A Whale of the Wild

The first section of this animal-led adventure story introduces readers to Vega the orca whale and the challenges facing her and her family. When the story opens, Vega is at an in-between stage of her development; she is not old enough to be a parent or “a savvy hunter” like her mother, but she is also too old to be one of the children that “delight [her] family with their games and sweet chirping voices” (5). This feeling of being caught between the carefreeness of childhood and the responsibilities of adulthood contributes to the main character’s concerns that she will not become “a brilliant wayfinder someday” as her family expects (6). Despite her self-doubt, Vega already demonstrates some of the key traits necessary for leadership in her culture, such as the cleverness and attention to detail that allow her to spot the flat fish and the generous love that prompts her to share the meager morsel with her relatives even though she’s starving. The protagonist’s inner conflict intensifies with her failed first attempt at wayfinding, and the author uses Vega’s first person-narration to emphasize how this incident damages her already low self-esteem: “They are better off without me” (23). As the story continues, Vega’s adventures cause her to reevaluate her role within her family and her own potential. These early chapters establish the protagonist’s key traits and inner conflict while setting the stage for her eventual growth into a wise and brave leader.

Parry establishes The Importance of Familial Bonds by presenting the whales’ close-knit family structure. Orcas are a matrilineal species, and the novel reflects this behavior pattern by making Greatmother the pod’s leader and Mother their best hunter. The characters place such great importance on family that they prioritize it over their individual survival, and this selflessness is integral to their sense of their unique identity as orcas: “We alone among the creatures of the sea share our food” (8). Thus, an important moment for Vega’s character is sharing the salmon when she could have eaten it by herself: “A little together is more than a feast alone. So much more!” (12). The animals’ generosity provides a foil to human greed, which leads to issues like overfishing. The family’s closeness, generosity, and determination to weather hardships together inform their actions as the story unfolds.

The orca’s dread of boats develops the theme of Human Influence on Natural Habitats. Vega “hates the big boats” because she was “bitten by a boat’s growler” before the story opens (16).

This traumatic experience informs her self-doubt and fears, and her first attempt at wayfinding ends in near-disaster because of a boat. The incident leads her to leave her pod because she feels that she’s failed her family. When Greatmother explains the importance of respecting the ecosystem’s food chain, she tells Vega, “If you eat everything, you make a wasteland of the sea” (26). Her words also function as a warning about how humans disrupt the environment with overfishing. Fishing boats harm the whales by exposing them to sharp machinery and by depleting their food supply, illustrating humans’ damaging impact on natural habitats.

Parry uses the motif of salmon to illustrate Survival in a Changing Environment. This theme connects to the story’s genre because the novel is a work of survival fiction. Food is the foremost concern on the characters’ minds in this section. Salmon are mentioned dozens of times in the first five chapters, but only one appears. Even then, it is not the Chinook salmon that is the mainstay of the orcas’ diet but rather a Silver, which is “not quite as mighty” (11) and “not as good” (13). Changes in the whales’ environment, including the presence of “net boats [that] come and take” from the whales (32), drastically reduce the number of fish, making survival a daunting struggle for the family. As the story continues, Vega and her family’s search for salmon drives the novel’s plot and the theme of survival.

Parry utilizes symbols and motifs to illustrate the characters’ personality traits and values. The whales are named after stars, and Vega’s name star symbolizes her identity as a wayfinder due to its usefulness in navigation. This foreshadows that she will become a skillful leader despite her self-doubt and the difficulties she faces the first time she guides her family. The author develops the theme of familial bonds through the phrase “side by side and fin by fluke” (15). These words come from a song that mothers teach to their younglings “to encourage [them] to stay close” (15). Songs are an important means of communication for the whales, allowing them to pass on their familial values and to express their most powerful emotions. Specifically, the song “Side by Side and Fin by Fluke” expresses the significance the whales place on togetherness. The motif also appears in Chapter 3 when Aquila guides Vega back to the family even though she feels that she doesn’t deserve to come home: “I slide into Aquila’s swim shadow and we head for the Gathering Place together, side by side and fin by fluke” (29). Throughout the novel, the author uses these words to indicate the unshakeable strength of the pod’s familial bonds.

Parry offers clues regarding the next section’s key plot points and conflicts. Initially, Capella serves as a symbol of hope. Her approaching birth lifts the whales’ spirits even though they have endured “a hard year, a lean year” (7) because it’s “great luck for the whole kinship when a baby is born” (39). However, Vega’s concerns for her pregnant mother’s health foreshadow the infant’s death, an event that marks a turning point in the narrative and shifts Capella’s meaning from a symbol of hope to a motif of human influence on natural habitats. In addition, Vega’s decision to leave the pod in Chapter 2 foreshadows her separating herself from the pod again in Chapter 7. Similarly, the relatively mild sea shake in Chapter 4 foreshadows the natural disaster that scatters the family at the end of Chapter 11.