encounters with angels and sightings of gryphons in Egypt. …show more content…
The fitting use of scent, touch, and sight effectively made the world that is Gryphon a conceivable place with an imaginable elementary school classroom as the setting. The mysterious substitute that visits this classroom is also described as having marionette lines running down the sides of her nose to her chin, similar to that of the liar Pinocchio. Baxter too created a strong illusion with the words he