Comparing The Characters Journeys In The Wind In The Willows

There’s No Place Like Home: An Analysis of Two Characters’ Journeys in
“The Wind in the Willows”

As discussed in this course, classic children’s literature often involves some kind of journey for a character, in which they temporarily leave home, only to discover a self-truth and a new appreciation for that which they often took for granted. Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows” is no exception. The two animals that most notably go through a transformation as a result of leaving home are Mole and Toad. While their reasoning and experiences along the way differ, they both prove changed characters, and for the better. “The Wind in the Willows” begins with a busy Mole, caught in his spring-cleaning daze, and within the first paragraph
The pair goes to visit another friend, Toad, who is all too eager to travel and go on a journey with his horse drawn carriage. The night before they are supposed to leave, Mole says that he’ll do whatever Rat wants, but asks, “Shall we run away to-morrow morning, quite early-very early- and go back to our deal old hole on the river?” (pg. 647). Here, he mentions home for the first time, and seems to miss it. However, Rat declines, which suggests that Mole has not learned all he needs to and is not ready to return. The journey with Toad comes to a quick end, and Mole and Rat go back to the river. However, Mole does something out of character when he decides to set out on his own to meet Badger, an “important personage” (pg. 650). Against Rat’s previous warnings, Mole goes into the Wild Wood and becomes afraid of noises and unfamiliar sights. Rat quickly comes to his rescue and says that even Toad “wouldn’t show his face here alone,” which suggests that Mole has become
663). When they begin their journey back, Mole feels summoned “like an electric shock” and he realizes where he is. “Now, with a rush of old memories, how clearly it stood up before him…the home had been happy with him, too, evidently and was missing him, and wanted him back” (pg. 665). Mole wants to see his old home, but at first Rat doesn’t think it’s a good idea and convinces Mole to move on. Emotion overcomes Mole, and he sobs. At this point, home is everything to him, and he finally does deserve to go back. Rat realizes that the trip back is very important to his friend, and they turn back to find Mole’s old dwelling place. They find it and begin making a fire, welcome in some friends, and eventually settle down to dinner. It is a splendid time, and Mole, upon going to bed, realizes “how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one’s existence…[however] he did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces…it called to him still, even down there, and he knew must return to the larger stage” (pg. 671). It is in this moment that Mole appreciates his home, but realizes that he has changed for the better, and is ready to go back up and out to see what great, new experiences await