Flight Of The Puffin

In Flight of the Puffin, puffins represent Vincent’s journey and thematically symbolize all three of the book’s main themes. Vincent introduces puffins, which he loves and learns about from his favorite Puffins cereal box. Vincent identifies with puffins in several ways and hopes to be more like them in his own life. They remind him of who he is and the power of being around people who understand him. Puffins live in a harsh environment, and Vincent can relate to that. The harsh environment is similar to bullies: The birds must learn to assert themselves and adapt, which thematically connects puffins to The Importance of Standing Up to Bullies.

Vincent admires how puffins can ride the waves and fly through the water, and he hopes to be able to do the same in the sense of fully accepting and asserting himself, which connects puffin behavior to the theme of Self-Preservation and Being Oneself. When Vincent wears his puffin shirt to school the first time, it’s an act of self-assertion, but when he wears it the second day, he’s making a statement to Cal: that Cal can’t control him. Bullies make fun of Vincent for his shirt and eventually take it off him and steal it, so he creates another one and wears it instead. When Libby hears about Vincent being bullied just for being himself, she sends him an art card with a puffin stamp on it. Then, Vincent sends a card to Jack with a puffin stamp, and Jack sends one to T. The puffin stamps thus connect the children, symbolizing their bond across distances and experiences, and thematically connect puffins to The Great Impact of Small Acts.

A central symbol in the story, particularly in Libby’s life, is the sunrise. It represents hope and thematically connects to Self-Preservation and Being Oneself. The story opens with Libby painting a sunrise on a school wall without permission because she wants to be free to express her creativity. However, Libby’s parents and school react not by supporting her but by punishing her for the next month. Nevertheless, she continues drawing sunsets, including on the first art cards she creates. Libby uses sunrises and art in general as a way to help emphasize the world’s beauty, thematically underscoring The Great Impact of Small Acts. She likes to express herself creatively and share the joy and beauty of art with others. Even when Libby is told to color a mill in gray, she insists on adding a colorful sunset to the background. No matter what happens to her, she remains full of hope in the possibility of a change, a new day, or a new way of experiencing life. For the card that she gives her mother, Libby uses a sunset and the phrase, “I’m possible” (212), asserting who she is to the person who discourages her the most. In the story’s conclusion, Libby receives messages from Jack and Joey, showing that Joey received her first art card, and Libby starts to feel like the impact she hoped for is real: “It’s like all the light from the sunrise is inside me, about to explode” (221).

As sister symbols in Flight of the Puffin, flowers and butterflies represent Self-Preservation and Being Oneself. They’re a running metaphor in Libby’s chapters that she uses to describe her blossoming into an autonomous and independent person. Libby’s first observation of flowers is when she sees dandelions popping through the cracks in her driveway. She feels like one of the dandelions, with so many obstacles to overcome before she can bloom. She wonders, “Maybe things would be easier if I could do a better job of staying closed up” (42), and knows that her life would, in some ways, be easier if she simply did what everyone expected of her. However, Libby isn’t the sort of person to do that; she would much rather be herself and assert herself through creative expression. Her parents hold her back from doing so by discouraging her art and shaming her for quitting softball. They lack empathy toward her and make her feel like she doesn’t matter. As a result, she feels like she’s “a sprout shooting up through the concrete, and it’s time [her mother] gave [her] some space and sunlight” (210).

Like the flowers that Libby thinks about, butterflies represent the desire to bloom, to be true to oneself, and to celebrate life. Jack remembers how Alex used to want to be a butterfly and how he always protected caterpillars to help ensure that they would get to transform. Alex wanted to be a butterfly for Halloween, but his father refused, and Alex was deeply hurt. Alex drew pictures of butterflies all the time, which was his way of expressing his desire to fully become himself. While Alex never had the opportunity to become a butterfly, Jack chooses to honor his memory by keeping Alex’s drawings on display.