Previous
Chapter 23
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
Later, on their way to visit Skellig, Mina explains that her grandfather left her the “Danger” house when he died. In a few weeks, the house will be renovated to be rented out. When Michael and Mina enter the room where they left Skellig, he is gone, but they find him lying halfway up the stairs. Groaning in pain, Skellig explains that he wanted to go higher. Michael gives Skellig aspirin, and then he and Mina carry Skellig to an upstairs bedroom, where they make a bed from blankets they brought. Skellig crawls to the bed and lies down. Michael and Mina arrange beer, sandwiches, aspirin, and cod-liver pills beside him.
Unlike the garage where Skellig lived, Mina’s house is multi-level. This allows Skellig to show another side to his nature: his desire to move to higher places as he grows steadily stronger. Similar to the garage, however, the house has a time-limit on its existence as a safe space; in a matter of weeks, both garage and house will be torn down or significantly altered. This gives urgency to Skellig’s recovery process.
Themes
Mina starts to unbutton Skellig’s jacket. Skellig protests sharply, but Mina urges him to trust her. She eases off the jacket. Huge wings, covered with torn feathers, open from Skellig’s shoulders. Skellig whimpers in pain. Mina strokes him and says he is beautiful. Michael and Mina tuck Skellig into bed and wait until he falls asleep. They stroke his wings in disbelief. Michael looks out of the window, “making sure the world’s still really there.”
Skellig’s jacket represents his partially human nature. It is this jacket that is constraining Skellig’s birdlike nature, as represented by the wings sprouting from his shoulders. Therefore, it is necessary for Skellig to shed his human nature in order to let his birdlike nature fully bloom. This transformation suggests that as Skellig improves, he also grows more distant from Michael and Mina.
Themes
