Previous
Chapter 35
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
Mina and Michael go out into the driveway to wait for Dad. They wonder what it means that Skellig makes pellets like owls. Mina says there are things they can’t know, like why the baby is sick and why her father died. Michael and Mina listen to the blackbird chicks and imagine the dreams they must be having. Michael wonders what he will feel in his own heart when they cut into the baby’s heart. Mina says that people are like chicks, half happy and half scared. Michael feels tears in his eyes and wishes he could be alone, like Skellig, in an attic with the owls. Mina says that Michael is brave. Dad’s car pulls in, and Michael’s fear increases.
Science and knowledge have been sources of freedom and comfort for Michael. Here, however, Michael and Mina realize that knowledge only goes so far. Specifically, the “things they can’t know” concern mortality, and they also wonder why certain things happen to certain beings. Also, Michael can’t be sure of the true connection he has to others around him; he wonders what the blackbirds dream, and wonders how the baby’s surgery will affect his own heart. These dubious questions of connection lead him to long for isolation.
Themes
