Forgiveness a Metaphor for Travel in Whirligigs
In the book Whirligigs Brent experiences travel as a metaphor for forgiveness throughout his journey in this book. In each and every stop Brent makes along this journey he experiences a small form of forgiveness within his day to day living. He traveled to Seattle, where he realises that there is death in life, San Diego, where he offers a gift to someone, Texas, where he realises the freedom he feels and Maine, where he realises what traveling on this journey has given to him. He found forgiveness in each city. The form of this forgiveness was never direct but always implied and this was where inferences came in to help readers understand that travel was just a metaphor for forgiveness in Whirligigs.
In the first stages of Brent's trip he experiences forgiveness in his state of while when he comes to this realisation."After night came another day. And after death another life. Mornings seem mysterious gifts. He inspected the daw with fascination" (Fleischman 33). This quote expresses realisation within the mind of Brent. Along with realisation comes a small aspect for forgiveness, Brent realises that day by day goes by and that in death there is life. But most importantly Brent realised that living life is one of the greatest gift we have ever been offered. He recognizes this while on the drive up to Seattle. This is how travel was integrated into the metaphor of forgiveness; while Traveling Brent comes to realising that he should be living his life and not wallowing in it, while on the journey of redeeming himself. Once he comes to this realisation Brent's character evolves from the night of the accident because now he realises what went on, which is now a result for Brent slowly starting to forgive himself. Brent moves on for being the scared kid who wanted to kill himself to a person who is slowly realising that there is more out there than just high school. Brent is realising the mistake he made and in this he found forgiveness. He is growing toward forgiveness in Seattle, and when placing the final whirligig all will be understood.
Another example of travel as a metaphor for forgiveness in Whirligigs would be when we Brent has traveled to San Diego, California. "He made his way back and asked the clerk if he could offer a gift, in thanks for being taken in" (Fleischman 74-75). In this quote Brent has just finished completing one of his tasks by traveling to one of the four destinations and placing the Whirligig. But this quote is also something deeper then Brent completing the task at hand, because Brent is now half way through his journey and half way towards his total destination of forgiveness. Here Brent is offering the whirligig he made, to the clerk of the motel and asking if it could be placed at the motel. This is a gesture of kindness but a very unusual one at this. In this Brent is reaching out, although to no one in particular. Brent was asked to place the whirligigs at the 4 corners of the United States and so he did but in this city he has decided to ask someone's permission to do so. This was not necessary but was put in for a particular reason and when looked at closely enough it is found that here Brent is experiencing the Forgiveness that this trip traveling across the United States is giving to him. San Diego California was a great place of growth for Brent. Growing toward his final destination of moving forward from this experience and gaining the forgiveness need to move on from this journey.
On Brent's trip to Miami, Florida the bus had made a small stop in Texas. While there Brent comes to realise that he enjoys being in a place where no one knows who he is and what occurred in his past. "He liked being somewhere new, but knowing that no one that no one had any idea where he was at that moment." (Fleischman 87). He feels that while traveling the idea of no one knowing where he is at any given moment to being freeing. Here Brent feels the freedom of traveling; this is a different aspect of him that hasn't been expressed yet in the book. He once again is moving along the path of forgiveness towards his final goal of moving past everything with forgiveness. We can see this through this quote because he is becoming more carefree and not as worried; life has been moving on and now so is Brent. He is moving on with forgiveness at side and with the past put behind him. Travel has allowed Brent to become more carefree and experience freedom of being able to move forward within his own time and be able to forgive himself while traveling. This new found freedom is helping Brent move past so many things, in Texas or in any city for that matter no one really knows he's there, he is invisible in a sense. But he is only invisible to those who know him and that's not many in these foreign cities, this gives him that freedom that is expressed. And so travel has helped Brent in many ways and it is now allowing him to 'travel' the path of forgiveness.
Brent moves on to be forgiven at his final travel destination of Maine. There he discovers that it's not going to get better over night but traveling has triggered something within him."But something had changed. He had felt oddly buoyant. He discovered as well that a new view lay before his minds eyes" (Fleischman 132). He has come to the end of his journey, and has come to the realisation that forgiveness isn't just going to occur over night but in time. Little does he know but while traveling what Brent was doing and experiencing was forgiveness through all different forms. We see through Brent's realisation that he is truly making a move toward being forgiven and he is doing so much to gain it. Traveling helps Brent to start to forgive himself and in the end Brent feels that forgiveness isn't just granted to someone. But in this Brent's knows that traveling has changed him in a life altering ways. Travel has put Brent a new perspective into sight. A perspective of where forgiveness is seen down the road. Traveling was just an assistant along the way for the journey of forgiveness it took to get Brent to Maine. Travel was just a footnote in Brent's trip across the United States. Brent moved through cities moving down paths to forgiveness. This trip led him back to the place he had always belonged in the world and helped him move past the tragic event. Brent grew on this trip, he grew toward the path of forgiveness and he also moved along it throughout the book.
In the end Brent travels through different stages of realisation when he sees that there is death in life, in Seattle, offering a gift to someone, in San Diego, to being in a place where no one knows his past , in Texas, and finally to realising that traveling this journey has given him a new perspective, in Maine. Brent travels through this journey, with forgiveness as the metaphor for his trip in the place. Moving from place to place helps him on this trip to forgiveness. In each city Brent realises something different, this realisation also pushes Brent further on his journey to the final destination of it. By the end of this book it becomes evident that the travel in this book is a metaphor for Forgiveness.
Works Cited
Fleischman , Paul Whirligig
New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf , 1998