43 pages • 1 hour read
Aimee NezhukumatathilWorld of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 2020A 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 16-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary: “Potoo”
Nezhukumatathil describes the potoo, a bird with large eyes that “resides in Central and South America, where it gobbles up […] mosquitoes and termites” (93). Potoos never build nests, and they have a loud, distressing call. Nezhukumatathil recalls learning how to call cardinals at the age of six. Birdwatching requires stillness, and Nezhukumatathil learns to move slowly and deliberately in the outdoors. Her husband is very surprised when he first walks in on her having a “conversation” with red cardinals in their yard.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Cara Cara Orange”
After her mother retires, Nezhukumatathil’s parents move to central Florida and plant orange trees in their yard, sharing the fruit every year with their family and neighbors. Nezhukumatathil recalls being fed lots of oranges growing up and observes her parents feeding oranges to her children. Because she gifts them oranges, Nezhukumatathil is sure of her mother’s affection for her husband and her husband’s family. She prefers cara cara oranges because of their “cherry and rose petal smell” (98), and she vastly prefers her parents’ fresh oranges to store-bought oranges.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Octopus”
While living on an island in Greece with her family, Nezhukumatathil hears that her hotel host, Tassos, plans to hunt for octopus. The family joins Tassos. Nezhukumatathil stays on the beach with her sons, and her husband swims with Tassos. Her oldest son resents not being able to dive with the hunters. When the hunters return, they bring a live octopus to Nezhukumatathil and her son. The octopus dies in her hands after their attempts to “revive it in the water” (107), and her son is upset.
Nezhukumatathil contemplates the sensory capabilities and intelligence of the octopus. The octopus’s tentacles have “about ten thousand sensory neurons that detect texture, shape, and, most of all, taste” (105). In one research study at the Seattle Aquarium, scientists determined that octopuses can tell different humans apart.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Grey Cockatiel”
Living in Florida, Nezhukumatathil’s parents are “faced with an empty nest” (108). They buy a pet grey cockatiel and name him Chico. Grey cockatiels are small, with grey and white feathers and a yellow face. They are easy to care for and are “perfect for retirees” (109). One day, Chico escapes, and Nezhukumatathil’s parents spend hours searching for him. They finally give up when it gets dark and return home to find Chico on top of their persimmon tree. They clip his flight feathers that night and sleep soundly.
Chapters 16-19 Analysis
Through these chapters, Nezhukumatathil continues to paint the picture of her life as a mother, daughter, wife, and teacher. We learn about her parents’ retirement in Florida, and about the time Nezhukumatathil spent teaching poetry in Greece. She expands on the themes of generational memory and the interconnectivity of life.
In “Potoo,” she again references her childhood desire to fit in: “Like the potoo, I grew up wanting to blend in—in my case, with my blonde counterparts” (95). She learns stillness and listening from birds, and she also learns how to communicate with cardinals. Her long conversations with cardinals represent her personal connections with nature. This connection is intensified in “Octopus,” when the octopus dies in her hands. She emphasizes the intelligence of the octopus and wonders, “Could it sense the love and exhilaration I felt for it […]? I only know that I had never been looked at, consumed, or questioned so carefully by another being” (107). Her son feels the connection and grief as well; they are bound together through family, touch, and perception.
“Cara Cara Orange” and “Grey Cockatiel” are set in Florida, where Nezhukumatathil’s parents move after retiring. The oranges represent Nezhukumatathil’s mother’s love, defined by sweetness and abundance and gifted to family and friends. Like most teenagers, Nezhukumatathil briefly spurns her mother’s expressions of love—“I’d say no, just to say no” (99)—but she is otherwise thankful. Like the octopus, the orange is also a nexus of intergenerational bonding, but in this case, it is a plentiful source of renewal rather than mourning.
Chico the grey cockatiel is another symbol of Nezhukumatathil’s parents’ love and care. As in other chapters, Nezhukumatathil is concerned with the idea of home and returning—Chico returns to her parents after escaping. She ends the chapter with a reference: “As Emily Dickinson once wrote, hope is the thing with feathers” (111). As much as Nezhukumatathil’s essays emphasize the precarity of life, they often conclude with petitions for hope.
Related Titles
By Aimee Nezhukumatathil
