Symbolism In Things That Don 'T Kill Lightning Bugs'

Innocence is as delicate as a flower. The innocence that a young child possesses is something that can’t withstand the harshness and roughness of the world. In the short story, “Things That Don’t Kill Lightning Bugs'', written by Brenden Willey, the main character in the story is a young boy who is forced to face reality because of the reaction of his mother towards reuniting him and his father. The boy and his father go on a trip to re-establish the relationship that was broken. Willey uses natural symbols like the horned owl, the lightning bugs, and the dog to display the growth and response to losing his innocence.

The father and the son are both greatly affected by the absence of the mother. At the beginning of the short story, the child

Willey makes a point that the father only refers to the owl as her. The reader now knows the father is projecting his emotions about his wife onto the owl. Willey shows evidence of the father’s projection by describing his “change of voice” and when “he acted like it was funny.” The father draws the parallel because, like the owl, the mother only wants to be seen on her terms and can leave when she wants. The boy continues telling his father the details of the latest encounter and the father interrupts him by repeating, ‘“ Who? Who, child? Just tell me who?”’ imitating the noise the great horned makes. Initially, the child receives this as a joke until he says to himself that it was only the great horned that he saw. Willey shifts the tone of the story at this moment from jokingly explaining the story to his father to revealing to the audience

Throughout the entire story, the boy has been infatuated with the lightning bugs. They represent the relationship of the mother and how she is still making herself discoverable even though she left. The boy makes this claim evident when he asked," if they didn't want to be caught why would they light up." The son is unintentionally drawing a parallel between his absent mother and the lightning bugs in this question. Also, the boy is very devout toward the lightning bugs. One section in the story is entirely devoted to demonstrating the boy’s obsession with finding a way to house lightning bugs without them dying after a couple of days. The boy named the list, “Things That Don't Keep a Lightning Bug Alive.” The boy then goes on to list different things he puts in the jar and describes whether they were effective or not. The boy's constant obsession here is an emotional response to the absence of his mother. The boy is coping with her absence by investing himself in trying to keep the lightning bugs alive with him. Lastly, Willey inserts the lightning bugs in the story to represent the continued chase of the mother. WIilley makes it very apparent that boy goes out every night he has the opportunity to chase lightning bugs and catch them. Willey is drawing a parallel between the chase of the lightning bugs and the chase of the mother. This is evident when the boy imagines all the possible ways that