Hummingbird

Lending its name to the title of the novel, the legendary hummingbird is the most significant symbol in the text. It is a figure shrouded in mystery and legend throughout the novel; even at the narrative’s end, there is no explanation of its origin or powers. The hummingbird is the most prominent element of the novel’s magical realism conventions and facilitates the characters’ emotional journeys. It symbolizes transformation, enabling Olive and other characters to come to important truths about themselves. These truths form the basis for explorations of the Fragility, Vulnerability, and Strength and Existing with Limitations themes. Descriptions of the hummingbird link it with light—in an almost heavenly sense, evoking its transcendent and magical nature—while simultaneously implicitly likening it to Olive herself. In the original legend of the hummingbird Mr. Watson relays in Chapter 9, Twig Moody describes the creature as having “magic in the bone” (83). This creates an immediate connection with Olive, whose brittle bones are often a source of mixed feelings for her. When Olive finally encounters the hummingbird in Chapter 33, she describes it as “tiny but blinding in its radiant light” (339). Like the hummingbird, Olive is tiny, yet possesses an inner shine that is evident in her resilient and joyful, indomitable spirit. Beyond being a symbol of transformation, the parallels between Olive and the hummingbird suggest that Olive possesses this magic herself. The hummingbird being likened to Olive as small and delicate yet having an innate, incredible source of power also reinforces Fragility, Vulnerability, and Strength, reinforcing the idea that one’s fragile and vulnerable places open the door to magical experiences.

Lloyd uses foreshadowing to introduce the hummingbird in Chapter 4 before it receives an explicit introduction in Chapter 9; doing so establishes the hummingbird’s importance early in the narrative. It acts as the object of a quest and drives the action forward in the narrative. Using it as a concrete focal point facilitates the emotional journeys of the protagonists. As such, the hummingbird advances the Fragility, Vulnerability, and Strength theme; as the hummingbird itself exists in a liminal space of a seemingly paradoxical union—paradoxical unions being another common characteristic of magical realism—where “fear and wonder both collide” (84), it requires the protagonists to delve into a paradoxical union between their own vulnerable places as a source of strength. Olive does this when she meets the hummingbird; she confronts her own doubts and fears about her limitations to step onto the stage as Emily Dickinson in Chapter 32, and in doing so finds the ability to express herself and unlocks her deepest truth. The key to the hummingbird being “the words you didn’t know were missing” also acts as a facilitator for the protagonists to achieve deeper truths in themselves (85), thus driving not only the novel’s major thematic elements but also the character development of major characters like Olive. Through its positioning as the resolution of an emotionally significant quest, the hummingbird symbolizes the resilience, joy, and transformation that ultimately define Olive’s arc in the novel.