83 pages • 2 hours read
E. B. WhiteThe Trumpet of the Swan
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1970A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
The Trumpet
The trumpet is the artificial means by which Louis can communicate in the swan world and play music in the human world. For Louis, in adolescence, it symbolizes triumph over his disability. In adulthood, the trumpet marks Louis’s development into a professional and renowned musician and his ability to woo Serena and thus start a family.
Two modes of communication (swan and human) come together in the wooing of Serena. Louis is able to communicate his feeling for and to her, catch her attention with a rendition of “Beautiful Dreamer” that makes each note encapsulate feeling and technical mastery. At the end of the novel, Louis uses the trumpet to be a swan in the most complete way possible.
Reading and Writing
Louis’s first attempt to resolve the issue of communication is to learn how to read and write. He successfully accomplishes this goal; and although it does not solve his communication problem with the other swans, he is now able to communicate with the humans he encounters. Furthermore, he can read his own correspondence, learn independently from books, and write his own letters and songs. Written texts allow him to access and transfer information so he can lead a life of informed independence.
Just as written texts provide Louis a wider world of understanding, Sam also benefits from being able to read and write. He records his thoughts in a diary, finds information in books, and successfully participates in school. Eventually, his beautiful way with words gets him a job at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Louis’s Gifts
The objects Louis carries around his neck symbolize his journey from childhood to adulthood. His first objects are the slate and chalk, given to him by Sam and representing his mastery of reading and writing. He then carries his trumpet, a gift from his father to help him communicate and find a mate. At camp, he earns a money pouch and is awarded a lifesaving medal in recognition for his heroic action.
Although each object represents an accomplishment, together they are quite burdensome for Louis—he must give up some of his flight speed and maneuverability because of their weight on his neck. In this way, the object make literal the symbolic baggage and accumulated history one earns through growing up. Louis feels obligated to carry these manmade things while in the human world; however, by the end of the novel, he no longer needs the money pouch and the slate. A full adult, he only hangs on to items that improve his quality of life and evoke pleasant memories: the trumpet and medal.
Related Titles
By E. B. White
