Many critics and reviewers have noted Treacle Walker's use of folktale elements and imagery. The novel is filled with magical objects, such as the stone that grants Joe his ability to see alternate realities, and the mirror, which transports Joe between the two realities every time he steps through it. But the novel doesn't just take influence from folktales through magical objects; each character reflects a common character type found in folktales.
Although there are a variety of different folktales, many tales follow a similar plot structure and feature characters that the literary theorist Vladimir Propp first identified in his study of Russian folktales. Treacle Walker builds on several of these character types. Joe, as the protagonist, also fits the role of "hero": the character who is at the center of the journey. Both Thin Amren and Treacle Walker also reflect character types. Treacle Walker could be read as either the "helper"—a character who assists the hero on his journey or path—or as the "dispatcher," who initiates the hero's journey by giving him a quest. When Treacle Walker gives Joe the stone and the "glamourie," he gives Joe his quest—the quest to understand how his reality is affected and how he can live with this new gift. He also fulfills the role of the "donor" character, who gives the hero magical objects. Thin Amren could be read as a "helper" figure, since he helps Joe understand his newfound "glamourie." Because there are so few characters in the novel, Thin Amren and Treacle Walker act as several of the character types all at once, but both characters assist Joe and replicate actions that are found in folktales.
The novel has many additional details that overlap with fairytales and folktales, such as the green ointment that Treacle Walker gives Joe; in British fairytales such as "Fairy Ointment" or "The Fairy Nurse," fairy ointment is a common motif. The ointment is applied to children's eyes in order to dispel fairy "glamour," or magic. Cuckoos also frequently feature in folktales, as do creatures that emerge from bogs or come back from the dead, like Thin Amren does.
