Brent Bishop appears to us as an aimless teenager in the first chapter of the book. He just goes along with what life deals to him, even though he often doesn’t agree with it. Part of his negative and lackadaisical attitude probably stems from the fact that he and his parents have moved from Connecticut to Atlanta and now to the Chicago area, over the course of a few years. He has had to adapt...
Brent Bishop appears to us as an aimless teenager in the first chapter of the book. He just goes along with what life deals to him, even though he often doesn’t agree with it. Part of his negative and lackadaisical attitude probably stems from the fact that he and his parents have moved from Connecticut to Atlanta and now to the Chicago area, over the course of a few years. He has had to adapt to new schools and new groups of people, each time. He’s quick to get angry when something doesn’t go his way, too. These factors meshed together lead to the toxic brew that includes his tirade at the party, his drinking, and his decision to take his hands off the steering wheel on the highway ride home.
The tragic accident is followed by Brent’s “sentence” to go to the four corners of the country to install whirligigs in Lea’s honor. He agrees to take on the challenge. He travels by bus to Washington, California, Florida, and Maine, and makes a unique whirligig in each place. He finally has a purpose and definite goals to work toward. He has to make his own choices and to live with the results. If he makes a mistake with his woodcraft, he cannot allow himself to get angry for very long. He has to complete the task; he feels required to complete the task, in his own way. The bottom line is that Brent is maturing. He’s developing his own personality, now that he is on his own. And while he still keeps some distance from strangers as much as he can, he’s also being more polite to the ones he does interact with. Brent has been transformed by the accident in a variety of ways.
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