Loss
Throughout the novel the theme of loss and the difficulty of dealing with it is explored. The shattering death of Tom Oakley's wife and newborn son continues to haunt him even 40 years after it happened. His means of responding to loss is through closing himself off from anything that reminds him of his family, lest his painful emotions rise back to the surface. George experiences the loss of his brother who is missing and presumed dead very early on in the war. Geoff has lost almost all of his loved ones in bombings. Willie deals with loss many times throughout the story: his best friend Zach is killed in London during the most severe bombing raid of the war thus far; his mother commits suicide; his baby sister dies in his arms after their mother abandons them in the stairwell without food. The book also takes place during a time of war, so loss is also being experienced on a collective level.
Michelle Magorian shows us the death of loved ones is often the hardest loss to confront. While Willie copes with news of his mother's death fairly quickly, the death of Zach is an almost insurmountable wound that he only deals with after remembering that Zach is still with him in spirit, through memory, as Geoff helps Will to recognize. Although loss is shown as an unavoidable part of life, the characters are able to grow in strength through processing their loss. In that sense, the deaths of loved ones bring them closer together as a community, and encourage them to be more appreciative of their relationships. This is demonstrated through Tom, who is finally able to come out of his prolonged mourning through his connection with Will. Through Will, Tom is shown that is possible to love again after loss.
Love
Learning to love is a central thread that runs throughout the story. We see this namely in the dramatic transformation of Will from extremely fearful to happy and confident. Living with his mother, Will was never shown love, and thus before coming to Weirwold, Will was not even aware that another possibility exists. He initially expects that Tom will treat him in the same abusive manner as his mother did, because this is all he has ever known. But quickly, through his companionship with Tom and everyone else in town, Will realizes that real, loving connections are natural and normal. Love is what gives Will the space to thrive and become who he truly is.
Having experienced love, Will is eager to share this with his mother upon returning, offering gifts and kindness. Yet, love threatens the entire worldview of his mother, who is solely motivated by fear. The clash of these two ways of life come to a forefront when his mother punishes him through abandoning him in the stairwell. In the chapter "Rescue," when Will is in the hospital, Tom insists on taking him back to Weirwold, rejecting the notion that Will is "disturbed" and needs to be put in foster care, knowing instead that all he needs is love and support to heal.
Magorian often pairs together characters who appear quite different on the surface, especially the characters of Will and Zach. At the start of the novel, Will is still a very nervous and introverted boy, while Zach is extroverted and self-assured. Yet, their opposite natures attract each other, and through their loving friendship, they each enrich the other's life. After Zach's death, we see that Will even begins to take on qualities of his friend. Similarly, Tom and Will at first seem like an odd match—a young boy with a gruff old man—but that does not stop them from forming a genuine connection. Through this we see how love allows people to come together in difference and grow past what seems to be their limitations.
Darkness
Darkness is prominent throughout the book. During World War II, English villages were required to be in total darkness at night to prevent German planes from seeing their targets, and there are multiple references to putting up the blackout curtains. This literal darkness is mirrored in the psychological darkness that Willie and other characters wade through during the story. Tom constantly seems to rescue Willie from the dark and bring him to the light, such as when Willie is having terrible nightmares. Similarly, when after Willie has been tied up in the dark stairwell at his mother's house it is again Tom who rescues him, literally shining a flashlight onto him.
The children's trip to Spooky Cott in the darkness results in meeting Geoffrey, the wounded artist who lives alone, in the darkness of his own grief. When Will and Zach appear, Geoff puts on a fire. Light returns both through the fire and through the loving presence of the boys, who help connect Geoff back to the outside world. Throughout the novel we see darkness as a natural part of life, yet as something that must be confronted in order for light to reemerge. For instance, Will goes at night to the river to cathartically process his deep rage and sadness over the death of Zach and that moment is what begins his process of recovery.
Abuse and Trauma
Willie's mother is a brutal bully and her abuse of Willie has shaped his personality. Lacking self-esteem, Willie believes that he has no talents and no qualities that might make other people like him. When we first meet Willie, he still believes these things, because he has never known anything else—until he comes to Weirwold. As well as being emotionally abusive, Willie's mother is terrifying in her physical abuse of her son, going so far as to pack the thick leather belt that she beats him with in his things so that Tom can continue in the same vein. This is an indication that she genuinely believes that it is normal to use this kind of force on a child. Her abuse escalates into murder when she abandons baby Trudy in the cellar with Willie to starve to death.
A life marked by abuse creates a sense of trauma in Willie, which is illustrated through his constant wetting of the bed following both times that he comes back from his mother. Yet the author shows us that there are two different ways that one can deal with trauma. There is the way of Willie's mother, who we can infer has probably also been a victim of abuse herself. She becomes hardened from it, locked into patterns of violence that she then perpetuates against her children. This violence continues what is likely a long cycle of abuse. The other option, symbolized by Willie, is to learn from trauma and consciously choose something different—love, instead of hate. We see how the depth of trauma experienced has actually, by the end of the novel, helped Willie to become truly grateful to be alive.
