World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments

Nezhukumatathil recalls seeing saguaro cacti on hikes with her father and sister in Arizona and shares memories of strip malls and suburban sprawl outside Phoenix in the 1980s. She notes that her father must have been tired after long hours working at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix and appreciates his selflessness in taking his daughters hiking. There were very few other Asian American families on their hikes.

While living in Phoenix, Nezhukumatathil and her sister play with friends in their suburban neighborhood. At age 12, Nezhukumatathil is the oldest of her friends, and she pays attention to “which homes displayed the little triangle-shaped sign in their windows, proclaiming that house was ‘safe’ if anyone ever followed us” (30). As children, they are often told to stay safe and not to talk to strangers. She describes the cactus wren, a bird that nests on saguaros and feeds on insects and fruit, and she envies the wren’s perceived security.

“Narwhal” begins with Nezhukumatathil and her sister leaving their father in Phoenix and moving in with their mother in Kansas. She feels judged by her new classmates for living on the grounds of the psychiatric hospital: “when I climbed the school bus steps, I imagined myself a narwhal, with one giant snaggletooth—a saber—to knock into anyone who asked if my sister and I were patients there” (35).

The narwhal’s horn is in fact a tooth with “about 10 million nerve endings” (36). The narwhal uses this tooth for echolocation and to sense changes in ocean temperature and salinity. Narwhals are found in the Arctic Ocean, living on a diet of cuttlefish and cod, and they are hunted by orcas.

In Kansas, a blond boy makes a racist remark about Nezhukumatathil’s mother on the school bus. Young Nezhukumatathil is upset and again imagines herself as a narwhal, wanting to “dive deep, deep into the darkest of seas” (38). Nezhukumatathil has a passing interest in another boy at school, but they move again, back to Arizona.

The “Axolotl” chapter alternates between Nezhukumatathil’s memories about using makeup as a young girl and scientific information about axolotls. She loves red lipstick but avoids wearing it because a white girl at her school told her “I don’t think someone with your skin tone…should wear red” (44). Nezhukumatathil learns that in these situations, it can be easier to smile and go along with it, and she uses the lesson later in life when university colleagues make insensitive comments.

Nezhukumatathil describes the axolotl’s smile, which “runs from one end of the amphibian’s face to the other” (45), and its gills, “like an extravagant crown of fuchsia feathers radiating from its neck” (45). Like starfish, axolotls can regenerate limbs that are cut off. Nezhukumatathil is devastated that axolotls are endangered and are no longer found in the wild.