43 pages • 1 hour read
Colin MeloyWildwood
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Warren of the Dowager; A Kingdom of Birds”
In Wildwood, Curtis is bound and carried by the coyote soldiers to their underground warren. There, he meets a beautiful woman who calls herself Alexandra, the Dowager Governess, a woman whose face is “ovoid and pale, though her lips shone red like the freshest late summer apples” and whose hair is “an electric copper-red” hanging “in braided tresses, brocaded with mottled eagle feathers” (73-4).
Alexandra welcomes Curtis warmly and calls for food and wine. She says that it would be impossible for an Outsider to find his way into the Wilderness because it is protected by Woods Magic. The only way Curtis could have entered is if he was born of the Magic or accompanied by someone who was.
Meanwhile, Prue travels in Richard’s van to the Avian Principality border. Before crossing at the checkpoint, Prue is asked her identity by an eagle known as the General. Richard says Prue is going to South Wood to see the Governor-Regent. The General agrees that this is a good idea. Maybe Prue’s presence will call attention to the fact that the Principality is threatened by coyote attacks coming from Wildwood. So far, requests for aid and alliance with South Wood have been ignored.
After passing the checkpoint, Prue tells Richard that she heard the coyotes talking about their leader, the Dowager Governess. Richard says she was cast out of South Wood, and everyone believes she’s dead. “Hoo, boy,” he says. “If she’s alive—and putting together an army, no less—I gotta think that bodes ill for Governor-Regent Svik and the folks of South Wood” (86). Richard speculates that Prue’s arrival has some special purpose, but he doesn’t know what that is yet.
Chapter 7 Summary: “An Evening’s Entertainment; A Long Journey Ended; Going for a Soldier”
In Wildwood, Alexandra plies Curtis with food and wine until he grows slightly tipsy and admits that he and Prue came looking for the crows who took Mac. The Governess assures him that she will help him search for the baby and Prue. Lulled by a false sense of security, Curtis falls into a deep sleep.
The next morning, the boy is awakened by a coyote aide-de-camp who instructs him to put on a military uniform, complete with sword. “At that instant, he was no longer Curtis Mehlberg, son of Lydia and David, resident of Portland, Oregon, comic-book fanboy, persecuted loner,” Meloy writes, “he was Taran Wanderer, he was Harry Flashman,” (102) alluding to two heroes from fiction.
That same morning, Prue and Richard arrive in the bustling metropolis of South Wood. Richard drives straight to Pittock Mansion, the Governor’s residence. The two enter the imposing building to seek an audience.
Chapter 8 Summary: “To Catch an Attaché”
In South Wood, in the foyer of the governor’s mansion, Prue witnesses a noisy and chaotic assembly of animals and humans, all vying for the attention of the governor’s attaché. When Prue finds out about the lengthy bureaucratic red tape needed before seeing the governor, she takes her air horn and sounds a blast to get the attaché’s attention. She is immediately ushered into the governor’s office.
In Wildwood, Curtis’s coyote aide-de-camp, Maksim, prepares him to meet the Dowager Governess on the field of engagement, even though Curtis protests that he is a pacifist. Maksim confides that Alexandra is planning to take over all of Wildwood, and she has the complete loyalty of her entire coyote army.
Chapter 9 Summary: “A Lesser Svik; To the Front!”
In South Wood, Prue is brought to meet the governor. Svik doesn’t cut an impressive figure: “His suit was wrinkled, and little blossoms of sweat bloomed from the armpits of his jacket” (123). The governor reviews Prue’s report, and everyone is alarmed by her statement that the Dowager Governess is still alive and leading a coyote army.
The governor’s principal advisors try to discredit Prue’s story, though secretly they fear that her assertions might be true. Prue is offered a room in the North Tower where she will stay as a guest while officials conduct a search for her missing brother and Curtis. Once Prue is escorted to her room, she meets a talkative maid named Penny. The two look out the window just in time to see an approaching delegation from the Avian Principality led by Owl Rex, their crown prince.
In Wildwood, Curtis is taken to an army encampment where he meets Alexandra mounted on a black horse. She lifts him up behind her, and they ride to the battlefront while she explains her future plans. She says, “I saw in Wildwood, this forsaken country, a model for a new world. An opportunity to return to those long-forgotten values that are programmed deep within us, the draw of the wild” (133).
Chapters 6-9 Analysis
In this segment, the narrative splits into two distinct story arcs as a result of Curtis and Prue’s separation. We experience Wildwood from Curtis’s perspective and South Wood from Prue’s. This split perspective allows for a simultaneous exploration of the book’s two major themes: outcast alliances and the nature of good government.
When Curtis first meets Alexandra, he is enthralled by her beauty and thrilled when she lavishes attention on him. He blossoms under her gaze, trying to impress her. Although the Governess is not yet identified as an evil character, she uses the suspicious tactic of getting Curtis drunk in order to extract information about his origins. The boy is unaware that he is being manipulated. He is just happy that anyone is treating him kindly.
Alexandra has used the same tactic of flattery to gain the undying devotion of the coyotes. As a group, they have been rejected by the other animals, who perceive them as lowly scavengers. The Dowager’s own experience as an abandoned outcast allows her to understand and exploit the emotions of other outcasts for her own gain.
Prue’s narrative reveals a different theme. The unwieldy administration of South Wood raises the question of what kind of government is best. Governor Svik’s regime is depicted as a bureaucratic nightmare. Citizens must fill out ridiculous amounts of paperwork and wait weeks for an audience. Prue becomes so frustrated with the absurd situation that she sounds her air horn to draw immediate attention to her plight.
When finally admitted to the governor, Prue and the reader both sense that all is not as it should be. Svik appears to be a puppet with his advisors pulling the strings. They try to discredit Prue’s account of the coyote army because this information might destabilize their precarious regime. Clearly, this type of government does not uphold the interests of the citizens of South Wood.