The theme of abuse is explored further when Willie is hospitalized and the staff is injecting him with a sedative to prevent him from crying out in his sleep. Their treatment of the children in their care seems very abusive. When the nurses tell Tom that they must sedate Willie because he is screaming, Tom points out that maybe it is important to let the boy scream. We are shown how it is through acknowledging emotions that the trauma of abuse can be stopped and real healing can take place.
Trauma is also a large part of war. The large amount of violence during World War II leaves an imprint on many people who have experienced the trauma of loss. We see through the character of Geoff how the trauma of losing his loved ones can either turn him into a lifelong hermit, or can help to strengthen his character and develop a new sense of gratitude for life.
The Power of Expression
Expressive arts—whether it be drawing, theater, or singing—play a large role in the unfolding of the plot. Willie, who arrives at Mr. Tom's cottage as an unusually quiet little boy, gradually finds his voice through art. He learns that he is a natural talent for drawing and devotes much of his time to this. Tom's wife Rachel was a painter, which makes Tom resistant to entering the village art shop and buying art supplies for Willie. That Will and Rachel share a common love of art is another factor that helps Tom to begin processing his emotions related to his wife's death. Will extends himself even further when he tries his hand at acting in the school play. Acting, which is an art form that requires a fair amount of extroversion, is something that Will takes on naturally, and helps him to come out of his shell even more.
Will's best friend Zach also loves to express himself, especially through theater. Zach is constantly practicing his acting, writing poems, and reading plays. When Zach is worried about the safety of his parents, he comforts himself by singing Hebrew prayers, which to him feel like "a magical language that would make everything alright" (268). After his death, he continues to inspire Will to develop his theatrical talents.
We can see how art is something which aids in connecting characters, especially during difficult times. When Will is back with his mother and enduring horrible abuse, he clings onto a poem written by Zach for comfort. Right before Zach is killed, he leaves Will with Shakespeare's plays as well as his own drawings. These things serve to keep a part of Zach with Will, even after he has died. Tom also replaces Mr. Bush as the choir organist—something he is initially reluctant to do—which ends up being a positive way that he can get back involved with community activities. Finally, the common love of art is what unites Geoff and Will in Spooky Cott and encourages Geoff to break out of his isolation.
The Duality of Good and Evil
Willie's mother justifies her abuse based on her fervent Christian religious belief that some people are good and some people are evil. In her interpretation of the Bible, there are many sins—including happiness, sex, and even the color red—which will land a person in eternal hell. This belief system has been influential in Willie's vision of the world. It takes him time in Little Weirwold to begin realizing that there is something skewed in such duality. He starts to see that, despite what his mother told him, he is not inherently a sinner. By coming out of this extreme way of thinking, Willie is able to finally see life as innately good rather than as full of potential sin and danger.
Ultimately, we see how even Willie's mother, who has had a child out of wedlock, is unable to live up to her own ideals of holiness. She commits suicide, an act of duality born out of seeing oneself as evil. Dogmatic ideas cast the world in black and white terms, which always leads to violence, something that is also echoed in the ongoing war, which is being fought over the genocidal treatment of the Jewish people. Rigid notions of good and bad, and the accompanying belief that one will be damned if not followed, is seen to be incompatible with happiness and life.
The Importance of Community
In many scenes of the book, Magorian emphasizes the stark difference between city and country life. This is especially apparent in the chapter "The Search," when Tom goes to London to find Willie. On his journey, we are made to see how different the urban, chaotic atmosphere of Deptford is from the peaceful life in Little Weirwold. The most pronounced distinction is that of how people treat one another. From the beginning of the book, Willie is welcomed in Little Weirwold with true hospitality and kindness by all of the townspeople, who give him gifts, celebrate his birthday, and spend time with him. It is a highly personal approach which gives Willie the strength to come out of his spell of shyness. In the city, there is not the same sense of community. Willie's memory of his London school portray the teachers as cold and uncaring. Will recalls the city church is a place of punishment. When there is an absence of close-knit community, it becomes more likely that abuse, such as that of Will's mother, can go unnoticed and unchecked.
We are shown how in the city, people are less likely to be seen with compassion. When Willie is in the hospital, Tom is astonished by the way Willie is treated. Mr. Stelton, a representative from the children's home, approaches Tom in a distant and thoughtless manner. It seems to be a standard treatment to sedate patients with drugs instead of allowing them to cry. Tom knows that the best remedy for Will is to be back in the community, in nature, where there is a sense of personal relationships, rather than to be forced into an impersonal, lifeless institution. Still, even in this environment Tom is able to find good people who are willing to help him, such as the warden.
