Wild Wings

Gill Lewis

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 10

Chapters 11-20

Chapters 21-32

Chapters 33-44

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Iona’s Locket

Lockets are traditionally used to hold the image of a loved one. Iona’s locket appears at multiple points in the story as a symbol of Love and Loss. The locket makes its first appearance when Iona proudly shows Callum that it contains a picture of her mother. Over time, Iona realizes that her mother won’t be coming back for her. This truth emerges as the girl watches Iris preparing to migrate away from her mate and their chick. Iona connects Iris’s imminent departure to her absent mother. She expresses her sense of loss by scratching Fiona’s image out of the locket.

At Iona’s funeral, her mother shows up and unexpectedly gives the locket to Callum. Much to his surprise, Fiona’s face has been replaced with a photo of Callum. Fiona tells him, “I think this belongs to you now” (134). She transfers the object to Callum just as her daughter symbolically transferred her affection to him. As the novel ends, Callum gives the locket to Jeneba, knowing that Iona would have wanted him to complete the circle of affection. Callum, Iona, and Jeneba are bound together by their love for each other and for an osprey named Iris.

Rob’s Bike

Rob’s expensive bike is his pride and joy. It symbolizes his superior status relative to his two friends and highlights the theme of Expanding the Community. More than any other character, Rob is aware of social status and can’t help bragging about his good fortune when he displays his birthday bike: “It’s a top model. Front and rear disk brakes, Shimano gears, front suspension forks—it’s got the lot. And look at this. […] It’s a bike computer’” (52-53). Lewis uses sentences of multiple, short clauses to reflect the sheer number of features of the bike.

Rob doesn’t merely brag about his superior bicycle but recklessly challenges Callum to a bike race down a steep hill. Callum falls, but Rob charges on and nearly collides with Euan, who is fishing. Rob is determined to prove that he is the top dog in the group. His sense of hierarchy extends to the entire village as well. He sees Iona and her grandfather as oddballs who should be ostracized. Rob’s exclusive attitude changes radically after he becomes involved in the project to save Iris and Jeneba. When a rummage sale is staged to raise funds for Jeneba’s operation, he donates his beloved bike. Mr. McNair pays £400 for the bike belonging to “the boy with the mean mouth and the big wheels” (228). When McNair gives the bike back to Rob, he teaches the boy a lesson in the meaning of community: No one deserves to be treated as an outcast.

Eyes

The eyes are often said to be the windows of the soul. The motif of eyes in Wild Wings represents the ability to see with the heart and relates to the theme of Mystical Connections Between Humans and Animals. First, when Callum describes holding the injured Iris and looking into her eyes, he thinks that “it was as if she was looking right into me, as if I couldn’t hide anything from her” (80). Lewis writes this connection like an emotional relationship, personifying Iona while suggesting that she and Callum benefit from this connection.

The boy and the bird do more than exchange glances. They forge a mystical connection with one another. Iris articulates this notion later that night when she ponders her encounter with the humans: “The boy had looked deep into her eyes and she had stared back, mapping the strange contours of his face” (100-01). The novel frequently depicts Iris’s understanding of the world as a process of mapping. By using these words to describe Callum, Iris has made him part of her reality. She exchanges glances one more time when she returns to Scotland the following spring: “And in that one brief, amazing moment, her bright sunflower yellow eyes looked right into mine” (284). Iris returns to Scotland not simply because her mate is there but because Callum is part of her core identity. They have seen one another in every sense of the word.