The Wish

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Sparks uses Maggie’s teddy bear as a symbol of childhood innocence. Maggie brings Maggie-bear with her to Ocracoke during her pregnancy, underscoring the fact that she is still a child herself, just beginning a coming-of-age arc. As she lays in bed the first night, she breaks down crying over her pregnancy and having to leave her home. When she hugs her “teddy bear to [her] chest and inhale[s] her familiar scent, the dam simply burst[s]. It [i]sn’t a pretty cry [but] a raging sob, complete with snorts and wails and quivering shoulders” (41). Maggie-bear serves as a source of comfort for Maggie while she adjusts to life in Ocracoke, providing both a physical and symbolic connection to her past, as she desperately tries to hold onto her innocence and the life she knew before her pregnancy.

Leaving Maggie-bear behind as a gift for her baby signals Maggie’s loss of innocence. After the baby’s born, she tells Linda that she thinks “the baby needs her more than [Maggie does] right now” (345). The transfer of Maggie-bear, initially Maggie’s only source of comfort, also underscores the ways in which Maggie has learned to trust and rely on Linda and Bryce, emphasizing