Question

Time plays an important role in act 1 of the phantom tollbooth. at the beginning of the play, the clock says, " time is important, but it's what you do with it that makes it so." In an essay , explain what this reveals about the author's viewpoint. Then tell how at least two characters or situations in the drama illustrate this viewpoint.

Answer 1

In order to answer this question you must read the book, but my answer (meaning don't copy paste change a few things) is: 

  In Act I of The Phantom Tolbooth the time plays an important role, the Clock says, "Time is important, but it's what you do with it that makes it so." The author thinks you need to take advantage of time and use it wisely. The characters the Whether man and the Watchdog are both examples of characters that take advantage of time.
 The Whether man is an example of a character that illustrates the author's point of view which is that you should take advantage of time and use it wisely. The Whether man has a job to do, and he does it well. His career is to hurry people beyond expectations whether they like it or not.
 The Watchdog is another character that values time. In the story, he says, "KILLING TIME? It's bad enough wasting time without killing it." This quote shows how much the author and the watchdog don't like wasting time. His job is to sniff around to make sure nobody is spending time.
 The lethargarians although they appear to do nothing, they are always following their schedule thus not wasting time.
  In conclusion, the characters the Whether man, watchdog, and even the lethargrians illustrate how to take advantage of time.

Answer 2

Act I of The Phantom Tollbooth plays with the concept of time. This is important in the novel, as the whole book is intended to make us think about ideas and concepts that we had previously taken for granted. In this section, the clock tells us that time is important, but mostly depending on what you do with it. This shows that the author believes that time is only relevant when we look at what we are doing with it. It also suggests that the author believes time to be relative.

One example of the author's perspective on time is the comment that he makes about seeing things differently when you are at different stages in life. "Then your head keeps changing its height and you always see things in a different way? Why, when you're fifteen things won't look at all the way they did when you were ten, and at twenty everything will change again." This shows that the author believes time to be relative, and to be an important factor when looking at the world.

Another example occurs when Milo receives a package that reads "To Milo, who has plenty of time." This shows that the author considers time to be an opportunity. Moreover, he suggest to us that the opportunity should not be wasted.