you have awoken the english major in me and i want to write an insane close reading paper about wolfbird when it’s finished so if you were to give me some motifs to focus on/go insane about that you havent seen a ton of people pick up on…what would they be…?
(also dont tell me too much that defeats the purpose i want to go SPELUNKING in your words tysm)
welll well well you activated my trap card (aka special interest) and since I LOVE analysis, I am happy to share with you the themes directly from my insane manifesto of an outline (though somewhat abridged):
The biggest one, arguably:
Language, translation, and being understood! The whole text is about what we can say, what we can’t, and how we’re understood or misunderstood. Both of them are constantly translating themselves for consumption. Shane translates his queerness into heterosexuality, Ilya translates his complexity into broken English and is always—blyat, fucking English—searching for the right words to reflect the poems inside him. When Shane says he has trouble explaining a thing, Ilya says he understands and he does, because both are fluent in the wrong language for expressing their actual selves. Pay attention to when Ilya switches to Russian, because that’s where he’s honest! His English is his work language. And Shane’s inability to articulate what he needs is its own kind of foreign language issue.
This is also why I do not include translations in the work! Not understanding is part of it. That's the point.
Class consciousness and economic power: the cruel irony of buying intimacy vs. selling it, and how the transaction is actually what makes the connection safe enough to be real
Identity vs. performance: both of them are constantly translating themselves for consumption. Shane translates his queerness into heterosexuality and into sponsorships to sell things. Ilya translates his complexity into broken English and literally sells himself. Both are fluent in the wrong language for expressing their actual selves.
Permission as power: “is allowed” is the moral center of the whole story. Shane doesn’t need to be dominated; he needs permission to want.
The loon’s call: “I’m here, where are you?” Both of them are calling out into darkness hoping to be found.
Freckles as constellations, my beloved vesnushki: Shane’s spent his life minimizing his difference and Ilya sees the stars because of the darkness, not despite it. Constellations require darkness to be visible.
Touch and texture: public touch (teammates) vs. sexual touch (care, permission) vs. aftercare touch (domesticity, the thing Shane actually craves). Pay attention to Ilya’s calluses!
Food and consumption: Shane is starving in every sense despite his full fridge, vs. Ilya and his literally empty one
Space / Literal Space / The Cosmos / "The Gap"
If you do write something, I would love to read it and you could always link it on AO3 as an inspired/meta work. I love that shit.
