63 pages • 2 hours read
Paul FleischmanWhirligig
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaThemes
The Far-Reaching and Unknowable Consequences of Actions
The mediator Miss Gill expresses the main theme of Whirligig when she says, “We never know all the consequences of our acts. They reach into places we can’t see. And into the future, where no one can” (38). The powerful cause-and-effect relationship among the actions of individuals pervades Whirligig and informs its narrative structure as a whole. The death of Lea Zamora, itself a tragic and unintended consequence of Brent’s suicide attempt, serves as a catalyst for the action of the rest of the book. Likewise, Brent’s whirligigs affect strangers across the country. Alternating chapters of the book take place in the future and, as Miss Gill says, in places Brent cannot see. Steph, Anthony, Jenny, and the unnamed narrator of “Miami, Florida” each have significant encounters with Brent’s whirligigs. Brent reflects on this theme at the end of his journey when he thinks that Lea “set him in motion, motion that he was now transferring to others” (132). The mechanism of the whirligig, in which Brent “interlock[s] some of the propeller blades so that one would pass its motion to the others,” is itself a symbol of this concept of cause-and-affect (133).That actions have consequences is an important lesson for Brent, who is initially selfish, irresponsible, and impetuous.
The idea of affecting others by teaching is an elaboration of the larger theme that appears repeatedly in Whirligig. Emil expresses this idea when he says, “A teacher lives forever through his students” (70). Teacher-student relationships in Whirligig include Jenny and her grandmother, the previous owner of the whirligig manual and Brent, and Brent and the children on the beach in Florida.
Materialism as Unfulfilling
The first chapter, which ends in Brent’s suicide attempt, depicts him and his family as highly materialistic. Brent shares his predominant concerns of social status and money with his parents. At dinner, the only conversation that passes among them is about products on TV. Brent’s thoughts center on cars, clothes, and impressing others. He has an essentially shallow relationship with music, listening to certain radio stations solely for how cool they are perceived to be among his peers. His parents have a similar approach to spirituality, regarding church as a place “to be seen in,” and as a result leaving Brent with a cynical view of religion (95). Despite their increased wealth as a result of his father’s promotion, the family does not seem particularly happy. Brent thinks of his father:
The promotion within his car-rental company had rescued them from Atlanta's heat, put Brent into a private school, bankrolled Brent's mother’s furniture-buying spree, but hadn't seemed to improve his own spirits. The caustic complaints about work had begun again. Lately, Brent had begun to feel sorry for him(4).
As a result of his overriding materialism, Brent suffers from an inner emptiness that contributes to the angst that leads to his suicide attempt. On his journey, Brent acquires new interests and loses his consumerist values.
Karass
Out of nowhere, the word karass came to mind, from the Vonnegut book he'd read in English, a term for a disparate group of people linked together without their knowledge. Your family and friends weren't part of your karass. You couldn't choose its members, and might never know who was in it or what its purpose was. Brent felt certain that Lea was a member of his. Was the cyclist part of it too? (48).
Brent appears in multiple instances of karass throughout the book. As he notes, he is in a randomly-formed community with the cyclist and with Lea. Similarly, he has a connection with the previous owner of the whirligig manual, who will never know his connection to Brent, as well as with the other bus travelers, hostel guests, and the dancers in Maine.
More importantly, Brent is in a karass with far-flung people he does not know: the four narrators who come across his whirligigs. This karass is closer to Kurt Vonnegut’s concept of a group linked together unbeknownst to them, one with a divine purpose. Vonnegut coined karass in his novel Cat’s Cradle. For Brent, who yearned to and largely failed to fit in at school, the idea of karass provides an alternative to his rigid view of high school social hierarchy that helps him deal with his guilt, loneliness, and outsider status. While he does not seem to have a close relationship with his family, he is able to form deeper, more enriching bonds as a part of other communities.
Atonement and Rebirth
Brent’s crime sends him on a transformational journey of repentance, a classic theme in mythology and literature, referenced in the mentions of Hercules and Cain. Brent’s labor, solitude, and self-discovery allow him to atone for his crime and emerge as a new person. Indeed, his transformation is drastic; the Brent we see in the last chapter is very different from the boy we meet in “Party Time.” His suicide attempt failed, but symbolically he did manage to kill his former self. For instance, on the way to Washington, his first destination, he thinks, “His second life had eclipsed his first. Its moment of birth had been the crash” (34).Brent repeatedly thinks of his life after the car crash as his “afterlife.” In “Apprentices,” Brent calmly considers that his whirligig may get swept away by a hurricane, thinking, “After the storm, new whirligigs would appear” (101). His thought is a metaphor for his own rebirth, with the storm representing his suicide attempt and the whirligig his new life. Brent’s interest in educating is an important aspect of the process of his transformation: “He'd been reborn after the crash. He would give himself a new education, starting at the beginning” (94). In his “afterlife,” he transforms his values and personality by persevering and learning new knowledge and skills.
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