It is one drop of water, one mistake, that ripples outward until we don’t even realize it is there anymore. Brent’s one mistake travels with him, rippling far away from home, in both direct and indirect ways. Whirligig, the novel, by Paul Fleischman demonstrates how one small choice can lead to many consequences, but direct and indirect, that we may never even be aware of.
Brent knows he has impacted many other people, but throughout the book he discovers that it also impacted himself. While Brent was in Chicago he came upon a group of kids on the beach that were very interested in his whirligigs. They didn't seem to have parents near them, so Brent decided to let them stay and watch him build the whirligig. “He felt like a substitute kindergarten teach” (97). Brent had to grow up throughout his trip. He became a leader figure to the kids, this was part
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Brent met a cyclist who let him stay where he was camping and taught Brent a game. “He explained the rules and they began a practice game… Brent felt he was practicing constructing his new life” (48). Brent was planning his new life out, as if it were going to happen. Brent may have secretly wanted this new life, instead of the one he was living right now. Then, when Brent feels like he has grown enough, he meets a painter lady in Maine and exposes himself to her. The painter lady earns Brent’s trust in such a little amount of time, Brent had not trusted anyone enough to tell them the true story. “‘And, God knows, we all make mistakes.’ ‘I Could be wildly wrong. But my senses tell me you’re a good person not a bad one’” (128). The lady understands that Brent did not mean to do what he did and she knows that he feels awful. She forgives him and makes him feel better about himself. Brent made a bad choice, but he is trying to forgive himself and do good things in honor of Lia and for her family, and the people that Brent met helped him a