SKELLIG

The two I will be explaining in more detail are: acceptance and selflessness.

 

ACCEPTANCE

Acceptance is mainly shown through when: Mina first saw Skellig and Michael and Mina accepting each other. These are both examples of accepting he person for who they were. When Michael saw Skellig, at first he thought it was an illusion that there was a man in his garage but later on, he goes back and starts helping Skellig (the man) and even worrying about him. This is how Michael accepted him and this acceptance is finalized when he and Mina take Skellig to a safer place because they are worried for is well-being. To emphasise the theme acceptance more, those things happened before they truly found out he had wings hence they didn’t help him because of his supernatural factor, they helped him because they cared. Yes, they did have some suspicion that Skellig was not ‘normal’ but that also empathised the acceptance more because they accepted someone that was different.

 

In a way, Mina accepted Michael first. She was the one that started the friendship for she introduced herself first. She then made the first move in the friendship by taking him to the grandfather’s house. This, I believe, is when Mina truly accepted Michael and via versa because she accepted him and let him know a bit more about him and he accepted her offer (which if you didn’t accept the person, you wouldn’t go) and went with her. The acceptance is then contrasted when Leakey and Coot (Michael’s friend) don’t accept Mina and judge her. This then makes Michael and Mina mad at each other. When Michael and Mina meet up and say sorry, this is where the friendship is accepted.

 

SELFLESSNESS

Selflessness is a very obvious theme in this book for it is how Skellig and Michael became friends. Selflessness made the friendship and acceptance happen hence being an important theme. When Michael takes his own food and takes medicine (aspirin) just to take care for a he doesn’t even know who the man is or his name, that is selflessness. To really strengthen the theme more, Michael knew the dangers of going into the garage, he knew that the garage could collapse at any time. Therefore, he essentially risked him life to help stranger which shows the theme selflessness very prominently.

 

 

Both these themes are very important but in reality, there are just sub-themes to one bigger theme: love. The kind of love in the book is not the romantic kind, it is the love that Michael had for Skellig, Mina had for Michael and Michael had for the baby. It is true love: the love which is all about acceptance and selflessness. The author is trying to show show true love is not around in the world anymore and has been corrupted. Another important thing is the age. Michael and Mina needed to be young for they are still innocent. If an adult saw Skellig, they would have a worse reaction and be disgusted but because Michael is young, doesn’t know that; he is still innocent and young thus their age is a big factor for themes.