55 pages • 1 hour read
Wallace StegnerThe Spectator Bird
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1976A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Stegner frequently uses water imagery in The Spectator Bird; examples include the rainstorm that floods Joe and Ruth Allston’s driveway, the storm-tossed ocean on the day of Mr. Bertelson’s death and burial, the ocean that drowned Joe’s son, and the “tarn” where Joe and Astrid share their kiss. What themes unite these images? How are they connected with the regrets that have dogged Joe throughout his life?
What does Joe mean when he claims that he has not been “quite spectator enough” (76)? Does his attitude change throughout the novel?
Joe feels he has missed out on his calling to be an author. What is the function of the two author characters, Césare Rulli and Karen Blixen? Discuss their similarities and differences. How does the subject matter of their respective works figure in the story and its themes?
Stegner was an environmentalist as well as a novelist. How does he address ecological concerns in this novel?
Stegner often uses animal imagery, especially when describing his characters. Cite three examples of this and discuss how they develop the characters and their role in the story.
Stories and the written word are important in The Spectator Bird. How does Stegner use aspects of Gothic literature, myth, or fairy tales to deepen his meanings?
“Noblesse oblige,” duties owed by the privileged to the less fortunate, is a theme of Stegner’s novel. To what degree do Astrid, Eigil, and Aage give back, whether to individuals or to society? In what ways do they take?
What explains Joe’s guilt over the death of his son, who drowned while surfing? Why does he sometimes count his son among “the enemy”?
Joe considers Césare Rulli’s novels to be prurient and “overrated” and does not consider Césare a close friend. Yet he seems to care a great deal about what Césare thinks of him and is devastated after the unsuccessful lunch he hosts for the writer. What are some reasons for this?
Related Titles
By Wallace Stegner
