51 pages • 1 hour read
Pam Muñoz RyanSolimar: The Sword of the Monarchs
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Girl Power: Finding Your Inner Strength
With her spirit, courage, and tenacity, Solimar embodies female empowerment and inner strength. At the start of the novel, Solimar steps outside her comfort zone, choosing to be brave and cross the river, saying: “I’ll need to be courageous someday. Why not start today? I give myself permission” (3). This catalyzes Solimar’s journey and opens the door for her to discover the true extent of her resilience. Over the course of her quest, Solimar is helped by other strong female characters and discovers her girl power. Solimar shows readers that girls are heroes too.
Girl power is the feeling of being independent, brave, and confident. It is grounded in a sense of self-esteem. Strong girls, like Solimar, stand up for their beliefs and dream big. Solidarity with other women is another part of girl power: celebrating the bond between women and advocating for female empowerment. Solimar has all these characteristics.
Solimar shows her independence in the way that she bucks San Gregorio’s traditional female role. She rejects long hair, prefers her hiking boots to fancy shoes, and wants a say in governing the kingdom. Solimar envisions more to life than being a stereotypical princess. She is ambitious: She has big dreams of enacting social change, and she stands by her beliefs that women’s voices must be included in government. Solimar endeavors to take control of and change what she can.
Making independent decisions is another aspect of girl power. Campeón noticed Solimar’s natural leadership abilities when they were children, reminding Solimar that even in their games: “It was you who ruled us. We were your loyal subjects” (43). Solimar’s success in becoming prince regent illustrates her power. Her determination, convictions, and heroism change her future, and potentially that of other women in the kingdom. Solimar’s modification of the shoe ceremony to include her mother reveals how Solimar changes old traditions to empower women. Solimar exemplifies and promotes female inclusion.
Solimar’s bravery also reveals her strength. She is afraid of the treacherous river rapids and waterfalls. When Berto only half-jokingly says he is going to “test [Solimar’s] mettle,” she rises to the challenge, insisting she is strong and dependable even in dangerous situations (125). Solimar courageously represses her fear and triumphs over obstacles.
Strong girls also trust their instincts and believe in themselves. Solimar’s self-confidence, however, needs to grow the most during her adventure. Solimar is plagued by self-doubt and uncertainty, which sometimes threatens to overwhelm her. Ultimately, she comes to trust herself and her instincts, believing Doña Flor when the curandera says: “You are stronger than you know. And you have something special deep inside you. The butterflies recognized it, or they wouldn’t have trusted you with their magic. Use it” (93). Doña Flor helps Solimar recognize her mettle.
Other powerful female characters in the novel act as mentors and role models, giving Solimar emotional as well as tangible support and helping her to grow. Like Doña Flor, Zarita is instrumental in bolstering Solimar’s confidence. She gives her pep talks and frequent cheery encouragements, like, “‘Come on. Let’s turn worry into excitement!’” (144). The doll helps assuage Solimar’s self-doubts.
Zarita, Doña Flor, and Abuela model the importance of knowledge, open mindedness, and flexibility. Solimar sees these characteristics in Doña Flor’s practical healing abilities and arcane magical skills. Abuela shows her courage when she facilitates Solimar’s escape. In her advice to “never give up,” she supports Solimar’s push for women’s rights and shows her willingness to entertain new ideas (13). Solimar sees how Abuela—and Señora Batista—use their ingenuity and courage by successfully neutralizing the guards. Their plan illustrates their power. They subvert traditionally-gendered female duties—cooking and cleaning—by magically utilizing baked goods and household objects to nonviolently take down the armed male guards. The captain of the La Quinta is female, reinforcing the emphasis on female empowerment. Strong women can do anything: lead, care, heal, rescue, save.
All these characters act as positive role models. By the end of her journey, Solimar is strong and self-assured: She has embraced her girl power.
The Importance of Conservation
Solimar models the importance of taking care of nature. For example, she promises to protect the monarch butterflies and takes heroic efforts to stop King Aveno from taking their habitat. In the novel’s back matter, Muñoz Ryan emphasizes the importance of environmental conservation and safeguarding the butterflies. She urges readers to be, like Solimar and Berto, good environmental stewards.
Solimar promises that she and her family “will do everything in [their] power to protect the forest,” prompting the monarchs to choose Solimar as their “benevolent protector” (4-5). Solimar’s vow reveals positive values shared by Solimar’s family and the kingdom of San Gregorio. Everyone treasures and respects the butterflies: They “define” the kingdom. The butterflies and the oyamel forest also have spiritual significance for the people: “Like everyone in the kingdom, Solimar believed that the ancestors of the monarch butterflies inhabited the oyamel forest” (2). Because of this belief, and the view of the forest as “sacred,” the people of San Gregorio “revere” and protect the monarchs. They have a shared ethical stance: the need to conserve and preserve nature.
In “Long Live the Butterfly” following the story, Muñoz Ryan discusses the scientific importance of monarchs. As pollinators, monarchs help grow the fruits, nuts, and vegetables that are consumed by humans and other species. Protecting the butterfly protects San Gregorio.
Solimar and Berto both articulate what they see as a moral imperative to care for butterflies and the environment. Solimar tells her father they “have to try” to save them (170). Berto believes that in failing to act, he would unethically be contributing “to the destruction of a beautiful forest and the demise of not only the monarch butterfly but possibly an entire kingdom” (111). Berto and Solimar both value the environment.
Like Solimar, Berto is a conservationist. He sees how the powerful Río Diablo can be harnessed to make his valley fertile and productive but appreciates that he can keep the river healthy and flowing while bringing water to his people. Other characters also show that they value nature’s gifts. Doña Flor and Abuela both respect the beneficial properties of medicinal—and magical—herbs and plants.
