After reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, I am awed by how he was able to capture the idea of unnatural things like robots living in surprising places like nature, or in this case, on an island. In addition, Brown seems to incorporate many different themes and 'hidden' political messages throughout his book. Two major themes that really stood out to me was his theme with survival and individual vs. society. Both of these themes are meant to help mold the main character in this 'robot nature story' (Brown 2018).
The main character of this story is Roz, a robot who has entered a world of nature which to her seems like an 'artificial' life. Throughout the book, Roz is faced with many challenges such as being able to survive on this island, and being a robot, she has no clue on where to begin. Having been on the island for only a few days, Roz quickly realizes that her artificial intelligence won't be enough for her to survive. However, along her journey Roz is able to pick up on several survival techniques from other animals on the island such as, camouflage which she got the idea from a stick insect. And even after days of observing other animals, she slowly began to grasp the 'language' of the animals from the island. Unfortunately, despite Roz's efforts with trying to fit in with her new environment and the wild animals who live there, she realizes that many of the creatures still see her as an outsider.
But this all changes for Roz, when a freak accident forces her to become a mother for a gosling named Brightbill. Now, barely able to fend for herself, Roz must now help her new son to survive too. Luckily for Roz, this new role as a mother helps to an open door for her to develop new relationships with other animals (e.g. Loudwing the goose) who all helps her navigate this idea of motherhood and to also survive the challenges that she will face ahead. In the end, Roz develops her newfound identity as not only ROZZUM unit 7134, but as a caretaker, a friend, and a wild robot.
In addition to the underlying themes of this story, Brown also includes a hidden social-political message that addresses the current issue of global warming by choosing to have his story occur set in the future. In doing so, Brown emphasizes that many of his main character's struggles comes from the extreme changes of the environment, particularly once winter reaches the island. For instance, many of the creatures on the island including Roz, struggle to stay warm during the harsh winter, and on one of the coldest nights on the island a character named Crag, the oldest turtle on the island, mentions,"... the winters have gotten colder, and the summers have gotten hotter, and the storms have gotten fiercer" and "... the ocean has gotten higher" (Brown 2018). By having the animals discuss such issues, in regards to, the changes in their environment invites readers to think out and discuss global warming, and how it effects on the environment around the world.
"The wilderness really can be ugly sometimes. But from that ugliness came beauty." -- The Wild Robot
In continuing the theme of survival and nature, Katherena Vermette author of The Girl and the Wolf, tells a story about a girl who gets lost in the woods but she finds help from a wild, yet friendly wolf. During their time together, the wolf is able to show the girl to look at her surroundings to find food, water, and eventually her way back home. With the wolf's help the little girl was able to find her way back home, and in turn, she never forgot the kindness that the wolf showed her. However, while this story highlights the theme of survival, I think the author's purpose in this story is to help break the stereotype of certain characters, or in this case, the wolf. In most cases, the wolf is often viewed as the villain in the story. For example, in American Literature children's book, Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf is portrayed as an evil character who tries to lurer little red riding hood to stray from the path on her way to Grandma's house. However, Vermette decided to change how the wolf is portrayed to emphasis how our social consciousness effects our viewpoints about characters based literature we have read in the past, and I think she does this exceedingly well.
All in all, I think both Vermette and Brown did an excellent job with not only conveying a theme relative to the idea of survival, but also humanizing their characters within these stories; in order to, to make us aware of our social consciousness by breaking stereotypes of both wolfs and robots. Overall, I would 10/10 recommend these books to anyone!!
References
Brown, P. (2018). The wild robot. London: Picadilly Press. Print.
Vermette, K., & Flett, J. (2019). The Girl and the Wolf. Penticton, British Columbia: Theytus Books. Print.