A Whale of the Wild

“We are a thing to see when we travel. One fin after another cuts through the water, rising like an ocean wave, fast and sleek and strong. Sharks head for the shadows when we come around. Eels slide farther into their caves. Gulls scatter. Seals watch us from their resting spots with wide brown eyes.”

Parry employs a range of literary techniques to convey Vega’s pride in her family. For example, the simile comparing the fin to “an ocean wave” expresses the whales’ strength and majesty. The repetition of the coordinating conjunction ‘and’ in the phrase “fast and sleek and strong” is an instance of polysyndeton that serves to emphasize the adjectives and create a sense of the pod’s swift movements. The alliteration of “[s]harks” and “shadows” adds to the passage’s poetic quality, and the series of similar sentences about other creatures’ wariness of the whales helps to reinforce the orca’s might. The overall impression of strength created in this passage helps the reader understand Vega’s complete trust in her family’s leaders, which makes her eventual separation from them all the more suspenseful.

“The sea is full of fish, but none are big enough, meaty enough, rich enough. None are salmon […] Another long day of hunting, another day of hunger.”

The repetition of “enough” helps the reader understand why the orcas depend on one particular food source, the repetition of “none” conveys the danger salmon’s scarcity poses to their survival, and the repetition of “another day” emphasizes the pod’s exhaustion and hunger. Due to the extreme importance of salmon to the orcas’ diet, the fish serve as a motif of the theme of Survival in a Changing Environment.

“Mountains mark the edge of the Salish Sea like a great reef on the land. They have called the salmon out of the ocean for as long as our kinship can remember. Nobody knows exactly how the mountains speak to the salmon, but every year rains fall in their forests and rush down in rivers and streams, pushing great plumes of gray and turquoise water into the sea.”

Parry enriches her characters’ inner worlds and history by giving the whales their own oral tradition. Their myths center around the turning of the seasons and the patterns that ensure their survival. The simile comparing the mountains to “a great reef on the land” illustrates Vega’s distinctive perspective as a marine mammal. In addition, the visual imagery of “great plumes of gray and turquoise water” adds to the legend’s beauty.

“On the shore just ahead I can see piles of rectangles and streams of land boats—the roosting spot of a huge flock of humans. Our gathering place is on the far side of this human roost.”

Defamiliarization is a literary technique that presents a familiar subject in an unfamiliar way. In this passage, the author defamiliarizes a city by calling it a “roosting spot” and cars by calling them “land boats.” The avian imagery describing the “huge flock of humans” reflects Vega’s oceanic point of view. From her perspective, humans, like birds, live in a world above the water. The city’s proximity to the Gathering Place contributes to the theme of Human Influence on Natural Habitats.

“I can’t say how long we wait and watch and hope for Capella to live. I barely notice the thin curve of the moon rising or the stars swimming across the night sky. Rain is falling when Greatmother brings Capella to Mother. She groans and keens in sadness.”

Parry uses the polysyndeton in the phrase “we wait and watch and hope” to emphasize the kinship’s anticipation and anxiety as the newborn calf dies. Visual imagery, such as the “thin curve of the moon” and auditory imagery, such as Mother’s “groans and keens,” immerse the reader in this turning point for the plot. Within literature, writers often use the macrocosm of the natural world and weather to reflect the microcosm of characters’ emotions and experiences. Rain is commonly used to indicate sorrow, as it does in this passage.

“Their voices bite into my heart and leave me gasping. I want something to fight. Something to fix. Something to sink my teeth into. But there is only sorrow, as cold and mysterious as the depths of the ocean.”

The author uses metaphorical language to express the pain of Deneb’s grief when he says his family’s “voices bite into [his] heart.” The repetition of the word “something” emphasizes the youngling’s sense of helplessness and uncertainty, and the fragmented sentence structure in the second half of the passage adds to his shaken tone. The simile comparing sorrow to the ocean conveys the depths of the family’s grief for Capella.

“Then like the sudden jolt of the earth, my anger breaks free. I cannot. I will not let my sister sink. Not here. Not alone in a dark, cold passage where boats of all kinds will go roaring over her body. Never!”

The simile comparing Vega’s anger to “the sudden jolt of the earth” depicts the emotion’s overwhelming power and helps to explain why she seizes Capella’s body and flees from her family. The abundance of negative words like “not” and “[n]ever” underscore the protagonist’s anger and defiance after losing the sister she had such great hopes for, and the fragments emphasize her broken, complex emotions.

