Now the one thing that Mr Gregg and his two boys loved to do more than anything else was to go hunting. Every Saturday morning they would take their guns and go off into the woods to look for animals and birds to shoot. Even Philip, who was only eight years old, had a gun of his own.
In this moment, the young narrator introduces her neighbors, the Greggs, and reveals what the story's main source of conflict will be. While the narrator has not yet said that she hates hunting, it can be reasonably gathered from her tone that she does not think highly of what they are doing. The love that the Greggs have for hunting is disturbing to her, as it involves the killing of animals. This dislike comes to the surface in her mentioning that the youngest Gregg boy, Philip, is eight years old but is nonetheless given "a gun of his own." This suggests that the family does not think critically about their violent actions and encourages their children to start engaging in them at a very young age.
I can't stand hunting. I just can't stand it. It doesn't seem right to me that men and boys should kill animals just for the fun they get out of it.
Here, the narrator states her passionate opposition to hunting. She is upset by the way that "men and boys" choose to murder animals "just for the fun" of it. What she means is that she is angered by the way in which they treat hunting like a sporting event when it involves taking the life of innocent creatures. Moreover, she finds their relish for this activity to be disrespectful and upsetting, as they enjoy it so much and make a big deal out of this fact.
The Magic Finger is something I have been able to do all my life.
I can’t tell you just how I do it, because I don’t even know myself.
But it always happens when I get cross, when I see red...
The narrator possesses a superpower which she describes as her "magic finger." It shoots lightning at people and causes them to transform, fully or partially, into animals. In this moment, she is describing how she does not have full control over this power and how it comes out when she gets mad. She later expresses regret about this as, in both of these instances, she was overcome by anger and unable to stop herself from using her special ability. This is important to the story as a whole as it highlights how unpredictable this magic is and how she is not really capable of limiting it or managing its impact.
"What a day!" cried Mr Gregg. "This is the best yet!" He was beside himself with joy.
Just then four more wild ducks flew over their heads. They were flying very low. They were easy to hit.
BANG! BANG! BANG! went the guns.
This passage highlights the contrast between Mr Gregg's excitement and the activity he is participating in. To hear him speak, the reader would expect he is simply sharing a happy afternoon with his kids, but in reading on one quickly find that something else is going on. He is killing birds for sport. The violent auditory imagery of the guns firing and the ducks being "easy to hit" emphasize the brutality of the Greggs' actions. Here, as in the beginning, the narrator is able to show why she dislikes the Greggs' behavior without stating it outright.
He was maybe as tall as the seat of a chair, but no taller.
And where his arms had been, he had a pair of duck's wings instead.
In this scene, the Greggs have been transformed into ducks. They awaken to find that they shrunk and have duck wings instead of arms. This is jarring for the Greggs as they are rapidly forced to acclimate to their new reality. It is doubly surprising as they have turned into the very creature that they just killed a number of. This is a key moment in the narrative, as the Greggs are now suddenly forced to see things from a different perspective. Robbed of their physical stature, they have to live as ducks and confront the realities of being wild birds. This moment marks the beginning of that journey of understanding.
On the ground below them stood four enormous ducks, as tall as men, and three of them were holding guns in their hands. One had Mr Gregg's gun, one had Philip's gun, and one had William's gun.
The guns were all pointing right up at the nest.
This moment is the story's climax, as the Greggs are threatened by the ducks, who have taken possession of their guns. It is a complete role reversal as the Greggs are now the hunted and the ducks have become the hunters. Where previously they found some comfort living as ducks, happily making a nest, they now are faced with the violence that previously the ducks had been experiencing from them. This instance shows them what their hunting has put the ducks through and underscores the cruelty behind their sport.
“My two little children are up here with us. You wouldn’t shoot my children!"
"Yesterday you shot my children," the duck said. "You shot all six of my children."
In this serious moment, Mrs Gregg begs for the lives of her children. She says that she desperately hopes they won't shoot the nest, as she is with her young children. However, the mother duck rightfully points out that, the day before, they shot all of her children without a second thought. Even though she doesn't ultimately kill the Greggs, mother duck points out the hypocrisy of Mrs Gregg's claim about wanting her children to be saved, as she was not given the same chance to save her own children. This extremely serious comment points to the fact that the Greggs have been murdering animals and destroying families. It requires them to reckon with the damage done by their shooting.
"I'll never shoot another duck or another deer or anything else again!"
Here, Mr Gregg makes a promise to never hunt anything ever again. It is the book's turning point and the resolution of the climax, as he, and all of the Greggs, vow to change their ways and live in harmony with nature. They renounce the bloodshed caused by their hunting and have their guns destroyed. The reader finds that despite the narrator's lack of control over it, the magic finger did ultimately teach the Greggs their lesson. They were able to empathize with the ducks and see that what they were doing was wrong. This passage depicts their change of heart.
And in the middle of the yard stood Philip and William, with a sack of their father's best barley beside them. They were surrounded by ducks, doves, pigeons, sparrows, robins, larks, and many other kinds that I did not know, and the birds were eating the barley that the boys were scattering by the handful.
In this closing scene, the narrator happily sees the Greggs, who have now changed their last name to Egg, living a different lifestyle. The two young boys are feeding all of the birds with their father's delicious barley. Depicting them surrounded by birds draws attention to how much they changed. Where before they enjoyed hunting with their father, they now want to share a bond with these birds and peacefully co-exist with them. The fact that some of the birds are unrecognizable to the narrator suggests that the boys have already developed a very warm relationship with the birds of the region. They are a far cry from the boys who were making fun of the narrator at the beginning of the story.
"You wait and see!" I said. "They'll be nesting in the trees tonight, every one of them!"
This is the last passage in the book. The narrator hears gunshots in the distance while talking to the Greggs. She asks what that is and the Greggs tell her that it is the "shooting-mad" Cooper family. She feels angry and runs off. When asked where she is going, she replies that she is going to find the Coopers. This final comment about them "nesting in the trees," overtly suggests that she intends to teach them the same lesson as the Greggs, using her magic finger once again. While this moment indicates that something similar will befall the Coopers, the narrator seems to have a stronger sense of her abilities and more defined idea of how she wants to use them. Her passion for environmentalism remains the same, but now she has a better handle on her powers.
