The Wish

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Sparks uses Maggie’s teddy bear as a symbol of childhood innocence. Maggie brings Maggie-bear with her to Ocracoke during her pregnancy, underscoring the fact that she is still a child herself, just beginning a coming-of-age arc. As she lays in bed the first night, she breaks down crying over her pregnancy and having to leave her home. When she hugs her “teddy bear to [her] chest and inhale[s] her familiar scent, the dam simply burst[s]. It [i]sn’t a pretty cry [but] a raging sob, complete with snorts and wails and quivering shoulders” (41). Maggie-bear serves as a source of comfort for Maggie while she adjusts to life in Ocracoke, providing both a physical and symbolic connection to her past, as she desperately tries to hold onto her innocence and the life she knew before her pregnancy.

Leaving Maggie-bear behind as a gift for her baby signals Maggie’s loss of innocence. After the baby’s born, she tells Linda that she thinks “the baby needs her more than [Maggie does] right now” (345). The transfer of Maggie-bear, initially Maggie’s only source of comfort, also underscores the ways in which Maggie has learned to trust and rely on Linda and Bryce, emphasizing The Importance of Human Connection When Coping With Difficult Circumstances. As a child, Maggie lacked human connection from her parents, who sent her to North Carolina instead of supporting her through her pregnancy. However, because of her pregnancy and her experience of first love, she’s grown and matured—she no longer needs Maggie-bear in the same way. The reappearance of Maggie-bear in the novel’s conclusion symbolizes the restoration of her relationship with Mark and the full circle nature of life, allowing Maggie to recapture a little of the childhood innocence she lost when she became pregnant so young.