Thematic Analysis of Kit's Wilderness by David Almond
Throughout the novel of “Kit’s Wilderness”, there are several reoccurring themes that stand out to me. They are shown through the plot, setting, characters and language of the book. Lots of these themes link together.
Darkness and light is perhaps the main theme of the book. Constantly, throughout the novel, darkness and light is present and mentioned although, used many times, in different contexts. For example “Grandpa moved in and out of his darkness” and “….into the fringes of the light” are both about darkness and light but mean different things. The first quote means that Grandpa moved in and out of being happy and talking to people and knowing that they were there, sometimes he acted almost as though he was dead. Whereas, the second quote means actual light that is produced from the sun. However, “At times it seemed that there would be no end to it, that there would just be darkness, that there would be no light.” could have either of these meanings or a different one altogether. A lot of Kit’s Wilderness is set in caves and places underground which, when we are reading these parts, gives us a sense of darkness.
There is a great sense of life and death in “Kit’s Wilderness”. Some of it is written through darkness and light. Death and life also has a strong link with past and present and spiritual and physical. Evidence of this is “Silky” who is mentioned all the way through the book. He is a little boy who died when Grandpa was young and visits Kit in the night. Grandpa can see him as well. In the book Grandpa says to Kit “… that’s Silky’s work, we’d say. Little mischief, little Silky. A glimpse and then he’s gone.” when he is telling Kit about Silky very early on in the story. Something else from the past is the monument that was built for all the people died in a big pit disaster in Stoneygate. It is very eerie and gripping when Kit and John see their names on the monument and it gives you a sense of dread that something bad will happen. “The game of
Darkness and light is perhaps the main theme of the book. Constantly, throughout the novel, darkness and light is present and mentioned although, used many times, in different contexts. For example “Grandpa moved in and out of his darkness” and “….into the fringes of the light” are both about darkness and light but mean different things. The first quote means that Grandpa moved in and out of being happy and talking to people and knowing that they were there, sometimes he acted almost as though he was dead. Whereas, the second quote means actual light that is produced from the sun. However, “At times it seemed that there would be no end to it, that there would just be darkness, that there would be no light.” could have either of these meanings or a different one altogether. A lot of Kit’s Wilderness is set in caves and places underground which, when we are reading these parts, gives us a sense of darkness.
There is a great sense of life and death in “Kit’s Wilderness”. Some of it is written through darkness and light. Death and life also has a strong link with past and present and spiritual and physical. Evidence of this is “Silky” who is mentioned all the way through the book. He is a little boy who died when Grandpa was young and visits Kit in the night. Grandpa can see him as well. In the book Grandpa says to Kit “… that’s Silky’s work, we’d say. Little mischief, little Silky. A glimpse and then he’s gone.” when he is telling Kit about Silky very early on in the story. Something else from the past is the monument that was built for all the people died in a big pit disaster in Stoneygate. It is very eerie and gripping when Kit and John see their names on the monument and it gives you a sense of dread that something bad will happen. “The game of