Swallows and Amazons

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1930

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-12

Chapters 13-18

Chapters 19-24

Chapters 25-31

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Wild Cat Island

Wild Cat Island symbolizes freedom from the world of adults. “If there had been no island, no sailing boat” (18), and no large lake, the narrator says, the Walker children might have been happy just to row in the bay near the farm. The telegram from their father, granting them permission to camp on the island alone, “set[s] them free” (67). From this moment on, Imagination as a Gateway to Freedom is the primary theme of the text.

The island is the setting for real adventures—ones that no adult would ever have sanctioned, particularly the battle between the Swallows and the Amazons to be the first to capture the others’ sailboat. In addition, everyday camping activities, such as setting up tents, bathing, fishing, and cooking, are made more exciting by the children’s imaginative play. Bathing in the lake becomes an exercise in pearl diving for Titty and Roger; the pike they see while they are fishing becomes a shark, and a meal with tinned corned beef and ginger beer becomes piratical pemmican and grog.

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When the children are away from the island, they are in the world of adults, most of whom they find exceedingly dull. When they are visiting at Holly Howe Farm, for instance, the baby’s nurse “somehow d[oes] not seem to feel that she [i]s talking with seamen from another land” (68). The charcoal burners, with their temporary huts and pet adder, are more exciting and so are dubbed “savages” instead of the term “natives,” which the children reserve for most adults.

Wild Cat Island isn’t just a place where the children can be free from adults. It is also a place where they can be free from becoming adults. They frequently refer to their desire to stay on the island forever and, symbolically, remain young forever. Their rallying cry is “Swallows and Amazons for ever” (117). As their camp is breaking up, Titty vows that they will return “[e]very year. For ever and ever” (341). The children’s awareness of The Tension Between Timelessness and Change, however much they try to keep it at bay, provides a bittersweet note to these wishes.

The Act of Naming

Naming symbolizes ownership in the novel. The Walker children understand this instinctively when they land on the island and see that someone has been there before. They can give names to various places on the island, but they know they can’t name it because it may already have a name. The Blackett girls show the importance of naming when they agree to call the nearby town Rio—clearly, they haven’t cared enough about it to give it a new name—as long as the Walkers go on calling the island Wild Cat Island.

The symbolic act of naming places supports the theme of Adventure as Both Thrill and Risk. Naming places after much more exciting locales changes them into places where adventures can take place. In addition to calling their bucolic island “Wild Cat Island,” the children call a river the “Amazon” and a mountain the “Kanchenjunga,” and when they are sailing on the lake, it becomes a “desolate” sea. The names feed into their imaginative play, which is fueled by the possibility of danger.

Codes of Honor and Seafaring Traditions

Codes of honor and seafaring traditions are motifs throughout the novel. The two sets of siblings operate under three codes of honor, any of which they might call upon at any time. One is the British Royal Navy’s core values of courage, commitment, discipline, respect, integrity, and loyalty. The second is the pirate’s Articles of Agreement. This varied from ship to ship, but based on surviving examples, they gave every crew member a vote and a share in booty, an agreement on lights out, and vows to keep their equipment in good order and to never desert the ship. The third is the so-called British schoolboy code of honor, which emphasized honesty and fair play. The children also follow traditions that, while not strictly codes, are closely associated with the Royal Navy and with historical pirates.

The Walkers, befitting the children of a naval officer, follow all these codes. John, as “Master” of the Swallow, is responsible for upholding them. He draws up the Ship’s Articles before they set sail, holds a council of all the children before they make major decisions, and is deeply honest and loyal. When Jim Turner calls him a liar, he is shaken to the core but too loyal to the Blacketts, whom he is protecting, to set the man straight. He enforces lights out and keeps equipment clean.

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The Blacketts follow the pirate’s code and traditions and the schoolboy code. It is Nancy, as “Master” of the Amazon, who enforces them. She requests the parley and draws up the terms of their treaty, which will allow them to have their mock battle to capture each other’s ships while allying together against Jim. She also agrees to share the island with the Walkers and ensures that the battle between the two sets of siblings will be a fair one.

The Blacketts are also familiar with British naval traditions. They “dip their colors,” lowering their flag to half-mast and raising it again, after the Swallows’ victory in the battle. Both Susan and Peggy, as first mates, also know that when the lake steamer’s crew dips its colors to the children, they must dip their own flags to acknowledge the praise.