43 pages • 1-hour read
Kensuke's Kingdom
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Symbols & Motifs
Stella Artois
Stella Artois functions as a symbol of The Essential Need for Friendship and Companionship. In the first chapter, the narrator describes Stella as a “one-ear-up and one-ear-down black-and-white sheepdog, who always seem[s] to know what [is] about to happen before it [does]” (5). Stella’s prescience provides foreshadowing, such as when her immediate attachment to Kensuke indicates that he will be a good friend to Michael.
During their time on the Peggy Sue, the sheepdog is the family’s “greatest comfort” as they endure storms, sickness, and other stressors, establishing Michael’s love for animals and laying the groundwork for the bond he develops with the orangutans on the island (15). Structurally, Stella leads to a major turning point in the story because Michael falls overboard and comes to live on the island with Kensuke after trying to keep her safe during a storm. During Michael’s first weeks on the island, Stella’s ebullient company breaks up the monotony and misery of the boy’s isolation. Later, she is a steadfast presence for Michael and Kensuke through joyful experiences like the soccer game and fearful moments like hiding as poachers prowl across the island. At the end of the story, Stella doesn’t “come at once” when Michael has to leave Kensuke (94). Thematically, her reluctance signals that Michael will never forget the friendship that he found with Kensuke.
Orangutans
The orangutans serve as a motif of The Importance of Ethical Relationships With Nature. Michael’s bond with them evolves throughout the novel. At first, he demonstrates a healthy caution and respect toward the primates, taking great care not to provoke them. Later his closeness with Kensuke helps the boy earn the orangutans’ trust and friendship, reflecting how the protagonist’s mentor deepens his connection with nature.
The great apes save Kensuke not only by teaching him how to survive on the island but also by rekindling his will to live after he survives the destruction of Nagasaki and the bombing of his warship: “I think, all my friends dead, all my family dead, and I alive. I not want to live. But soon I meet orangutans. They very kind to me” (72). The man’s powerful connection to the primates motivates him to protect them from the poachers and, ultimately, to stay on the island for the rest of his life. The orangutans make significant contributions to Kensuke’s characterization, the novel’s structure, and the theme of the importance of ethical relationships with nature.
The Soccer Ball
The soccer ball, a present from Michael’s childhood best friend, Eddie Dodds, symbolizes good fortune. During his time aboard the Peggy Sue, the ball’s seemingly magical properties offer the boy reassurance in stressful situations: “The soccer ball had become a sort of talisman for me, a lucky charm, and it really seemed to work, too. After all, every storm did blow itself out in the end and, afterward, we were always still there, still alive and still afloat” (16). The ball becomes a lucky charm for the whole family, which increases the emotional impact when it goes overboard shortly before the main character does: “That ball had been very precious to me, precious to all of us. I knew then I had just lost a great deal more than a soccer ball” (28). The loss of the lucky soccer ball into the ocean adds to the suspense and raises the novel’s stakes.
The soccer ball’s significance increases after Michael is separated from his parents. Adding to its meaning as a good luck charm, the ball’s accidental capsizing becomes a stroke of good fortune when the object’s buoyancy helps Michael stay alive after he falls overboard. Kensuke retrieves the soccer ball from the ocean the night that he rescues Michael, another way in which the author emphasizes how fortunate the boy is that Kensuke found him. When Kensuke returns the ball, the “overjoyed” Michael feels as if he has “found a part of [himself] that [he] thought [he] had lost forever” (70). The soccer match between Michael and Kensuke in Chapter 9 is one of the happiest experiences the two friends share. Kensuke gives the soccer ball to Michael at the end of the novel, making the ball a reminder of their friendship that Michael carries with him when he leaves the island as well as a symbol of the good luck that sees the protagonist through his adventures.
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