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Chapter 3
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
That night, Michael dreams that the creature comes into his room and asks what he wants. Michael wakes and tells himself that the creature must be a dream. From his parents’ room, Michael hears the baby’s ragged breaths and Dad’s snoring. When it starts to get light, Michael goes into his parents’ room and stands by the baby’s crib. Michael puts his hand on the baby’s ribs and feels her frail heartbeat. Michael wonders if the baby will die, and he remembers when she was in the glass case at the hospital. Michael whispers to the baby to get strong. From the bed, Mum stretches her hand out to Michael. Michael thinks of the creature in the garage and wonders why he is there.
Michael’s behavior in this scene seems in answer the question the creature’s question to him in the previous chapter. It is the middle of the night, but Michael goes and stands by the baby’s crib, seemingly for no other reason than to confirm, through touch, that she is still living. Michael wonders if the baby will die, suggesting that what he wants is to find a way to prevent the baby’s death. Michael goes and stands by her crib because he wants to do something to help her, even though he knows there’s nothing he can do.
Themes
