Wildoak

Rumpus is a juvenile snow leopard who initially lives in captivity as an exotic pet and is then released into Wildoak forest after his newest owner, Arabella Pennyworth, is dismayed when he destroys her flat while searching for food. The novel portrays him as being lovably awkward and playful—he is still more of a cub than an adult leopard. His paws seem too large for the rest of his body, and his tail is still bushy and disheveled instead of smooth and sleek. He has not yet grown into his adult strength or agility, and he is clumsy compared to his sister, Rosie. He is often depicted playing—with Rosie, with Maggie, and with other animals he encounters. Rumpus does not see himself as a large predator. He is afraid of animals like the fox and the badger, and he does not realize that he is capable of harming Maggie. Rumpus’s awkwardness and innocence portray him as sympathetic and contribute to the book’s argument about The Importance of Environmental Conservation since beautiful creatures like Rumpus can suffer and die when people are careless with the natural world.

Since alternating chapters are told using Rumpus’s perspective and his presence in Wildoak is responsible for much of the story’s action, he is the story’s deuteragonist, despite not being a human character. An important conflict in Wildoak concerns whether Rumpus will be able to survive in an English forest. He is neither fully wild nor fully domesticated, and while an English woodland is not his natural habitat, Rumpus is also unsuited to life among wild snow leopards in the mountains of Central Asia. He is more interested in playing with other animals than in hunting them as prey. When he accidentally catches a fish, for instance, he is simply puzzled by the experience and does not even end up eating the fish. He associates humans with the food he is most used to eating—the raw meatballs given to him by his keepers at Harrods Department Store. This makes him vulnerable, as he is willing to approach human settlements looking for food. As his disastrous stay with Arabella shows, however, Rumpus is also not suited to life as a pet. Rumpus’s unique situation makes him vulnerable and points out the harm that careless, selfish human actions inflict on the natural world.

Fred Tremayne is Maggie’s grandfather and Evelyn’s father. He is a tall, white-haired country doctor in a small town in Cornwall, England. His car smells of damp earth and has mushrooms growing in the seams of the handbrake, and he tells Maggie that he sometimes finds animals easier to understand than people. His clothing is often tattered and his boots are usually dirty. These details characterize Fred as a hard-working, caring man who loves nature and is not overly concerned with appearances. Fred makes an effort to make Maggie feel comfortable and welcome: He calls her “Maggie” instead of “Margaret” because that’s what her mother does, he takes time from his busy schedule to show her the river that he and her mother both love, and he makes sure to nourish both her body and spirit by making sure she is well-fed and occupied with games, exploration, and new experiences. Just like Evelyn, Fred also makes sure that Maggie knows he loves and respects her just as she is. He learns to communicate with her on her terms and never makes her feel inadequate for her communication differences. Because of these personal characteristics, Fred provides an ideal environment for Maggie’s growth.

Fred is also an excellent role model for his granddaughter. He is a dreamer who spends his spare time tinkering with improbable inventions. He is a conscientious objector, willing to stand by his beliefs at great personal cost. He loves Maggie and the natural world enough to let her persuade him to assist with the illicit rescue of Rumpus. However, he also shows pragmatism when confronted with the imminent loss of the forest he loves. Fred models a blend of idealism and pragmatism for Maggie that influences the course of Maggie’s future, making it possible for her as an adult to engage in a practical fight for the natural world she so loves without losing hope. In the book’s epilogue, she explicitly credits Fred in her speech at the Aspen Institute, saying that he is the one who taught her to use her individual voice and do her part to defend what is right.

Maggie’s mother, Evelyn, is a nurturing mother and dutiful wife, reflecting the ideals that woman in 1960s England lived by. Despite her husband’s prickly and somewhat cold demeanor, Evelyn is devoted to him. It is obvious how much she loves her own father, Fred, but when Vince and Fred have a falling out, Evelyn allows herself to be estranged from her father for years. Only protecting Maggie seems to be a higher priority than following her husband’s lead: When Vince wants to send Maggie to Granville, Evelyn speaks up against his wishes. Even then, however, Evelyn cannot promise Maggie that she will not be sent to Granville. She can only promise to try to persuade Vince, who has the final say in their home.

