Previous
Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Skellig, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Weakness, Strength, and Hardship
Curiosity, Nature, and Transformation
Love, Empathy, and Caregiving
Imagination, Magic, and Faith
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Michael has a fit of trembling. Dad calls the school, deciding that Michael can stay home and help him work on the house. Michael puts on gloves and starts weeding the yard. Dad comes out, and he and Michael sit against the wall, drinking juice. Blackbirds land in the yard, collecting the insects Michael unearthed while weeding. Dad and Michael make plans for the pond. Michael keeps weeding, imagining the baby playing in the grass. When he finds himself near the garage, Michael shouts that the creature can’t sit there waiting to die. There is no reply.
Michael’s imagination is starting to widen. He weeds the yard, suggesting that he can now see the yard’s potential to become more than a thicket of weeds. Because Michael can believe in the yard’s future despite its present state of disorder and decay, his hope that everything else might improve grows, too. He is determined to help the creature safe its own life, and this leads him to believe that his own life can improve, too.
Themes
That afternoon, Michael and Dad go to the hospital. They pass Mina drawing in her yard, and Dad says that Mina is a “strange one.” At the hospital, the baby is in a glass case with tubes connected to her. Mum rubs cream on the scrapes Michael got from weeding. The baby opens her eyes and smiles at Michael. On the drive home, Michael and Dad plan to order more Chinese food later. When they get home, Dad tells Michael to go say hi to Mina, who is still in her yard.
Dad considers Mina “strange” unconventional. Although this seems like a negative trait, Dad later tells Michael to go say hi to Mina, suggesting that Dad thinks it might be healthy for Michael to be around Mina and her strangeness. Michael’s life has become strange, as his baby sister’s illness has alienated him from his “normal” friends, who aren’t dealing with “strange” problems of their own. Mina’s strangeness might make Michael feel at home with her during these difficult times.
Themes
