The Wild Robot Escapes

In the first book, Roz falls from a tree on the island and accidentally kills a goose family. She adopts the sole surviving egg, keeps it safe until it hatches, and devotedly cares for the gosling by building a shelter. Roz names the goose Brightbill and creates a tiny family for herself on the island. The juxtaposition of a man-made robot and a living goose at first appears discordant and unnatural. However, Roz and Brightbill share more in common than what appears on the surface. Brightbill is a migratory bird and is hardwired to travel long distances each year to find a warmer climate during the winter. Brightbill is controlled by his instincts and cannot override them no matter the pain it causes. In the same way, Roz is programmed to provide knowledge and diligently complete tasks; however, her Instincts also force her to avoid water and violence. By choosing to mother Brightbill, Roz is going against her instincts and putting herself at risk for destruction by her Makers, but it is a risk she is willing to take. Brightbill makes Roz a better robot and a more empathetic character.

On the island, Brightbill depended on his mother for food, protection, and guidance but during Roz’s escape, the roles are reversed, and Roz depends on her son’s eyes and wings to make it safely back to the island. Brightbill represents freedom and family to Roz, and when their journey appears to come to a sad ending, Roz does not hesitate to sacrifice herself to preserve Brightbill’s liberty saying, “You have been such a good son. […] You have saved my life so many times. But now you must save yourself and go on without me” (232). Brightbill’s independence shows that he has grown to maturity; he is even leading his own flock. Though he is now an adult, he remains connected to his mother, as their bond is emotional rather than purely instinctual and biological.

Mr. Shareef, along with his two children, Jad and Jaya, owns Hilltop Farm, a dairy operation inherited from his family. After Jamilla Shareef is killed in a farming accident and Mr. Shareef’s leg is injured, the family struggles to keep the farm running. Mr. Shareef is Roz’s first human companion, and at first, his serious demeanor intimidates her, and she does not like him tracking her on the computer. However, it is through Mr. Shareef’s children that Roz comes to respect and love the family and earnestly care for the welfare of their farm: “The robot enjoyed having friends around. They brought a little lightness into her world, and she hoped to bring a little lightness into theirs” (40). The children’s gifting of the toolbelt to Roz symbolizes their love for the robot and recognition of her unique traits. Roz in turn entrusts the children with disassembling her body to remove the Transmitter, enabling her escape. Despite Mr. Shareef’s authoritative manner, Roz comes to respect him and the immense responsibility he carries in managing the farm and his family. The Shareefs model a human family, which has ancestry that can be traced back generations. Unlike Roz, the Shareefs know where they come from; Roz finding Cyrus’s journal foreshadows her learning about her own history. With their farming history, the Shareefs bridge the traditional and futuristic worlds; Mr. Shareef especially shows the conflict between wanting to maintain the old ways of life but needing to rely on technology for practical reasons. In this way, the Shareefs reflect Roz’s duality of nature and machinery.

Roz is no stranger to the dangers of predatory animals, having endured the constant threat of bears on the island. However, when the wolves invade Hilltop Farm, for the first time, Roz experiences predation in a controlled, domesticated environment for which she is responsible. The cows are not only her friends, but they also are the most important part of the dairy farm and represent the Shareefs’ ability to make a living. Shadow and his gang conflict not only with Roz’s responsibilities and attachments but are also at odds with her core tenet of nonviolence. She says, “‘I do not want to hurt any wolves […]’” (66). Mr. Shareef wants Roz to use a gun to fend off the wolves, but Roz uses her brain and employs her skill of camouflaging herself that she learned on the island to outsmart the wolf pack and protect the cows.

Despite the wolves’ constant threat, they are not the main antagonists in the narrative, and Roz respects the pack’s wildness: they are a natural parallel to the ruthless predation of the RECOs. At their final meeting, when the rest of the pack abandons Shadow to face down Roz alone, the robot has compassion for the lone wolf: “Roz felt sorry for Shadow. She never meant for any of this to happen” (183). Ironically, the top predator in nature is not Roz’s greatest foe. It is her own kind, the other robots, who pose the greatest threat to Roz and her family.