Antagonist King Aveno is an anti-conservationist. Muñoz Ryan characterizes Aveno as greedy and immoral for his desire to wreck the monarch’s ancient home. In “Long Live the Butterfly,” Muñoz Ryan explains that one of the greatest threats to the monarchs’ existence is habitat loss, created by logging and wildfires, which also threatens their food and reproductive sources. Aveno embodies this threat.
Aveno is willing to cause the deaths of the butterflies in Solimar’s rebozo to increase his control over others: “‘I could change the course of the world to my benefit. The power would be endless’” (86). Aveno prizes personal wealth and power—tangible rewards—above any moral obligation to care for nature.
Solimar’s victorious support of the monarchs suggests that protecting nature is the morally correct course of action. In contrast, Aveno and Juan Pedro meet abrupt and violent ends, illustrating their misplaced values. Muñoz Ryan shows that bad guys who exploit nature for profit are punished, while good guys who protect nature are rewarded. The novel’s message is to respect and revere the earth.
In failing to respect nature and honor the monarchs’ ancestral spirits, Aveno and Juan experience “[r]age, madness, [and] impending doom” (65). In real life, the failure to practice conservation has consequences that include species extinction, which affects biodiversity, ecosystems, and the food chain. The population of the fragile monarch continues to decline. In December 2023, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the migratory monarch butterfly as vulnerable. Muñoz Ryan wants readers to follow in Solimar’s footsteps and take action to preserve the monarchs.
In “Long Live the Butterfly,” Muñoz Ryan lists simple steps the reader can take to help protect monarch butterflies. She teaches readers how to create a butterfly garden and urges them to learn more about monarchs and advocate for them. Muñoz Ryan shares Solimar’s awe of the monarchs, writing that the “monarch butterfly migration is a mystery and a miracle, and it’s significant to the natural world. So let’s all try to help” (np). Only conservation and preservation will prevent the monarch from vanishing.
Coming of Age: Balancing Independence and Responsibility
During her mission to save her family, kingdom, and the monarchs, Solimar gains self-understanding and accepts new responsibilities: She matures, transitioning from childhood to adulthood. As she comes of age, she discovers that she can stay true to herself as well as embrace grown-up responsibilities.
When the novel begins, Solimar is on the cusp of coming of age. Solimar recognizes that she is no longer a child. She chafes at rules geared towards children, chastising Lázaro for being a fussy “mother hen” when she decides to cross the river. Abuela agrees that Solimar is a young woman. However, she wants Solimar to be more socially mature, aware of how appearances reflect on the family’s royal status, and wants Solimar to look like a princess. Solimar rebels against these cultural constraints. Solimar’s quinceañera will ceremoniously present her on the world stage and start her official role as princess, with all the adult responsibilities the title entails. Solimar’s disinterest in ceremonial pomp and the traditional female role shows her youthful immaturity and growing desire for adult independence.
In different ways, both Solimar and Campeón want freedom from the restrictions of family and political tradition. Each is faced with an adult role they do not want: Solimar does not want to be a stereotypical, uninfluential princess, and Campeón struggles with being heir to the throne. Both know that King Sebastián is content with the status quo. Campeón comments that the placid, traditional way things are “is the world he loves and knows. He’s hesitant to change anything” (41). Sebastián has rebuffed both Solimar and Campeón’s attempts to make changes, denying Solimar’s appeal to include the people’s input in government and Campeón’s request to travel. The king’s unwillingness to change makes both Campeón and Solimar frustrated and unhappy. This is a typical trope seen in novels about coming of age, even if they don’t feature royal families. Often, parents and children experience tension, with children wanting to rebel against what they know as youths.
Solimar and Campeón also want different things. While Solimar wants a greater connection to San Gregorio, Campeón wants to sever that connection. Campeón desperately wants to be his own person rather than “follow Father around like a puppy, pretending to be interested in kingly-ness” (40). Campeón models the importance of self-discovery. To gain his independence, Campeón prepares to run away from his royal responsibilities, regardless of the consequences to the family, which he minimizes. Solimar cannot identify with an autonomy that involves cutting family ties and obligations. Campeón’s motives, though grounded in his need for individuation, may seem selfish when contrasted with those of Berto.
Berto takes on the adult responsibility of realizing his father’s dreams and saving his valley from ruin. Berto is a different role model for Solimar: He is confident in himself, his abilities, and the success of his mission. Solimar’s values align more with Berto’s. Both prioritize family and home over self, and both have their eyes on the big picture. They have a vision for the future of their kingdoms, wanting to change and improve them, rather than, like Campeón, escape from them. Both Solimar and Berto take their responsibilities toward their kingdoms as a given. Led as a prisoner to San Gregorio, Berto tells Solimar: “It was all worth it, just for the chance we might save our homelands” (173). Neither he nor Solimar would have made another choice.
By novel’s end, Campeón chooses family and country over himself when he unreservedly helps Solimar and Berto foil King Aveno’s plot. The three young people show maturity and confidence in their adult choices. Each is rewarded for their sacrifice, determination, and heroism by getting exactly what they want: Campeón is released from his duties as heir. Solimar gains the leadership role she has lobbied for. Berto gains an alliance for his homeland and support for his river project. Each character realizes their dreams within the constraints of their responsibilities. In this way, the novel suggests that one is rewarded by protecting the greater good.
By the end of the novel, Solimar has discovered the balance between independence and social expectations. She now maturely recognizes that the quinceañera has value and significance to herself, family, and kingdom. However, she changes the traditional ceremony to express her personality and gives it a progressive spin. Solimar comes of age, staying true to herself and her kingdom.
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