From: Jamie E. Ahlman Ng <jeahlman>
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 23:05:15 -0500

I've been lurking since last January, but since _Skellig_ had such an impact on me, I thought I might post some of my thoughts on David Almond's first children's novel.

While writing a book evaluation for an education course last semester and taking a closer look into Skellig, I noticed that Almond makes many references to death; sounds and silence; and birds and angels.

In the opening scene, winter is ending, a time of death with the promise of rebirth in the spring to come. Foreshadowing? Michael's family moves into a house where the previous owner Ernie has just died. Michael's sister is deathly ill and is cared for by Dr. Death. Then there is the description of the garage, crumbling away: "It was like the whole thing was sick of itself..." and "..and it was just dead quiet." Skellig sighs "like he was sick to death of everything."(p.18) Michael's baby sister is described as
"Her face was dead white and hair dead black."(p.11) And also three dead pigeons are found behind the "fire," or furnace, one of which has turned to blackened stone.

When I thought about the stone bird, I then discovered many references to stone, connecting this image to Skellig. First, the fossilized bird caught behind the fire is "hard as stone." Mina takes Michael to an old house that is "blackened stone>"(p.41) When Michael asks Skellig his name, he first responds, "Most of me is Arthur. Arthur Itis...Turns you to stone, then crumbles you away."(p.31) And just recently, while rereading the book, the first page actually, I realized that the real estate agent is a Mr. Stone.

I greatly appreciated Almond's use of sound and silence descriptors at the beginning of this story. Some examples: "scratching, scuttling, doorbell ringing, creaked, cracked, squeaked, thudded, thundered, shuffled, thumped, shuddered, whispered, a voice cracked & hissy, bawling, a voice cooing and comforting, snoring", and "cobwebs snapped on my clothes and skin."(p.8) Silent sounds are "stopped," "dead quiet," "silence," "before it was still" and the situation in which Michael doesn't hear his baby sister breathing, so he gets up out of bed.(p.10)

What really interested me were the references to birds and angels, comparing birds, Mina, the baby and angels to Skellig. Two of the streets in this book are Crow Road and Falconer Road. A blackbird sings on the roof of the garage where Skellig lies.(p.11) Three birds are found behind the fire, similar to Skellig stuck behind the teachests. Mina observes and draws a mother blackbird and her newborn babies and visits the owls in the attic on Crow Road. The mother calls the baby "my little chick."(p.47) Michael wonders what shoulder blades are for,(p.34) and is told the myth that it's where one's wings used to be when one was an angel.(p.38) Michael dreams that the blackbird (or Skellig) feeds the baby spiders and flies in a nest. The baby grows stronger and flies out the nest and onto the garage roof.(p.27) Later, Michael asks Skellig to think about the baby getting better,(p.56) as if he has the power to heal.

And on one last note...bird and angel references to William Blake: a quote
"'How can a bird that is born for joy/Sit in a cage and sing?'"(p.50), and the information that Blake saw angels in his garden.(p.59)

I'd be interested to hear any insights on these thoughts.

**** Jamie Ahlman Ng Madison, Wisconsin jeahlman at students.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 13 Jul 2000 11:05:15 PM CDT