“If I go on without his voice to guide me, I might never find the way home. The dread of being alone presses in on me like deep water. I gather my courage. Vega needs me. Ahead is another passage and then another island, and more after that. I will search them all.”

The simile likening Deneb’s “dread of being alone” to the pressure of “deep water” captures the youngling’s fear and loneliness. Parry’s choice of helping verbs adds to the passage’s tone shift. For example, the word “might” in the first sentence expresses Deneb’s initial doubts while the word “will” in the last sentence illustrates his confidence and courage after he reminds himself that his sister needs his help.

“The human takes its claw and climbs back into the boat. The humans turn around, fire up the growler…and before I can chase them, they speed away. It’s incredible! ‘I did it! I saved you!’ I swim in circles, slapping my tail on the skin of the sea and letting the boom of it echo through the water. ‘I did it! I did it!’”

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that a character does not. In this excerpt, Deneb doesn’t realize that the humans rescued the Seal-eater and never intended to capture him. Thus, the repetition of “I did it!” emphasizes both Deneb’s triumph and his youthful inexperience. The scene offers some comic relief after the heavy chapters focused on Capella’s death and the battle of Blood Cove.

“Though I have let my sister go, my body is heavy as I swim out of Blood Cove. Leaving Capella behind is like ripping out a hook. I will never be the same. I want my mother. Want her like I did when I was a tiny youngling.”

The simile comparing “[l]eaving Capella behind” to “ripping out a hook” operates on multiple levels. The comparison conveys the pain the protagonist is in and the permanence of the change she has suffered. In addition, these two damaging experiences are linked by the theme of human influence on natural habitats; fish hooks are man-made, and Capella dies due to overfishing and toxins released by boats into the sea. The repetition of the verb “want” expresses Vega’s need for comfort as she grapples with her family’s recent tragedy.

“The old stories tell of a time when all the boats in the Salish Sea were as quiet as these. In those days, boats did not bleed poison. No one tried to capture orcas. And the salmon ran so thick and strong that not a single orca of any kinship ever knew hunger. There were so many fish that rivers shone silver in the summer sun.”

The phrase “old stories” develops the theme of human influence on natural habitats because it indicates that the protagonist has never known a time when her habitat’s balance was not negatively impacted by non-Indigenous peoples. The visual imagery and alliteration in the description “rivers shone silver in the summer sun” provides an almost paradisiacal picture of peace and plenty. Vega’s view of the longboat riders notably differs from her perception of other humans. By weaving Indigenous cultures into the narrative, Parry offers an example of how humans can achieve a more respectful relationship with the environment.

“BOOM! POP! CRASH! Stone grinds against stone. The whole sea goes dark from the noise. It presses against my body as if I am in water so deep no light can reach me.”

The author uses the onomatopoeia “BOOM! POP! CRASH!” to capture the sea shake, and the combination of italics, capitalization, and exclamation points emphasize how overwhelming the sound is. The idea that the “sea goes dark from the noise” reflects the fact that orcas navigate through echolocation. The simile likening the pressure of the sea shake to “water so deep no light can reach” adds to the suspense of Chapter 11’s cliffhanger ending.

“The sea churns with the power of a hundred winter storms. I turn toward the ocean and swim with all my strength, noise-blind but navigating by memory. I will find my family.”

The metaphor comparing the sea’s power to “a hundred winter storms” paints an ominous picture of the challenges facing Vega. The shift from the present tense to the future simple tense in the last sentence emphasizes the strength of her resolve. This determination is one of the most significant character traits when it comes to the theme of survival in a changing environment.

“Something is coming for us. I feel it, like the memory of a nightmare. One menace chasing us out to the ocean, and another charging toward us from the very place of our safety. But how can that be true? Greatmother said, ‘Deep water is a refuge.’ She would not lie. Could she be mistaken?”

Parry utilizes literary techniques and first-person narration to capture the protagonist’s fear. For example, Vega instinctively senses the wave’s approach in a simile comparing it to “the memory of a nightmare,” which adds to the scene’s suspenseful mood. The author’s choice of sentence structure also conveys Vega’s frantic tone through the usage of fragments and questions.

“This is a wave to remake the shape of the sea. This is a wave to crush mountains. I scream my mother’s name in the face of the giant wave. I left my family, and this is my fate: to face the reshaping of the sea without them.”

The author uses repetition, such as the anaphora of “This is a wave,” and diction, such as “scream” and “fate,” to express Vega’s fear and guilt. The imposing image of the wave that will “remake the shape of the sea” indicates the sea shake’s importance as a turning point in the plot and a milestone for the theme of survival in a changing environment.

