Essay Questions

What does The World of Darkness symbolize?

The over-the-top, horror-themed amusement park is the in-novel symbol for the relentless march of urbanization and commercialization. Construction of the park effectively levels several miles of swampland where the alligators--the star attractions of Swamplandia--live and thrive. The loss of the swamps means less wild gators for the Bigtrees to restock their show with. The World of Darkness can also be seen as kind of black mirror that the Bigtree family members use to view themselves. Swamplandia, and by extension the Bigtree family, begin to see themselves as people see their theme park: as a rural attraction that has already lost its relevance and appeal when compared to the media attention and overall novelty of The World of Darkness.

The novel is described as a bildungsroman, but do you agree with this description? Cite examples to support your answer.

Swamplandia is a coming of age story of the Bigtree children, each of them forced into maturity in order to adapt to new surroundings by circumstances bigger than themselves. Kiwi realizes that their way of life is all but over and decides that for his family to survive they must adapt to the norms of mainstream society. He begins by getting a janitorial job at the rival park in order to fill in the economic gap/parental gap created by The World of Darkness and, later on, Chief Bigtree’s sudden abandonment of his family. Osceola’s matures as a result of having been stranded in the depths of the swamp and it is here where she discards her unhealthy fascination with the dead. Ava’s development is most tragic though as it is the result of having been largely abandoned by her older family members as they pursue their individual agendas and her violation at the hands of the enigmatic “Bird Man.”

The novel is also described as an example of magical realism. Do you agree with this description? Cite examples to support your answer.

The novel is full of elements of the supernatural and the occult, mostly in the form of ghosts and séances. These add to an overall element of the fantastic but there is always the oblique question of “…did those things really happen?...” It may also be interpreted that the occult or descriptions of events that have to do with the occult are actually metaphorical for going insane or for having a mental breakdown. This interpretation is highly likely given the wide variety of emotional trauma that Ossie, the character who has the most interactions with the “supernatural,” goes through in a short span of time.