Returning home with a boon is intrinsic to the classical hero's journey, as elaborated by Joseph Campbell in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In the case of this creation, the heroes have aerodynamic whiskers and sandpaper tongues.
Flying Cats Discover Their Neighborhood in a State of Demolition
"Gentrification" is a pretty world. Yet what happens to those who are not part of the gentry, when an old neighborhood is demolished? This is the plight of Mrs. Tabby, the mother of Catwings, when the building of a new, rich neighborhood takes away her dumpster and her livelihood. The mother of the Catwings' tribe becomes a refugee. In this way, Le Guin adds political notes to the text. The Catwings' children and their mother could be an American family, born into poverty and sinking deeper into the void, forgotten by the purveyors of more opulent society.
Another Sibling for Catwings
Searching their neighborhood, the Catwings discover a younger half-sibling, living on the nether-high floors of a building that is about to be leveled. The traumatized kitten, who will later receive the solid name of Jane, is feral, terror-stricken, and suspicious, even when it comes to making contact with her own kind. The kitten spits out the word "hate," her mantra for survival.
When Jane's neighorhood falls into chaos, the winged cat becomes separated from her adoring mother. Differing from her siblings, Jane is much too young to be on her own. With a surge of flght or flight instinct, Jane tests her wings and is able to seek shelter on high, away from the apparently more dangerous tumult of the human-handed streets. Mrs. Tabby, her mother, being wingless, could not follow her kitten. As is common in such (human) revolutions, the poor and voiceless are swept away into crowds of other refugees.
The tabby mother could not identify her new surroundings. Finally, a pair of elderly hands sweep her up, offering solace and friendship. She comes to live with the elderly woman, who has a rooftop garden apartment. At last Mrs. Tabby has a home, love, protection, and, of course, food.
While Mrs. Tabby finds her reward, Jane struggles for survival in the tall building, surrounded by a band of ravenous rats. The roles of nature reverse: the rats plot to trap and devour Jane. However, the kitten musters enough inner ferocity to hide. Ultimately, Jane is too small and weak to prevail without helpers. As if answering their mother's prayers, Harriet and James arrive, witness their half-sister's distress and rescue her from the gang. Nevertheless, Jane will have difficult road to recovery and self-hood. She has endured much and learned the primal power of hatred.
Reunion
The young Catwings fly over the city and find their mother, Mrs. Tabby. Inside the rooftop garden, there is a reunion that eases Mrs. Tabby's heart. After they share affection, Mrs. Tabby implores the older children to take the little black kitten to the safer country home they have established. Readers can discern that this is not the end of the Catwings' tale. Jane is quite unlike her siblings. Through her journey to maturation, she will need much support from her brother and sister cats.
Demolishing Nature
All good fairy tales present lessons that help children mature. Le Guin challenges young readers to consider the suffering of animals when they find their cherished environments in a state of human "development." Whether it is through urban gentrification, , or rural development, leading to deforestation, the author urges all readers to examine environments wholly for the sake of planetary unity. The Return of Catwings is not only an allegory of social justice: it is a tale of environmental peril, as well.
Magical Realism for Children
Le Guin combines mythology with postmodern urban realities in creating this tale. Children's literature provides the ideal genre for the implementation of these ideas. "Magic," traditionally derives from nature, and this is the stuff of traditional fairy tales. As children mature, literature introduces them to new-fashioned realism and more pragmatic issues that seem to have straightforward solutions. When one the less noble outcomes of children's realistic literature is that it may instruct young people to see all of nature, and its cumulative suffering, in mechanistic terms.
Le Guin recognizes that the mind's eye of the child is naturally magical, right-brained, and transcendental. While the gifts of imagination may be doffed during the maturation process, the author uses her craft to feed the young "healing" imagination. She works against the mechanistic rite of passage so common in the Western world, the slaying of children's imagination that supposedly needs to take place for young people to find their rightful places in a concrete world. On the other hand, children who are able to grasp and ensoul the very real concepts of animal suffering, animal love, animal family, and environmental catastrophe, may be able to assume the adult roles of healers.
Le Guin, Ursula K. Catwings Return. New York: Scholastic, 2003.
ISBN -10: 0439551900
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Maria Jacketti - I have been a writer and writing teacher for nearly thirty years. My books in print include Neruda's Garden, Maremoto: Seaquake, ...
