What does it mean?

Family. This novel is all about the importance of family. Each member of the Bigtree family experiences the death of Hilola Bigtree in a different way, but in the end, they all come together as one.

Some important plot:

• Ossie's ghost boyfriend "[leaves her] at the altar" (300).
• Marrying a ghost meant commiting suicide for him.
• Kiwi gets a piloting license through his mainland job and spots Ossie off-shore, about to kill herself. He stops her. "It occurred to him that he was looking at a small noose" (301).
• I still do not fully understand the importance of Ossie's undead life, a significant part of the book.
• The ending suggest that Ossie has a hallucinogenic disease such as schizophrenia due to her long periods of time without socialization. "A psychiatrist put Ossie on a variety of helpful beekeeping-type medications... that were supposed to thin the ghostly voices in her head to a pleasant drone" (315).
• Ava is raped by Bird Man deep in the Everglades of Florida and is found many days later by park rangers. She vows to never tell a soul. "No, I don't have to tell a soul about this" (263).
• Although a very terrible scene, I pointed out in my previous blog posts that Bird Man seemed creepy, as if foreshadowing something like this event.
• The Chief is reunited with his children on the mainland, after Kiwi discovers his secret second casino job. "It's over" (315).
• The childrens' near death experiences remind the Chief of how much his family really means to him.

The most important passage of the novel occurs during the scene in which the family is reunited after their great split. This passage supports the theme that family will always be important and can always be brought back together.

"When my father stepped forward it didn't matter that we were nowhere near our island. All of us, the four of us- the five of us if you counted mom inside us- we were home. We were a family again, a love that made the roomiest privacy that I have ever occupied" (312).

As the book continually alternates chapters between the lives of Kiwi and Ava, it becomes evident that neither one can keep the family out of their thoughts for too long.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the meaning of Swamplandia! as a whole.

Is Swamplandia! AP Worthy?

This is a difficult question to answer.

Well, what constitutes something as AP worthy?

I'd say...probably...a lot of stuff.

1. The vocabulary is at college-level.
2. Analysis can be done to uncover the meaning of the work as a whole.
3. The book has a meaning as a whole. 
4. There is some kind of development, most likely character development.
5. There is evidence of complex devices: motifs, symbols, etc.
6. It's challenging.
7. Things aren't so straightforward. 
8. It must be analyzed to fully understand.

...aaaand that's all I could come up with.

So, Swamplandia! scored a 6.5/8 (81.25%) on the 'Madeline-scale'. I'd say that's pretty good. I have found that the vocabulary is actually quite basic and simple for an AP level book. Because of that, I took off .5 for the lack of challenge. 

BUT WAIT!

I'm not saying that it's an easy read. Swamplandia! has a complex, twisted web of relationships. Some of these relationships are with other characters, but the main focus in the novel is on the characters' relationships' with themselves, not each other. Even at 3/4 of the way through the book, I still don't understand why some of the characters do what they do. 

Also, I've realized throughout this section of the book that moths have been a motif the entire time. Each time Ava experiences something ghostly, she sees moths. Sometimes they arrive in swarms, other times she sees one linger in her bedroom. Either way, moths symbolize Ossie's relationship with the dead and the danger they are in. Here are a few instances of moths being mentioned:

• "That's how my sister's metamorphosis started to happen, I think- inside that white cocoon" (19).
• "'Ossie is talking to dead people again, Chief'...Outside our porch had become a cauldron of pale brown moths and the bigger ivory moths with sapphire-tipped wings, a sky-flood of them.They entered a large rip in our screen. They had fixed wings like sharp little bone, these moths, and it was astonishingly sad when you accidentally killed one" (32).
• "Then the ghost turned into particulates of wings. 'Calm down, dummy, it's just a bunch of moths'" (78).
• "Moths were sparkling around our ceiling in patterns that seemed almost meaningful, stitching a violet-brown lace between the blades..." (92). 
• "...paperwhite moths flew up to hit or kiss their wings against our bedroom window screens and even the tiniest rasp made me want to cry out" (94).
• "I peered around the river bend, saw only thin trees and moths" (135).

And as soon as Ossie leaves the island with her ghost-soon-to-be-husband, the moths disappear from sight.  

 

Ava and Bird Man are still on an endless journey, becoming more and more detached from civilization.

Where Did Everyone Go?

We have finally arrived at the scariest point (so far) in Swamplandia!. Ava is alone on the island. Chief still hasn't returned from his "business trip", Kiwi has remained on the mainland, and Ossie has now left reality for the underworld.

Soon after the explanation of Kiwi's whereabouts, we learn who Ossie ghost friend really is. "The dredgeman had a name, Louis Thanksgiving Auschenbliss" (100). He was a part of a dredge team ,working to drain the "useless" swamp. Before the job was finished, he died from a mysterious buzzard attack on-board. From then on, he's lived in the abandoned dredge boat in the swamp. This is where Ossie has been sneaking off to all along. Russell gives such vivid imagery of Louis's death that it makes me question the viability of the information. At first, Russell leads us to believe that Ossie's spirits are all a mental facade , but now Ava has begun seeing proof as well.

"Who besides us had even set foot in the dredge? Who alive would know how to run it? So I did believe, finally, in the ghost of Louis Thanksgiving. I believed, in a waterfall rush, in the world of ghosts. An underworld-" (149)

That quotation, said by Ava, is where the novel shifts from one of reality to one of fantasy. Now, we're dealing with a haunting, not a disconnected family.

