51 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren St. JohnThe White Giraffe
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Animals
Humans have long been aware that they do not inhabit the planet alone but instead share it with legions of species of plants, insects, and animals, contributing to the rich biodiversity of any region of the world. Drawing on her personal experience growing up on an animal preserve in Africa, Lauren St. John imbues The White Giraffe with lush descriptions of the natural world to highlight humans’ interdependence on animals and raise awareness for wildlife conservation. Sawubona serves as an example of the diverse wildlife in the South African bush, but the existence of a preserve and animal sanctuary highlights the need for actively protecting animals from the devastating impact of poaching. For Martine Allen, animals symbolize connection, companionship, and the opportunity to express her gift of healing. The animal motif reaches its most intense distillation in Jemmy, the elusive, rare white giraffe, for he symbolizes the fragility of nature and represents the need for humans to protect rare and endangered species. Jemmy, who was orphaned after poachers killed his parents, also symbolizes the strength and resilience of surviving tragedy and trauma.
Martine struggles to find her place in South Africa as she feels her grandmother doesn’t want her, and her classmates at school are judgmental and unkind. However, no matter how lonely she feels, the sight of the animals in the preserve brings her contentment and peace. After she discovers her gift for healing injured animals, Martine understands her connection to nature on a new level. As St. John states, “Martine felt a tingle of electricity run up her arm- the same tingle she’d felt when Grace had put a hand on her forehead. In that instant, she had a strange sense she knew exactly what the animal was thinking” (60). Once she meets Jemmy, she feels a kinship with the orphaned giraffe, and his friendship fills a deep need in Martine’s soul for closeness. Jemmy and Martine’s unique bond symbolizes the potential for interspecies understanding and empathy. After Martine rescues Jemmy and triumphantly rides him back to the preserve, she unselfishly bids the giraffe goodbye and shoos him back to the safety of the depths of the preserve. Martine’s act displays her proper understanding of the natural balance of humans’ relationship with the natural world; she also appreciates the fact that wild animals deserve freedom and thrive best in their natural habitats. The author uses Jemmy as a symbol of the need for humans to shield animals from exploitation instead of subduing them for pleasure or profit.
Martine’s Flashlight
It is a struggle to find one’s way in the dark, but often just a small beam of light can illuminate the path and help someone find their way to safety. When the novel opens, Martine struggles in the dark of night to find her way out of her burning home. As she prepares to leave England in the wake of the tragedy, her kind neighbor Mr. Morrison gifts her a survival kit which includes a Swiss Army knife and a Maglite flashlight. These items are not only necessities for a survival kit, but they also symbolize safety and security for Martine as she enters an unfamiliar environment. She takes little from her old life as she embraces a new one in South Africa, but the flashlight becomes both a tender reminder of the life she left behind and a valuable survival tool as Martine faces the uncertainties that lie ahead. As her journey progresses, the tiny flashlight becomes a powerful implement for both education and enlightenment.
After spotting the white giraffe, Martine summons the courage to explore the preserve alone, but she is sure to take her flashlight along. The flashlight becomes a pragmatic means of maneuvering through the darkness of her new surroundings while simultaneously serving as a symbol of her attempt to emotionally navigate the depths of her grief and sadness. Martine’s flashlight also symbolizes enlightenment as it aids her in discovering the Secret Valley and the cave paintings. As the barren wasteland gives way to the hidden glen, Martine uses her light to find new clarity. Exploring her surroundings and “[d]rawing a wide arc with her flashlight beam, she discover[s] that she [is] in an exquisite little valley (103). Later, after she crawls through the tunnel, her flashlight reveals the cave drawings. Both discoveries open Martine’s eyes and mind to another realm that lies within the preserve. In the penetrating beam of the flashlight, the revelation of the drawings illuminates the history of the South African people for Martine’s eager eyes. Through the beacon of her small flashlight, Martine is able to behold the depths of human history, and the drawings also enlighten her about her place in the larger story.
Fire
Fire, next to water, air, and earth, is considered an essential element for life. Once humans harnessed the power of fire, they used it to keep warm, cook food, and ward off predators. Fire can even be used to signal for help in distress, and farmers and foresters use fire to burn off underbrush and overgrowth and make way for new, healthy vegetation and to prevent wildfires. As useful and lifesaving as it can be, fire can also be destructive and murderous. As the novel opens, the tragedy of a house fire robs Martine of her parents and forever changes her life. The cataclysmic fire marks the end of Martine’s life in London with her family, but it also marks the beginning of her coming-of-age journey as she discovers that she holds a fire within herself: the spiritual power to heal by laying on hands. As she embarks on a quest to understand her destiny and begins to use her gift, she feels “a power as ancient as the earth go through her like an ocean wave, and had seen, in a puff of smoke, a procession of what she could only imagine were spirits […] Africans in antelope masks and rhinoceroses breathing fire” (75). The author uses the symbol of fire and heat to characterize Martine’s healing hands but also to symbolize transformation and rebirth in the protagonist’s life.
The idea of a “trial by fire” comes from the Medieval practice of burning a person as a test of faith. The phrase is now commonly used as a metaphor to refer to a person enduring a trying time of personal struggle, which, once endured, produces resilience. Martine survives the literal fire that destroys her old life, but her struggle continues long after she escapes the choking smoke and menacing flames. Learning to assimilate to life in South Africa proves to be a whole new test of courage, and Martine must also wrestle with understanding her gift of healing, one that causes her hands to warm like they are burning. She first envisions the sensation in a dream in which “[h]er hands, holding the wild goose, heated up to the point where they were practically glowing and electricity crackled through her” (2). When Martine’s vision comes to life on the school field trip, she holds the injured goose and has the same scalding sensation in her hands; instinctively placing them on the goose, she heals it. Though the fire destroyed Martine’s home and family, she learns through her gift that fire can also be therapeutic and restorative. Fire also reveals the white giraffe to Martine. Had it not been for the electrical fire of a storm, Martine would have never seen the giraffe. As the narrative states, “Lightening split the sky. Martine gasped. A white giraffe was standing beside the water hole, and it was looking straight at her!” (53) The motif of fire in the narrative therefore symbolizes both the death of Martine’s old life and her rebirth into a new life in which she learns to harness the flames of healing love in her hands and to stoke the embers of independence, trusting her own intuition and confidently embracing her uniqueness.
