59 pages • 1 hour read
Lily Brooks-DaltonThe Light Pirate
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Rudder
The town of Rudder, Florida, symbolizes a world impacted by climate change. The author bolsters the idea of Rudder as its own little world by mentioning other places, such as California and Wyoming, but keeping the story rooted in Rudder and its immediate surroundings. By charting the deterioration of a single town, Brooks-Dalton offers a grim warning. The danger of severe weather rapidly intensifies in just a few generations: “Kirby is old enough to remember arguments about whether climate change was real. Lucas is old enough to remember when tourists still came. But to Wanda, these things are only stories, so distant they might as well be fiction” (115). The near-future setting rebukes climate-change deniers and raises the ominous question of what sort of world younger generations will inherit. Brooks-Dalton’s narration further exposes the futility of denial in Chapter 32 when Lucas reconnects with Gillian, an affluent young woman who has moved away from Rudder:
The safe zones have shrunk, will go on shrinking, but the people still firmly attached to the idea that there will continue to be such lines—between safe and not safe, between us and those poor people—are determined to go on as they always have (132).
The author makes it clear that those who dismiss the problems other places face are lying to themselves, and their denial will not keep them safe from the effects of climate change. In addition, Rudder’s decline shows how inequality and government negligence contribute to climate change around the world. The hurricanes and flooding that cause the municipal government to shut down are natural disasters, but they are exacerbated by human corruption and inaction. Ultimately, climate change renders the town unrecognizable. In Part 3, an adult Wanda navigates the swamp that used to be Rudder: “Wanda pilots her canoe between two sunken houses, slick with algae, veiled by Spanish moss. [...] A traffic light hangs ten feet or so above the water, dim and unlit. A relic” (223). By using the town as a microcosm of the world, Brooks-Dalton is able to explore urgent topics of global relevance.
Storms
Storms serve as a motif for the theme of The Beauty and Violence of Nature. Out of all the effects of climate change, the author chooses to make powerful storms, especially hurricanes, central to the novel. Part 1 focuses on Hurricane Wanda. The storm wreaks horrific devastation upon the town of Rudder, including the brutal death of Flip Lowes, who is only eight years old. However, Brooks-Dalton shows that there is beauty amid the violence. In Chapter 25, Kirby attains a frighteningly close view of the Category Four storm in its awe-inspiring might as he drives in its eye: “Ahead, the wall of the hurricane is enormous—a churning mass of cloud that is somehow dark and luminous at the same time” (94). Storms significantly impact the novel’s theme and plot, revealing at once the violent effects of climate change and the inexhaustible beauty of nature. This motif also plays a role in the protagonist’s characterization. Throughout the novel, the protagonist is likened to a storm, and the similarities extend deeper than her name to encompass her complex traits. In Chapter 59, Phyllis reflects on Wanda’s growth and describes her as “brave and ruthless and tender all at once” (234). Like storms and nature itself, Wanda is both deathly dangerous, such as when she kills Corey and his father without hesitation, and soul-stirring, such as when she patiently looks after Phyllis after the older woman’s memories fade. The motif of storms develops the novel’s plot, the protagonist’s characterization, and the theme of the beauty and violence of nature.
The Blue House
The blue house is a motif of the theme of Survival and Adaptation. In Chapter 21, the home is described as “a shabby blue house [...] set back from the road, obscured by overgrown date palms” (83). Despite its unassuming appearance, the house has great significance to the narrative. It is the home of Phyllis, a survivalist who has devoted decades of her life to preparing for the effects of climate change. Over time, the place becomes a sanctuary for other characters as well. Lucas finds shelter from Hurricane Wanda there after the storm kills Flip. In Part 3, the blue house becomes Wanda’s home after Kirby’s death. Phyllis teaches Wanda survival skills there, including “how to use hand tools, how to make soap, how to shoot a rifle” (236). Although the safety of the house helps the two women adjust to Rudder’s transformation into a swamp, the break-in in Chapter 57 forces them to rethink their attachment to the house and their idea of what it means to survive. Wanda must adapt quickly and kill for the first time to stop the intruders in their home. The house teaches Wanda and Phyllis one final lesson in survival and adaptation as it burns: “Homes could no longer be rigid, immovable things. That way of life was changing. Had already changed” (304). The blue house is one of the novel’s most important settings, develops the theme of survival and adaptation, and advances the plot.
