55 pages • 1 hour read
Ivan DoigThe Whistling Season
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006A 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
Vivid Dreams
In his youthful incarnation, Paul frequently experiences dreams that are realistic, complex, and worrisome, forcing him to face seemingly intractable circumstances. He vividly remembers the dreams and cannot ever forget them. Whenever something negative happens in his real life—as when a giant horse crushes Toby’s foot—Paul can be sure he is going to dream about it that night. The dreams are a pervasive, persistent reality he cannot escape. In a casual conversation, Morrie asks Paul what his dreams are, asking what he would like to do as a grownup. Misunderstanding the question, Paul explosively unburdens himself about his nightmares, stunning Morrie.
Doig uses the motif of Paul’s bad dreams in two ways. First, the dreams foreshadow unseen developments and issues that have not yet occurred in the storyline. For example, Paul dreams his father—who detests fist fights—tells him to get into a boxing ring. Inside, Paul sees that his opponent is Morrie. In the final pages, Paul and Morrie engage in a verbal back-and-forth in which they debate what Paul will tell his father about Morrie’s background and how long Morrie will remain in Marias Coulee. Second, the author conveys the weight of Paul’s importance to the narrative through the burden of his dreams. Paul learns to modify his dreams to nurture his family, as when he changes the flow of a dream after Toby’s injury to assure him that he will make a full recovery. Paul importantly keeps the true essence of his dreams secret, sharing only what he thinks others can bear. The youthful caregiver of the Milliron family, Paul as an adult becomes the caregiver of all the educators and schoolchildren in Montana.
Whistling
The author reveals little about Rose’s background once she comes to Montana. Rather, he portrays her as a chipper, irresistible force that benevolently takes over and transforms the Milliron household. In the place of in-depth discussions of her past or revelations about her as a person, Rose whistles. She carries on this practice continually, yet so softly that others in the house must silence themselves and listen intently to hear the melody she makes. The whistling first feels like a delicate oddity to the Milliron males, then becomes almost an emotional sedative conveying an atmosphere of tranquility to their home. The gentle music has a long-term impact on the men. Oliver suspects that the school children have learned to whistle as a treat for the town’s parents on Comet Night. On remarking how things will be different with Rose as his father’s wife, Paul’s first thought is that whistling will fill the house.
The book’s title refers to the advent of Rose in the Milliron household and to the period of time in which she and Morrie transform Marais Coulee. Looking back on his seventh-grade year, the adult Paul recalls the richness of that time. In the waning pages of the narrative, Paul also makes note of the presence of whistler swans who appear each year as a way of preparing for the coming spring. Paul describes the beguiling way the birds fly just overhead as their wings make a sawing sound. In making this comparison, the author implies that Rose and Morrie are exciting and potent, and that their presence is a harbinger of future prosperity.
Halley’s Comet
The arrival of Halley’s comet preoccupies the characters in the middle of the narrative, particularly Morrie and his pupils. When Paul points out the comet the first night it is visible to Rose—after Morrie has promised its arrival to the school children for weeks—Rose comments that Morrie periodically needs a comet. At first, the reference seems to be that Morrie needed the spectacle of the comet to energize his classroom lessons. Once Morrie reveals his personal history, it is clear that his brother Casper—so brilliant and then suddenly gone—served as Morrie’s inspiring comet. As the narrative progresses, the comet comes to represent Morrie himself. When Paul explains to Rose, “Once in a great while the comet goes bobtail, and has to grow back. This is one of those times” (308), he could equally be describing the arc of Morrie’s life, where he must, metaphorically, regrow the “tail” that is so central to his identity. The comet also serves as a catalyst for key revelations: it is after Brose breaks into the school, accusing Morrie of wreaking havoc by calling down the comet, that Paul reveals he knows Morrie’s identity.
The One-Room Schoolhouse
The one-room school is both the physical and spiritual center of Marais Coulee. Paul clearly appreciates its importance, musing that “Everyone I could think of had something at stake in the school” (120). The school embodies the homesteading community in both its promise and its problems. For instance, the children replicate many of their parents’ ethnic and religious prejudices but come together to transcend them by forging solidarity with each other and pursuing knowledge. The Marias Coulee students make certain that everyone can be present for all events—such as the horse race between Paul and Eddie. Thus, Doig demonstrates that one-room school education has learning benefits that students at larger schools will never experience. The vivid description of the one-room school raises the stakes of the adult Paul’s activities as Superintendent as well: all these experiences will be lost without his intervention.
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By Ivan Doig
