The Light Pirate

Contrast Frida and Kirby’s attitudes toward the approach of Hurricane Wanda in Part 1. How do their thoughts and actions reflect different ways of coping with climate change? How do these differences impact their relationship?

In what ways is Rudder a microcosm of a world impacted by climate change? How do human actions and inaction exacerbate natural disasters and add to the town’s problems?

How does the author use Phyllis’s character arc to develop the themes of Survival and Adaptation and of Finding Family and Community?

How does Bird Dog and Wanda’s love story develop the theme of finding family and community? How does their relationship impact the novel’s climax, resolution, and overall meaning?

Throughout the novel, Brooks-Dalton uses an abundance of visual imagery to describe Rudder’s weather and the plants and animals who make their home in Florida. How does her use of imagery develop the novel’s setting and the theme of The Beauty and Violence of Nature?

How does Brooks-Dalton use storms as a motif for the theme of nature? How does she demonstrate storms’ destructive power? How does she show that there is beauty amidst the violence? How does this motif advance the novel’s plot?

How is the swamp that overtakes Rudder both a beautiful place and a deadly one? How does the swamp shape Wanda, and how does she shape it in return? To help you answer the last question, consider Wanda’s relationship with the lights.

Phyllis’s blue house serves as a motif for the theme of survival and adaptation. Tracing the major plot events, explore how this motif’s significance develops and shifts over the course of the novel.