“‘The sour taste of boat blood will come. Our eyes will sting and grow blurry. Poison is spreading in our home waters and boats are going upside down and whole cliffsides and trees are falling in. We have to go!’ I face the ocean. It spreads before us, big as the sky.”

The author uses the metaphorical language of “boat blood” to refer to the toxic chemicals released by the wrecked vessels. These poisons develop the theme of human influence on natural habitats. The simile that describes the ocean as “big as the sky” creates an atmosphere of suspense but also possibility, indicating that the protagonist will be tested in new ways in these vast and unfamiliar waters.

“I do not say it aloud, but I am sure the voice is grieving for its lost world. I want to howl too. I want to cry for everything I have lost. But that would frighten Deneb, and he is trying so hard to be brave. I am trying too.”

The repetition of “I want” at the start of the second and third sentences is an example of anaphora. Like the repetition of the verb “trying,” the anaphora expresses the protagonist’s grief and desperation at the changes impacting her habitat and family. Precise verbs like “howl” and “cry” add to the passage’s mournful mood.

“An enormous whale swims into view. It is minke shaped, with the long grooves under the chin that all gulper whales have, but this one is bigger than a minke, bigger than a singing whale. It is long and strong, with blue-gray speckled skin. ‘Wow!’ Deneb whispers as the whale passes by. Even Uncle Rigel, biggest of us all, would be small as a herring next to this whale.”

The repetition of “bigger” and the assonant adjectives “long and strong” capture the awe Vega feels when she encounters a blue whale for the first time. The simile observing that the whale would make Uncle Rigel look “small as a herring” underlines its immense size while the visual imagery of the whale’s “blue-gray speckled skin” reflects Vega’s efforts to commit every detail of this remarkable experience to memory.

“My name star shines above me. I am a world away from my home waters, but she is as bright and blue as ever. Deneb’s star follows mine over the arch of the sky. I drink in the beauty of them both.”

Vega is named after one of the brightest stars in the sky, symbolizing her identity as a skilled wayfinder. Parry’s description of Deneb’s star following Vega’s connects to the theme of the importance of family and reflects the youngling’s complete trust in his sister.

“I jump again, looking for an escape. All around me, the ocean is bubbling with the attack, and I am at the center of the storm. ‘I’m here!’ Deneb squeaks. He smashes into the shark with all his strength. The shark spins, slashes, and then abruptly goes still as two of the Vanished Ones bite deep into its side. A moment of thrashing, and it is all over.”

Parry builds suspense during the fight scene between the orca and the sharks. For example, phrases like “the center of the storm” contribute to the frenzied tone. The moment in which the “shark spins, slashes” foreshadows the revelation that Deneb is injured in the fight while his declaration, “I’m here!” illustrates the loyal youngling’s significance to the theme of family.

“I have never felt so weary in my life. How will I know if the hunger sickness strikes? What if I start leading my brother the wrong way? The urge to give up and go to sleep wraps around me like the tentacles of an octopus.”

The questions Vega asks reinforce that the protagonist has no one to look to for answers. In addition, the simile likening her “urge to give up and go to sleep” to “the tentacles of an octopus” emphasizes how dangerous it would be for the protagonist to succumb to her weariness, increasing the passage’s tension.

“I want to cry. I want to sleep. I want my mother! I have already done so much. I want someone else to find the way.”

The anaphora created by the repetition of “I want” captures the physical, mental, and emotional strain the protagonist is under. This excerpt helps the reader understand how she struggles under the weight of her responsibilities and her fading hopes of finding the rest of her family.

“A bull sea lion bites deep into a salmon right in front of me. Its belly bursts open. A thousand red-orange eggs pour out and swirl before me like tiny bubbles. They dance for a moment in sunlit waters and then sink into the darkness. The sight of them hits me like a bolt of lightning.”

The vivid visual imagery of the “thousand red-orange eggs” pouring out of the salmon calls the reader’s attention to a vital moment in the plot. The simile comparing the eggs to “tiny bubbles” expresses both their small size and fragility, and the ominous description of them “sink[ing] into darkness” suggests not only the deaths of the eggs themselves but the eventual demise of the animals who depend on salmon if the fish disappear. Salmon serve as a motif of survival, and Parry uses the simile of “a bolt of lightning” to capture the protagonist’s epiphany that her entire habitat’s survival depends upon restoring the salmon’s path upriver.