A Whale of the Wild

“I roll again and let my fin break through the skin of the sea and split the fog in two. I huff a great chaaaah out of the breather on top of my head. The sun lifts above the ridge of mountains, casting a golden glow across the Salish Sea.”

In the first sentence, the repetition of the short ‘i’ sound in words like “fin,” “skin,” “split,” and “in” is an example of assonance, a sound effect that repeats a vowel sound several times in a sequence of words. This device lends a poetic quality to Parry’s prose and adds to the opening scene’s serenity. The author uses the onomatopoeia “chaaaah” to capture the sound of the whale’s breath, and the description of the “golden glow across the Salish Sea” combines visual imagery and alliteration to depict the sunrise. Together, the passage’s literary devices create a peaceful, joyful tone that conveys nature’s beauty and encourages the readers to connect with Vega and her environment.

“We are a thing to see when we travel. One fin after another cuts through the water, rising like an ocean wave, fast and sleek and strong. Sharks head for the shadows when we come around. Eels slide farther into their caves. Gulls scatter. Seals watch us from their resting spots with wide brown eyes.”

Parry employs a range of literary techniques to convey Vega’s pride in her family. For example, the simile comparing the fin to “an ocean wave” expresses the whales’ strength and majesty. The repetition of the coordinating conjunction ‘and’ in the phrase “fast and sleek and strong” is an instance of