Skellig

Personal Response

I typically avoid reading fantasy books, as it is a genre that I have not enjoyed in the past. However, I went into this week appreciating the opportunity to read fantasy and hoping to be surprised by my reaction. Skellig didn’t meet the expectation that I had of fantasy. I expected to be launched in to a surreal world where I had to use my imagination to create my surroundings. On the surface, Skellig seemed to be the story of an average boy with an average life. However, this particular boy had a secret angel friend that he discovered in his garage. I felt that other than the existence of this angel, the setting of the story was a traditionally consistent to our understanding of reality.

To understand Almond’s rational for creating this angel that entered Michael’s life with such an impact, I began to consider what the angel stood for. I decided that Skellig stood for strength and hope for Michael as he struggled with the change involved in moving to a new house and the illness of his baby sister. Michael became aware of Skellig’s existence, and he felt that he was unable to confide in anyone about the situation. His two football friends wouldn’t have understood, nor would his parents. Initially, I wondered if Michael was imagining Skellig in an effort to adjust to his new situation. After Michael befriended Mina, he began to gain a new appreciation for life. Mina allowed him to dream and experience freedom. She would understand his secret.

I wanted to visualize Skellig as a beautiful, snow-white angel. It bothered me from the beginning that Skellig was kind of a man. He was dirty and smelly. He was essentially portrayed as a homeless person in the run-down garage. However, as I continued to read I was positive that Skellig would be the baby’s angel and that if the baby survived then Skellig would die or vice versa. Eventually, I began to understand why Almond had Skellig’s character transform throughout the book and how this transformation was connected to the baby.

Critical Response

This book had many layers that the reader had to sift through in order to gain the full understanding. The depth of the book was embedded in the simple plot. Many general themes and motifs were present throughout the novel, which helped provide the deeper meaning.

The presence of birds served as a motif throughout Skellig. Mina sat in a tree by a bird nest upon there first meeting. After showing Michael the nest, he dreamt that, “…my bed was all twigs and leaves and feathers, just like a nest.” Additionally, she brought him to her grandfather’s old house to show him the owls. That theme continued as the book progressed with the explanation of the owl pellets, and later it is revealed that there were pellets in the garage that could be from Skellig. Through this Almond foreshadows that Skellig could be a type of bird.

Skellig and the baby journeyed together through the novel. At the beginning of the book Michael asks his mother what shoulder blades are supposed to be for. This becomes another motif in the novel. She responses by saying, “They say that shoulder bladed are where your wings were, when you were an angel, and they say they’re where your wings will grow again one day.” Later she states in reference to the baby, “Sometimes I think she’s never quite left Heaven and never quite made it all the way here to Earth.” Michael and Mina reveal Skellig’s wings later in the story as well.

The baby is initially weak and gradually gains strength as the novel unfolds. This is parallel to Skellig’s journey. When Michael finds first finds Skellig, he is weak and almost dying. As the novel progresses, he gains strength as the baby does.

William Blake was regularly mentioned throughout the novel and served as another motif that weaved through the plot. Mina tells Michael that her motto is “How can a bird that is born for joy/Sit in a cage and sing?” It is a quote by William Blake and the reader is initially led to believe that it signifies Mina’s attitude towards school. However, it actually symbolizes Michaels’ sister who has spent months in the hospital in a bed with tubes coming from everywhere. In the final page of the book, they finally name his sister and the name they choose is “Joy.” It is also mentioned that Blake “…saw angels in his garden.” Another example of Almond foreshadowing what kind of creature Skellig is, a question that Michael and Mina pondered regularly.

Almond uses poetic language to provide the reader with a sense of peace and tranquility. He created Mina to help Michael appreciate the little things in life. Michael gains freedom and hope from the stresses of adolescents through the experiences he has circling with Mina and Skellig as he momentarily has wings to fly.