110 pages • 3 hours read
The Wild Robot
A 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.
Themes
What It Means to Be “Alive”
Even before there were true machines, there were fanciful stories about mechanical people. As technological advances in “robots” have developed, the idea of a humanoid being with artificial intelligence has become more of a reality. Stories about robots allow authors to explore questions of what it means to be human and what it means to be “alive.” Are manufactured beings that look like humans (with a head, torso, two arms and two legs), who can speak and “think,” truly alive? In this novel, the author explores this question in-depth, as he seeks to humanize Roz and show that a manufactured robot can become as compassionate, empathetic, and in love with life as an organic creature who was born.
The author expands on this theme by frequent mention and comparisons of Roz’s programmed actions and the instincts of the animals on the island. In this way, he contends that a robot and an animal are not so very different, since their actions are dictated by the same driving forces. The primary directive, for both Roz and the animals, is survival, so the ways in which they ensure their continued survival is aided and enhanced by their chosen behaviors. Roz and her animal friends learn from each other and share ways to make their lives better. One would not expect the same from another type of household machine, like a toaster, or even a laptop computer. Roz’s design enables her to “live.” Her choices give her a life worth living, full of companionship and caring.
Part of what it means to be alive involves the idea of free will, the notion that living things with higher intelligence can make their own choices in life. In this way, Roz, as a mechanical human, is shown to have an even greater range of life choices than most of her animal friends, whose behavior is dictated by habit and instinct. Roz makes the conscious decision to help her neighbors survive the winter and she risks her own safety to save a baby hare from the burning lodge. The unthinking, unfeeling stereotype of a robot that most people have would not have the consciousness to consider these choices.
Roz, despite being a robot, develops into a being that serves as an example of kindness, compassion, and sacrifice, the highest attributes that human beings aspire to. She is as “alive” as any of the animals in the story, if the reader takes the definition of “alive” to mean full of vigor and spirit. She may not have a heart that beats, but she is full of love, courage, and devotion for her son and her friends.
Wilderness vs. Civilization
Another major theme of the novel is the contrast between the natural world and the manmade world. The island and its inhabitants are juxtaposed against Roz, the pinnacle of civilization’s achievements, a manufactured human. At the beginning of the story, Roz is at a distinct disadvantage in the wilderness. Despite all her sophisticated functions and abilities, she is at risk of becoming damaged to the point of deactivation, like the other robots that washed up on the shore. It is only when she adapts to life on the island by becoming less “civilized” and more “wild” does she increase her chance of survival and build a beneficial life for herself.
The story’s representation of civilization, seen from Brightbill’s perspective when he encounters a farm and city during his migration, is much more negative than its view of wilderness. The narrator concedes that nature can be hard and cruel, but the harshness is understandable. Animals die, but it is part of nature’s balance. The cruelties of civilization, on the other hand, appear much more incomprehensible. It is understandable that animals who are predators must kill to live, but the farmer shooting and killing a goose who was no threat to him seems indiscriminate and needlessly cruel. Thus, there is violence both in nature and in the world ruled by mankind, but the gun violence that the geese witness makes no sense to them. The terror that the RECOS bring to the island also feels arbitrary and horrifying to the island’s inhabitants. The coming of civilization, intractable and uncompromising, causes the disruption of nature and the proper order.
This contradicts conventional sentiment about civilization. As mankind has progressed in technological and social development, the natural world has been viewed as chaotic and dangerous. Mechanization attempts to tame that, making life easier and more predictable for humans. This story gives a different view, one that suggests that mechanized life is inferior to a more natural way of living.
Roz seeks to undo her artificial origins and become wild. One overarching conclusion of this story is that nature may be unforgiving and cruel at times, but it is still preferable to the sameness and callous cruelty of civilization.
The Importance of Friends and Family
Roz unexpectedly finds herself in the role of a mother, and it is the best thing to ever happen to her. She is very much alone at the beginning of the story. The animals are only willing to speak to her when she has Brightbill in her care and she needs help to keep him alive. Her adoption of the orphaned goose is recognized as a sign of kindness, which opens the animals to learning who Roz truly is. What begins as a survival technique, Roz trying to become acquainted with the animals to learn their survival tips, evolves into a profound sense of community.
Roz learns that it is necessary to create relationships with others, which is a primary lesson of the story. As Roz becomes a loving mother and loyal friend to the animals of the island, her appreciation for the goodness in life increases dramatically. Roz experiences life most fully and most beautifully through learning about it at the same time as her child.
Roz observes that there are many examples of families on the island. She sees the devotion of Mother Bear for her naughty cubs, the fierce way that Mr. and Mrs. Beaver defend Paddler, the way that Crownpoint makes sure that Tawny and the rest of his family stand safely behind him. Roz sees the sacrifice that animal parents sometimes must make for their children and the happiness that parents feel when their children are happy and healthy. All of this reinforces the message of the importance of family.
During one of the fireside conversations in the lodge during the long winter, Digdown the groundhog turns philosophical and comments that if she had her life to live over again, she would have helped others more. She sadly comments that she spent all her time digging tunnels, which were fine tunnels, but benefited only herself. This reinforces to Roz the importance of caring for others, of being a friend. Roz ponders her purpose in life, since she does not have an easily definable objective. Her animal friends show her that her purpose has been to help others, as she has aided the injured, fed the hungry, given shelter to the needy, and most importantly, mothered a helpless gosling. Every good thing that Roz experiences while living on the island arises from her relationships with Brightbill and her animal friends.
Acceptance of Difference
Roz makes friends with every kind of animal on the island, predators and prey. She does not have limitations on who she will befriend, because she was not “born” and raised to believe that some categories of beings are too different from her to relate to. Being the most different creature on the island, Roz searches for multiple ways to fit in. In doing so, she teaches the animals not to judge others based on preconceived impressions.
It is Roz’s willingness to accept the wisdom and teachings of so many kinds of animals that allows her to thrive. The animals she emulates represent a great diversity of experience and perspective, resulting in an array of lessons that would not have been so beneficial if they had not been so diverse.
Roz’s most striking act of acceptance is her adoption of Brightbill. It does not matter to her that they are profoundly different. She loves him as her son. Roz has seen that there are many different kinds of families on the island, with parents that have different types of relationships with their offspring, but clearly no family is more different than hers. Roz learns that what makes a family is love, caring, and devotion.
As Brightbill grows older, he struggles with how different he and Roz are and he questions whether she can truly be his mother. Roz lets him know that regardless of whether he calls her “Mama” or accepts that she is his mother, she will never stop caring for him like a mother cares for her child. To Roz, their differences do not impact the level of feeling she has for him. Brightbill learns to accept their differences and even embrace them, saying that they are a strange kind of family, but he likes it that way.
Another major act of kindness and acceptance that Roz performs is when she helps Rockmouth the pike. Earlier in the story, Rockmouth appears grumpy and unlikable, always making trouble for others in the pond. Only Roz takes the time to listen to the fish and hear his side of the story, that the damming of the river trapped him away from his home. Rockmouth is shunned by the other animals for his perceived differences until Roz comes to understand the true situation. Roz had been a misunderstood pariah herself and understands that not everything is as it seems. Her kindness and acceptance of everyone brings about a happy ending to this misunderstanding.
Unlock all 110 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Peter Brown
