Whirligig

While this chapter doesn't come right out and point out the whirligig, when the man gets off the boat and walks down the pier, he stops to look at the "wooden marching band." This is the whirligig...

There are nine chapters in the novel Whirligig. Chapter Eight is titled San Diego, California. As the chapter begins, Jenny is portrayed as a typical fifteen year old teenager. It is her task to...

The Florida whirligig takes the shape of a marching band. Flaco is instantly struck by the message it seems to convey. For a long time, he's been profoundly dissatisfied with his life. He toils...

This chapter is called “Apprentices.” Brent has made his way by bus from California to Tampa, on Florida’s Gulf coast. On a beach, he finds “a boarded-up ice cream shop” that is closed for the...

In Chapter Eight, Jenny takes her grandmother for a drive. Although Jenny is anxious about driving a manual car, her grandmother seems to be oblivious to Jenny's discomfort. Before long, Jenny...

In the beginning of the book, Brent is just like any normal teenager who struggles to find his place among his high school peers. He is perhaps a little self-conscious, but he knows that he has to...

In Chapter 5, titled "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," Brent realizes that he hasn't packed any long-sleeved shirts, nor has he remembered to pack shampoo. As a result, he's too cold, and his hair is...

Brent turns up to a chess-themed party despite not having been invited. At that party, the host Chaz plans a giant chess game, and wants Brent to be one of the pieces. Brent is none too pleased at...

In Chapter 9, I actually found seven references comparing whirligigs to other objects and people. I've listed them below in the order in which they appear in the chapter. 1. The final whirligig...

What Flaco wants more than anything is peace. He wants to be like the shearwater, a bird whom he imagines "live(s) alone, far away from land...no other birds around...very peaceful". Flaco's whole...

The whirligig Brent builds in Maine is the largest and most intricate of the four. He stays at a campsite which is described as peaceful and calm. By this point in the novel, Brent is ready to face...

If you are referring to the female artist Brent met in Weeksboro, Maine, the answer is that the author never reveals the name of the woman. Both Brent and the artist share an intimate...

In chapter 5 of Whirligig, Brent's on his way to San Diego after having had a pretty unpleasant time of it in San Francisco. The experience hasn't been a dead loss, however, as he's bought himself...

Brent is an only child. His family is materially well-off, and his life is comfortable, although his parents seem to be emotionally distant. Brent and his family have been in Chicago for only a few...

Throughout his journey, Brent meets a variety of people who he connects with. When Brent meets Emil, Brent imagines him as some sort of smarter, better version of himself, since they look similar...

For his birthday, Tony asks "for a new baseball mitt, a remote-control car, a Nintendo, and a gift certificate to Sam's Sports Cards". He receives "...two shirts, a microscope, a new music...

In “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” (chapter 5), Brent builds the whale whirligig that Jenny and her grandmother visit in “San Diego” (chapter 8). A comparison of the two chapters is necessary to...

Brent fortunately gains maturity throughout the course of Whirligig. He is, after all, only a junior in high school. And his penance for the accident causes him to grow up and to develop his own...

More about the whirligigs: In Weeksboro, Maine, two eighth graders Stephanie and Alexandra encounter a whirligig. On a trip to the coast, the two discuss their romantic inclinations but disagree...

Another simile in chapter 5 of Whirligig comes when Brent leaves the hostel to walk to the park he'd glimpsed the day before. There he hopes to be able to work on his next whirligig without being...

In the "Miami, Florida" chapter, the main conflict is person versus person. The character's main conflict is that he can't find lasting peace in society, no matter where he goes. Inevitably,...

Brent's apprentices in Chapter 7 are a group of young children who happen to come around as he is constructing his whirligig on the beach near the small town of Beale Beach, Florida. At first...

Jonathan is a friend of Brent's from school. Brent gives him a ride to the party, which is hosted by a friend of Jonathan's. When Jonathan comes out and gets in Brent's car, he explains that his...

Alexandra feels that the spot by the whirligig is a good place to visualize things because the whirligig itself exemplifies the tenets of guided imagery. According to Alexandra, guided imagery is a...

Alexandra and Steph show up in the second chapter, titled “Weeksboro, Maine.” They’re eighth graders, and it’s Christmas time, so a lot of snow is on the ground. Alexandra thinks Steph should get a...

Brent Bishop appears to us as an aimless teenager in the first chapter of the book. He just goes along with what life deals to him, even though he often doesn’t agree with it. Part of his negative...

Because he was driving under the influence when he caused Lea Zamora's death, Brent is charged with DUI (Driving Under the Influence) and manslaughter. Brent's parents hire a lawyer and a...

At the beginning of the book, Brent listens to music to get himself in the right mood to deal with going to the party. Fleischman writes of Brent, "And keeping the right music flowing, using...

The real reason that the strange man asks Brent for directions is to distract him. The man wants to occupy Brent's attention so that he will be less likely to detect any suspicious movements in his...

At the end of the novel, Brent considers traveling before going home. With his whirligig project finished, Brent believes that he can confidently face his parents and Lea's mother again. He is also...

Brent Bishop is a junior in high school in Whirligig. He and his parents now live in the Chicago area, where Brent goes to a private school called Montfort. They had previously lived in...

In the book, Jenny is a teenager who discovers one of Brent's whirligigs in San Diego. According to the story, she lives with her parents and ailing grandmother. One day, Jenny's grandmother asks...

Brent begins to forgive himself for Lea's death because he realizes, first, that it's possible for someone else to truly forgive him; second, that he can still be a good person even though he did...

In the third chapter, “The Afterlife,” we follow Brent’s first attempt to build a whirligig at a park in Washington state. He has an old instruction book on how to make them. But he’s not a natural...

When you re-read a chapter with a specific focus in mind – like searching for a symbol – you may surprise yourself by what you discover the second or third time around. I found three potentially...

Whirligig is a young adult novel. It was written by American author Paul Fleischmann and published in 1998. It tells the story of Brent Bishop who embarks on a journey of atonement across America,...

Flaco gets his nickname because of his skinny body. Flaco is the man who finds Brent's whirligig in Miami, Florida. When Paul Fleischman writes about his life, he explains that Flaco is a nickname...

Mrs. Zamora was actually the only one who consented to meet with Brent; her husband, still reeling from Lea's death and still upset about Brent's part in it, had refused to meet with the teenager....

Flaco has been living in Miami since he was eleven. He originally came to Florida with his family from Puerto Rico. Once upon a time, they used to live in the mountains there, until Flaco's father...

Chaz, in Paul Fleischman's Whirligig is one of the most popular people at Montford, the private school our main character attends. Chaz is known for throwing large elaborate parties, and this night...

Actions have consequences, often very serious ones. Most of us are all too aware of this, especially if the consequences in question happen to be very bad. But what we don't often realize, or...

The chapters of Whirligig alternate between the events and actions in Brent Bishop’s life and those of the people who encounter the four whirligigs he has installed. In “Weeksboro, Maine,” we meet...

Brent begins the book as the new kid; he always is the new kid, as his family frequently moves states. Brent tries to assimilate to each new community. After Brent kills Lea Zamora, he falls into a...

In Paul Fleischman's novel, Whirligig, teenager Brent Bishop travels around the United States building wooden whirligigs as restitution for killing a young woman in a car accident. In each of the...

In Paul Fleishman's novel Whirligig, seventeen-year-old Brent Bishop travels across the country to atone for accidentally killing a teenage girl, Lea, while driving home drunk one night. Lea’s...

In Paul Fleischman's novel Whirligig, the main character, Brent Bishop, has recently moved with his family to Chicago. It is from there that he sets out on his peculiar trek in an effort to atone...