47 pages • 1 hour read
Jaleigh JohnsonThe Mark of the Dragonfly
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A 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
Machines
The world of Solace exists in a historical context similar to late 19th-century America. Industrialization is transforming a once agricultural society into one that relies heavily on machines. Machines are everywhere in The Mark of the Dragonfly. They are a recurring motif that relates to the theme of Hybrid Identities. Just as none of the major characters in the story is an ordinary human, the society in the novel has been hybridized into a human-machine model. Anna is the most obvious example of this hybridization process, but Piper might just as easily be viewed as part machine. Her emotional affinity to mechanical devices practically fuses her with them.
There are other examples of human-machine interdependence later in the story. The 401 is an example of a vital transportation link between the Merrow Kingdom and the Dragonfly territories. Without the train, commerce would be impossible. The economies of the two kingdoms depend on the trains that run between them and the tracks that connect them.
Even the bandits who rob the train depend on machinery to carry out their thievery. They use gliders and motor-powered aircraft to attack the train. Conversely, the train depends on yet more machinery to repel the invaders. Smoke screens, dart barricades, and fire vents, all run by mechanical means, allow the train to fend off attack. Doloman, the master machinist of the Dragonfly king, envisions a future in which mechanical armies can subdue the enemy. The hybridization of the entire human race nearly becomes a reality until Piper and Anna thwart his plans.
Money
Money is just as omnipresent as machinery in the novel. As the means of separating the rich from the poor, money is a symbol that speaks to the theme of The Competition for Resources. It would be an understatement to say that Piper is obsessed with money. In the book’s early chapters, she makes frequent reference to “coin” and the need to drive hard bargains with the traders who come to purchase items scavenged from the meteor fields. She is initially motivated by money when she agrees to take Anna to Noveen to find her family.
Like all her neighbors, Piper has known only poverty and deprivation, so she prizes money highly. It is the one temptation that might lead her astray. After Piper discovers Anna’s money belt, she briefly contemplates stealing the money and abandoning the child. Fortunately, her conscience intervenes before she acts on this impulse. In her final confrontation with Doloman, the master machinist offers Piper everything she has ever wanted. A life of wealth and comfort as his adopted daughter. Once again, she refuses to allow herself to be tempted by promises of wealth. Piper has learned an essential lesson throughout the story. In the greedy pursuit of resources, wealth becomes a prison for those who covet it for its own sake. She tells Doloman, “You didn’t mention that part—this new world you want to create costs us our freedom. You’d put us in a cage. It’ll be a soft, pretty cage, I’m sure, but there’ll still be needles for Anna, and pain” (361). Piper has finally learned that some advantages come at too high a price.
The 401
The locomotive known as the 401 is so central to the plot that it might be considered a character in its own right. The train symbolizes both freedom and refuge and speaks to the theme of Finding Home. In some sense, it is the best home for the hybrid beings who comprise its crew. Its engineer is a woman with a steel arm. Its fireman is a synergist who controls fire. Its security chief is a chamelin who can patrol the train by flying above it and fighting off would-be attackers.
The newest crew members to find refuge on the 401 also bring certain useful skills to their new home. Piper can repair anything. As Gee notes, the train never ran as smoothly before Piper came aboard. Even though Anna often seems to need protection, she also brings useful traits to benefit the team. Her vast knowledge of all sorts of topics makes her a walking encyclopedia of information. This ability proves vital in saving Gee’s life. Anna also accesses skills from her forgotten past when she causally announces that she knows how to shoot a crossbow. In any other environment, this odd collection of human-machine hybrids would be considered outcasts. Within the walls of the 401, they are exactly what the train needs, and they need the train just as much. It becomes far more than a mode of transportation. It becomes a home to shelter a found family.