Moments after Ossie's disappearance, we are introduced to Bird Man. Bird Man claims that he has been hired by the Chief to drive away the buzzards using primal tactics. People of his kind are considered "redneck exterminators, mangrove gypsies, backwoods ornithologists, black magicians, feathered druids, [and] scam artists" (132). Although, Ava doesn't see him this way. She says to herself that "Bird Man [is] not what [she] expected a Bird Man to be; for starters, he [is] very kind" (132).

I get the sense that Ava is opening herself up to Bird Man too quickly. He's a complete stranger that she found sitting in a tree, watcher her. Soon after saying hello to him she offers that he sleep in her house and then she tells him everything about her life; her mother's death, Kiwi's pursuit of college, Ossie's ghost-disappearance, and her father's lack of responsibility. She may be doing this to fill the lonely void she has from her family abandoning her.

Bird Man is the only person who agrees with Ava that ghosts are real and Ossie is truly in trouble. He agrees to take her to the underworld. I find this creepy on the Bird Man's part. He took supplies from the family and he's taking young Ava miles and miles into uninhabited swamp on boat. He claims this trip is going to last for many days and if she sees anyone, she must tell them that Bird Man is her cousin and they are on a fishing trip. WHAT?! This guy is creepy.

And this book keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Some Dramatic Decisions

TIMELINE (up to page 75)

• Hilola dies of ovarian cancer. Ava is twelve. Swamplandia! begins losing business.
• Chief takes Grandpa Sawtooth to a retirement home on the mainland. He has Alzheimer's disease.
• The Bigtrees learn that the World of Darkness has opened and is talking away tourists.
• Ossie finds The Spiritist's Telegraph, a book about witchcraft. She becomes obsessed.
• Ossie has a birthday party. She is disappointed in the Chiefs obsession over Swamplandia!.
• Chief comes up with "Our Evolution: Carnival Darwinism," his plan to save the park.
• Family visits Grandpa Sawtooth. This is the last time the family is truly together. It's the turning point for them.
• Kiwi runs away to the mainland to find a job. He wants to help get the Chief out of debt.
• Chief leaves to do "business". He claims he'll return in three weeks. Only Ava and Ossie live on the island now.
• Kiwi gets a job at the World of Darkness, ironically. He has trouble adapting to the social life.
• Three days later, the last customer arrives. Swamplandia! is a ghost park.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (up to page 75)

• Osceola
• Ossie begins as a fun-loving sister who spends every moment bonding with her siblings, especially Ava. That changes after she begins reading The Spiritist's Telegraph. She begins going out at strange hours of the night and disappearing for long amounts of time. Ossie tries to teach Ava how to use a Ouija board to speak to their mother, but is unsuccessful. Eventually, Ossie starts a relationship with a ghost she met through witchcraft. Ava hears Ossie moaning in the night as if she's even sexually involved with this ghost. Keep in mind, this isn't magical realism.  This is just a sixteen year old girl going mad. Considering she's been living on an uninhabited island for the entirety of her life, her insanity is to be expected. She hungers for human relationships and the only way she can satisfy it is in her own mind. Everyone in the family sees her sickness. Kiwi says to Ava, "'Ossie found a way to get out of here without leaving her bedroom... it's pretty genius, actually.'" (54)
• Chief
• The Chief has been a complete mess for the entire novel. Hilola dies and his whole life goes down the drain. While the world around him is crashing and burning, he remains in a state of denial. Each character has a sickness about them and denial is the Chief's. He owes many hundreds of thousands of dollars, but allows the bills to pile up on the table as if they don't even exist. He tells his children that "[Death is] as ordinary as a rain delay" (9). Often times he even raises his voice when challenged. Once again, Kiwi explains the reality of the situation: "He thinks he's being optimistic or something but it's sick, what he's doing. We won't even have enough money to move" (55).
• Kiwi
• The end of this section focuses completely on Kiwi's development. He appears to be the savior of the family. He's the only one who sees the truth of the situation. Throughout childhood, he was always reading books. Using his book smarts, he plans to go to the mainland and become a college scholar. The Chief doesn't approve of this due to the fact that he believes Kiwi is needed for work at Swamplandia!. This not true at all, considering the park sees no business. Going against his Father's wishes, Kiwi steals three-hundred dollars and flees from the island to find a job. When he begins work at the World of Darkness, it's evident that eighteen years of life on an uninhabited island has created a socially inadequate individual. He cannot make friends, he fails at seducing girls, and he's losing more money than he's making. Unfortunately, it looks as though Kiwi won't save his father from debt anytime soon. Many times, Kiwi lets the stress of the working class get to him. "His eyes watered in the bathroom mirror. The whole theme park was like a joke that someone had taken too far!" (70) Kiwi has changed from a smart, confident individual, to a scared and confused one.
• Ava
• Ava is sick in the sense that she is too naïve. She's the youngest of the family and she's used to believing whatever she's told. Anyone can change her mind. First she believes Ossie truly can communicate with spirits, then Kiwi changes her mind. Then, she is completely dedicated to Swamplandia! and Kiwi convinces her that it's smart to leave. She's all over the place. The most important element of this character is her love for Hilola. Ava constantly mentions her in some way. Personally, I get the sense that Ava is vulnerable. She doesn't seem to have any independence. This worries me for the future of the book. Every family member has appeared to find a way out of the mess. Chief denies it and then leaves on a trip, Ossie talks with the dead, and Kiwi leaves for the mainland. Ava is left alone to fend for herself and decide what to do with a theme park of alligators.