The Light Pirate

This section foregrounds the theme of Survival and Adaptation in a greatly changed world. In Part 3, Wanda struggles to survive and reunites with an old acquaintance after climate change renders her hometown unrecognizable. Chapter 48 opens many years after Part 2’s ending. The exact number is unclear because the characters no longer need precise timekeeping. While Phyllis is dead by the time the narrative resumes, her lessons live on, and the author shows her in frequent flashback chapters. For example, Chapter 49 unfolds in the aftermath of Kirby’s death, the destruction of Rudder, and the abandonment of Florida. In a striking simile, Brooks-Dalton likens the state’s closure to that of “a rundown theme park” (237). The comparison implies that the government abandons the state as easily as the tourists who travel north when the weather no longer suits them. However, Florida is not merely a vacation destination but a cherished home to many, including Phyllis and Wanda.

Part 3 develops the theme of survival by showing how Rudder’s human, plant, and animal occupants adapt to their radically different environment. Some animals and plants flourish while others die out as the town steadily turns into a swamp. Phyllis has spent her whole life preparing for the dissolution of civilization as she knows it, and she and Wanda thrive because of her preparations. However, there is no shortage of suspense and conflict in the narrative. Phyllis teaches Wanda to defend herself, showing that of all the threats they face in their new lives, the most dangerous is other humans.

In addition to the looming threat of external conflict, the characters wrestle with internal conflict in this section. In Chapter 53, Lucas returns to Rudder when Wanda is 16 and he is 28. His dreams of graduating college and of saving Rudder fall apart, but he remains determined to help people. He uses the skills he gained from working alongside his father to do so: “I got a crew now, Phyllis. We look out for each other. And we—well, we can’t fix it, but we can make it last a little longer, you know?” (269). Although part of Lucas longs to stay with his sister and Phyllis, the courageous man makes the difficult decision to leave them, knowing he will never see them again: “I don’t think I could sleep at night if I stayed, knowing I coulda helped” (269). Lucas advances the novel’s themes of Finding Family and Community and survival and adaptation by finding a community of his own in his new crew and doing what he can to aid humanity’s survival.

Several chapters in Part 3 take place years after Phyllis’s death and show how Wanda is surviving on her own. Although the protagonist’s mastery of survival skills now exceeds that of her guardian in her prime, Wanda is wounded by the very isolation she considers necessary for her safety. For example, she now finds it difficult to see the beauty amid the violence of nature. In Chapter 48, Brooks-Dalton uses vivid imagery to describe the everyday wonders Phyllis brought to the protagonist’s notice: “An ibis, with a flash of silver dangling from its beak. [...] An orchid blooming on the side of a decaying house, its thick, bare roots clinging to the rotting wood” (227). There are still moments when Wanda finds beauty and companionship in nature, such as when she swims with the welcoming, graceful manatees in Chapter 50. This chapter also shows how Kirby’s death changes Wanda’s relationship with the lights: “Why didn’t they help her then? Why didn’t they save him?” (242). While nature remains central to Wanda’s life, her connection with it is understandably more fraught than when she was a child. Without her guardian, Wanda is hardened by the loneliness, monotony, and violence of her solitary life. At the end of Chapter 48, the narrator observes, “Dangerous creatures lurk in these swamps; she is one of them” (230). To survive in this transformed environment, Wanda has had to transform herself.

Meeting Bird Dog reminds Wanda that there is more to life than survival and opens the possibility of the protagonist finding a new family. In Chapter 52, Bird Dog introduces herself to Wanda. Her nonchalant reaction to the glowing lagoon foreshadows that she is Brie. Although Wanda craves human connection, this desire seems to stand in opposition to her survival because of the dire nature of the setting. Nonetheless, she cannot overlook how Bird Dog’s presence fills her with a “new feeling, warm and soft and expansive” (256). In Chapter 54, Wanda surprises herself by accepting Bird Dog’s invitation to meet at the marina, a decision that goes against Phyllis’s teachings and underlines Wanda’s desperate need for human companionship. As Wanda gazes at the woman, she “decides then that Bird Dog is beautiful” (275), which foreshadows the couple’s romance and links to the theme of finding family and community. This section ends on a suspenseful but hopeful note as Wanda discovers that the woman she feels drawn to is Brie. In the novel’s final section, Wanda and Bird Dog must reckon with their complicated past if they are to have a future together.