42 pages • 1 hour read
Roald DahlThe Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Middle Grade | Published in 1977A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Swan
The swan in the story symbolizes Peter. “The Swan” is the most brutal narrative in this collection of stories. Peter experiences one act of violence after another at the hands of his classmates and is nearly killed more than once. Despite the continuous onslaught of physical and psychological abuse from his bullies, Peter is steadfast in his moral character and holds onto his innocence. When Ernie and Raymond approach Peter in the woods, they find a boy engaged in the harmless pastime of bird watching. The narrator reveals that Ernie has never been able to understand Peter because the two boys are different in every way. Ernie hates Peter for his difference and feels justified in treating the small boy cruelly simply because Peter is not like him. Similarly, when the boys see the swan, she is sitting in a nest, caring for her young. Like Peter, the swan represents something Ernie cannot understand. Instead of admiring her for her beauty as Peter does, Ernie immediately wants to kill her, reiterating his need to enact violence when he sees something innocent and pure.
Ernie’s mother tries to dissuade her son at the beginning of the story from shooting birds. Ernie’s mother’s explanation of nesting season and caution that it isn’t nice to kill birds during this time foreshadows the cruelty of Ernie nature. Her kindness is drowned out by Ernie’s father, teaching Ernie that compassion should be rooted out, ignored, and bullied. The swan represents the beauty of kindness and compassion, qualities mirrored in Peter throughout the story. When Ernie and Raymond brutally sever the swan’s wings and attach them to Peter’s body, they merge the symbol with the person. Wearing the dead swan’s wings, Ernie and Raymond force Peter to jump from a tree. As he does so, Peter experiences The Transformative Power of Magic, using the swan’s wings to escape to safety.
A Teacher
In many of Dahl’s stories, the main character encounters a teacher who leads them toward a new path. In his own life, Mrs. O’Connor served as a mentor who introduced young Dahl to the wonders of reading and writing. Mrs. O’Connor appears only briefly in the collection, but her influence on Dahl is heavily reflected in his work. Her kindness amid the cruelty he faced in boarding school helped to encourage and engage him in learning. He looked forward to sitting with her on Saturday mornings and learning what makes a story great. Dahl observes that although she was not traditionally beautiful, she was beautiful to the boys who sat with her on Saturday mornings. While the other teachers used fear and brutality to motivate their students, Mrs. O’Connor was, Dahl’s view, a true academic who captivated her students’ attention: “She was nothing less than a great and gifted teacher, a scholar and a lover of English Literature” (181).
In the hero’s journey, or monomyth (a term coined by Joseph Campbell), a mentor or helper guides the protagonist through the initial challenges of the protagonist’s experience. This person usually appears right before the protagonist is about to step into a different part of the world and face many new challenges. Mrs. O’Connor fills that role in Dahl’s personal narrative, appearing in his life as he nears the end of his childhood and begins to embark on his life as a young adult. She also introduces the young writer to many literary helpmates, including Shakespeare and Chaucer.
The Treasure
In “The Mildenhall Treasure,” Dahl tells the true story of Gordon and Ford, two men in England who stumbled across a massive Roman hoard of silver. Although Dahl based his narrative on a true story, the treasure adds important thematic weight to the story’s exploration of Greed and Generosity. Gordon and Ford have opposite reactions to the treasure positioning them as opposing sides of this thematic binary. When Gordon finds the first piece of silver, he is repulsed. He recognizes on a deeper level that this treasure could be dangerous for him, and that it could threaten his contented way of life. For Gordon, who embodies generosity of spirit, the treasure is ominous and foreboding, symbolizing danger.
For Ford, who embodies greed, the treasure fuels his avarice. Ford is already wealthy when Gordon tells him what he found in the field, yet he becomes obsessed with possessing the treasure, despite the laws that prevent him from ever profiting from it. He hoards the silver in his home, unable to sell it or show it off. The treasure symbolizes the stifling nature of greed. Dahl suggests that greed is a hunger that can never be placated. The treasure mocks Ford by leaving the thing he most desires just out of reach—more wealth.
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By Roald Dahl
