52 pages • 1 hour read
Eva IbbotsonJourney to the River Sea
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Orphanhood
The loss of parents leads many of the characters to seek new relationships with each other for healing and self-actualization, revealing The Value of Friendship and chosen family. Maia remembers seeing Greece with her parents and wishes wistfully for “the happiness of being warm even at night and the freedom of the camp” (20). She therefore seeks new friendships with people like Finn and Miss Minton, who are adventurous like her parents used to be. Similarly, Clovis is motivated to reunite with his foster mother, whom he cherishes in his memory as an especially good cook. When he is given the chance to live at Westwood, one of his reasons for staying is to “bring my foster mother here to cook – she’s always wanted to work in a house like this” (189).
Finn’s relationship with Maia and their shared delight in animals and plants reminds him of his father’s delight in sharing in exploring the natural world. The death of Finn’s mother, which was caused by the racist policies of European doctors who refused to visit to treat her because she was Xanti, haunts him and motivates him to travel up the Amazon to reunite with her tribe. When he takes Maia with him to the Xanti, he is reaching for a familial bond with both his father through Maia, and his mother through the Xanti; ultimately, he seeks to heal from his loss. The novel uses the orphan trope to help spur its characters on to new adventures, during which they investigate the value of friendship in promoting healing and self-discovery.
Books and Learning
Knowledge and education are a recurring motif throughout the novel, reinforcing perspectives on exploration and emphasizing the protagonists’ willingness to learn new things and embrace revolutionary ideas. Maia’s love of reading is an early indicator of her open-mindedness. When she learns of her impending voyage to the Amazon, she reads widely on the subject with an attitude of curiosity and discovers beautiful aspects of the place and culture rather than adopting the simplistic and negative viewpoints offered by her classmates. Her like-mindedness with Miss Minton, an advocate of adventure and discovery, is conveyed through their shared love of books. Maia views Miss Minton’s collection of “travel books and fairy tales” as an “Aladdin’s cave” (37), and thus, the author evokes a literary allusion to convey Maia’s deep admiration and desire to read.
By contrast, the Carter twins hate poetry and prefer rote learning and bookwork. The novel satirizes their close-minded approach by poking fun at the strict and repetitive British curriculum. Mrs. Carter, a woman who has little interest in creative pursuits or imagination, limits her daughters’ education to Dr Bullman’s books, the titles of which use repetition for comedic effect. As the narrative states:
Dr Bullman’s English Grammar, Dr Bullman’s English Composition […] All the books had the same brown covers and on each one was a picture of Dr Bullman himself. He had a pointed beard, staring eyes and a bulging forehead, and as Maia looked at him she felt a slight lurching of the stomach. (33)
Maia’s visceral reaction to the Carters’ educational books highlights her vastly different approach and interactions with the world. Maia pursues growth and expansion through nature, while the Carters choose isolation from foreign influences.
Wildlife
The creatures of the Amazon are featured in detail throughout the novel, and the nature of the characters’ interactions with them reveal their own internal qualities. For example, Mrs. Carter’s Fear of the Unknown is represented through her murder of insects. She is insatiable in her quest to be rid of them, a compulsion shown through the listing of her growing stash of pesticides, which included “flasks labelled POISON, and masks for protecting the face, and rubber gloves. There were glass jars of chloral hydrate, and spray cans with nozzles, and a new very large bottle labelled COCKROACH KILLER—KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE” (139). In contrast to Mrs. Carter’s hostility to her environment, Maia is enamored with the idea of living near animals. She often encounters creatures from the moment she arrives in the Amazon and beholds them with delight, whether it is a group of capybaras or her first sighting of an alligator. The novel therefore emphasizes that a person’s perspective influences their experience of the Amazon as either a dangerous or beautiful place.
Animals are also portrayed as helpers and friends in the novel. For example, Finn’s dog is depicted as being wonderfully intuitive and intelligent, and he even aids Maia and Finn on their journey. He is described as having the ability to “hunt his own food and steady the canoe by putting his weight in the right place” (107) and he also takes his responsibility to comfort his fellow humans very seriously. As the narrative states, “A dog who will allow himself to be cried over is worth his weight in gold” (107). Finn and Maia’s relationship with animals is one way they connect and are healed by their relationship with nature.
