“The Swan” by Roald Dahl 

(Spoiler Alert)

Ernie and Raymond are best friends. They are

both described as large for their age, but their

physical similarities stop there. The author

describes them as, “But while Ernie was

heavy and loutish, Raymond was tall, slim,

and muscular.” They are both very violent

people, and often go around hurting people.

Ernie tends to be very impulsive, and if

someone says something that he does not

like, he will automatically think to hurt them.

Raymond is less impulsive, and more calm

than Ernie. He sometimes reins Ernie in when

he thinks he is going too far. For example, “He

saw the flush coming to Ernie’s cheeks, and

there was a dangerous little spark dancing in

his small black eyes. Luckily, at that very

moment, Raymond saved the situation. “Hey!

Lookit that bird swimmin’ in the reeds over

there!” he shouted, pointing. “Let’s ‘ave ‘im!”

Raymond distracts Ernie when he is

provoked, out of fear that Ernie will go too far.

Two aspects of Peter’s personality are revealed when

he is strapped to the train tracks and starts to

daydream about cloud shapes. These are detachment

and intuitive wisdom. He shows detachment when he

is able to take his mind off of the terrifying

circumstances. “And to keep his mind off the thing

that was going to happen soon, he played a game

that his father had taught him long ago on a hot

summer’s day when they were lying on their backs in

the grass above the cliffs at Beachy Head.” Peter

knows that he is very scared, so he tries to keep his

mind off of the situation. Peter shows intuitive wisdom

not only by knowing what to think about when he is

about to get run over by a train, but also not letting

Ernie and Reynold, his tormentors, get the

satisfaction of seeing him scared. “‘How’re you doin’,

ratface?’ one of them called out to him from the

bushes above. ‘What’s it like, waitin’ for the

execution?’ He decided not to answer.”

Near the end of the story, Dahl mentions that there

are two types of people. “Some people, when they

have taken too much and have been driven beyond

the point of endurance, simply crumple and give up.

There are others, though they are not many, who will

for some reason always be unconquerable.You meet

them in time of war and also in time of peace. They

have an indomitable spirit and nothing, neither pain

nor torture nor threat of death, will cause them to give

up.” Peter is the second type of person. He has put up

with hardship and torture by Ernie and Reynold in this

story, such as being tied to the railroad tracks, having

swan wings tied to his back , and being shot in the

leg, but he never gives in. At the end of the story,

when he is falling from the tree and nearly dies, he

turns into a swan, as the title of the story suggests.

He looked up and he saw a light shining over the

waters of the lake that was of such brilliance and

beauty that he was unable to look away. The light was

beckoning him, drawing him on, and he dove toward

the light and spread his wings.”

BRANDON KUO RESPONDS:

Great job on your analysis of “The Swan.” I thought your writing was very thoughtful and very informative. When you described Dahl’s thoughts, about how people split into two groups, I thought you explained this in a good way. As well as this, your use of quotes further proved your point and elaborated your thoughts. For example, when you said, “Some people, when they have taken too much and have been driven beyond the point of endurance, simply crumple and give up. There are others, though they are not many, who will for some reason always be unconquerable. You meet them in time of war and also in time of peace. They have an indomitable spirit and nothing, neither pain nor torture nor threat of death, will cause them to give up.” You highlighted the most meaningful phrase in the entire story. However, I think that you could have cut down your quotes to make them fit into your sentences, instead of giving the reader a massive chuck of text. If you make your quotes short and sweet, it allows you to expressive the story in your own words, while still having the words of the author. When I read your ending, I thought that you had a brilliant mind. This is because you understood the ending of the story on your first read! When I first read the story, I didn’t pick up on the fact that Peter turned into the swan, nor the fact that he was “a great white swan circling over the village that morning.” When I first read that sentence, I thought it was another swan that came out of the sky, and I never pick up on the fact that this was Peter; thankfully, you were able to. This surprised me on how you were able to pick up on the information right from the start. Your analysis of story’s ending really showed to me that you possess a quick mind.

JAMES NAAH ADDS HIS THOUGHTS:

Hey Alexa I think you did a great job summarizing “The Swan”. The attention to detail is great and I admired how you were able to summarize “The Swan” into a small essay. I think towards the end you could have been a little more specific on the ending of the story. My suggestion is that you could elaborate on how there are two people in this world and then you could talk about how Raymond and Ernie are the lowlifes of the story and how Peter Watson is the unconquerable and how he transforms into the Swan.  Hey Alexa and Brandon did you ever think the relationship between the light and the Swan that Ernie killed is linked? I think that the Swan and the light are connected because when Peter Watson goes into the light Dahl describes it as warm and inviting just like a mother or maybe in this case it is the dead Swan who was the mother of the two cygnets. Brandon I think you spent a little too much time focusing on the great summary that Alexa made and I would’ve pointed out how she left out of one the more important parts of the story (Peter Watson flying into the light).”The Swan” is more of a character study and the two types of character traits are the lowlifes that don’t accomplish anything (Ernie and Raymond) and the other character trait is the unconquerable (Peter Watson). Great job on the summary!