Silverwing: Believe in Yourself
When one is constantly being put down, one tends to put themselves down and feel weaker than what is true. When that person attempts something, one does not perform to their full potential, only the low standards set for them. In Silverwing, by Kenneth Oppel, Shade is a Silverwing bat, the runt of his colony. He is constantly being put down, so he tries to do something crazy which gets his colony in trouble and results in resentment by his peers. Later, when he gets blown to shore without his colony, he makes a friend and learns to survive without his mother. During Shade’s journey he tries to fit in, matures and changes his way of thinking which results in him gaining courage and strength.
People are always trying to find a place to fit in. One tries to be like others to be included in a group or even to be accepted into society. There are some things that can not easily be changed and have to be accepted, like one’s size or skin color. Shade is always jealous of the other bats’ size, and he wishes to be like them, big and strong, more than anything else: “Runt. He hated that name – even though he knew it was true. Compared to Chinook and some of the other newborns, he was small, very small,” (Oppel, 6). Shade is used to being offended by the other bats; he no longer bothers feeling bad about what they say. He does not try to fight against the negative statements made about him; he just accepts it as true. He would love for it not to be true and to have the courage to disagree with the statement. Shade has given up on fighting back and he is letting himself be put down and walked all over. Shade is the runt of his colony and he is comparing his size to that of the other bats, making himself feel even smaller. He is once again comparing his size to other things and making himself feel bad: “He was a newborn runt in a Silverwing colony in the middle of nowhere,” (Oppel, 42). Here, Shade is making himself feel smaller than he really is and he is putting himself down. The reader can see that Shade feels unimportant and he is stating how small he is compared to the rest of the world. In a way, Shade is putting himself down further and he feels less important than he really is. Shade really wants to be like the other bats, even if his size is something he cannot change, he would do anything to fit in with everyone else.
Some people feel the need to prove themselves for every thing they do. Shade knows he did something wrong and tried to sacrifice himself. this can be a sign of him maturing because he knows and understands what he did wrong, although the measures he takes are drastic: “All the other bats thought he...