Evelyn’s love for Maggie is unwavering and creates a foundation of security and self-confidence that Maggie can use as a springboard for her later growth in the novel. In the months before the story opens, Maggie has been ejected from two schools and, as the book opens, she is ejected from a third. Evelyn does not criticize Maggie for the chaos this creates in their lives. When she comforts Maggie early in the novel, she stresses that she loves everything about Maggie, including Maggie’s stutter. Evelyn’s list of Maggie’s beloved qualities includes small details like the chip on Maggie’s front tooth and big things like Maggie’s “huge heart” (35). It is clear that she pays close attention to Maggie and truly sees her, unlike many others in Maggie’s life. Since she understands Maggie and respects her perspective, Evelyn allows Maggie to keep the small menagerie of animals in her bedroom cupboard and, after Maggie leaves for Cornwall, Evelyn even takes care of them and sends news of them in her letters. Evelyn’s love is a crucial part of Maggie’s security, and while they are apart, Maggie thinks of her often. As soon as the two are reunited near the novel’s end, Maggie flies into her mother’s arms to inhale her reassuring scent.

Maggie’s father, Vincent, is a former Royal Air Force service member whose pride in his service in World War II is evident in the way he displays his medals on his desk at home. According to Fred, however, this service “broke him on the inside” (218), making him the kind of man who is constantly searching for a way to control the world and make it make sense to him again. Vince’s need for order and control leads him to do things like wear a tie every day of the week, even on his days off, and to prevent his wife and daughter from spending time with Fred for several years after he and Fred have an argument about the war. Vince is among the people who impatiently interrupt Maggie to finish her words for her. Maggie thinks that he is “Serious and tired, as if the world had been wrung out of all its beauty, leaving nothing behind to wonder at” (64). It is Vince who wants to send Maggie to Granville; she interprets this as more evidence that he sees her as somehow broken and inadequate—she is yet another thing he needs to fix and put back into order. Despite her attempts to love him, she feels that he “won’t allow it” and reflects that he has “never properly returned a hug” (220).

Although Vince begins the novel as an antagonist, he is a dynamic character who changes in ways that eventually bring him closer to being the kind of father that Maggie deserves. Early in the novel, Evelyn tells a skeptical Maggie that Vince is just trying to do what is right for his daughter, even if his idea of what is right is misguided. Maggie learns from the photograph that Evelyn puts in her luggage that there really was a time when her father seemed happier and more loving, and she learns how terribly Vince was impacted by the war. Gradually, Maggie learns to see her father as more than just a cold and distant perfectionist; he is, in fact, similar to the injured animals that Maggie is always willing to step in and care for. When Vince and Evelyn visit Maggie in Cornwall, he admits that he was wrong about Granville and that he was wrong about Maggie. Vince demonstrates his newfound understanding of and respect for his daughter by asking to see Rumpus and staying to watch his daughter play with the big cat she has grown to love.

Lord Foy is a local landowner in Fred’s area of Cornwall. He owns the land that Wildoak sits on. Lord Foy functions as an antagonist in the novel because of his desire to cut down the forest to make way for a copper mine. Lord Foy is a flat character; he is a stereotypical evil landowner who represents the powerful and selfish people who prioritize profit over the natural world. Fred stresses to Maggie that it is unlikely Lord Foy can be stopped; people like Lord Foy have a tremendous amount of power and generally get what they want.

As the novel’s tension increases, Lord Foy not only begins to destroy the forest, but also becomes a direct threat to Rumpus. He is characterized by his imperious and callous comments about cutting down the forest and by his senseless killing of the badger. At the town meeting about Rumpus, he is described as “[a] tall, thin man with hunched shoulders and a silver-knobbed cane,” whose cane bangs ominously as he walks (242). He manipulates the crowd with lies about Fred and a portrayal of the forest as “a dark and dangerous place, full of pests and vicious creatures'' (243). He is consistently menacing and selfish, but Maggie nevertheless succeeds in wresting Rumpus away from Lord Foy’s control and saving the beloved cat. However, Lord Foy does succeed in his ultimate ambition to cut down Wildoak. This provides Fred with a reason to teach Maggie an important lesson: It is important to keep trying to do what is right, even when the battle is already lost.