49 pages • 1 hour read
Henry ColeA Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Search for Home
Over the course of the novel, Celeste overcomes great loss and perseveres to find a home where she belongs. Her first home was ideal because it offered her safety, beauty, and belonging: “[S]he remembered a nest made of grasses in a tangle of timothy hay and wildflowers. She remembered three brothers and a sister, and a doting mother and father” (158). After she loses her family and her childhood home, each subsequent nest Celeste lives in offers these three traits in varying degrees. When the reader first meets Celeste, she is living in a dim, dusty nook that is devoid of beauty apart from the baskets she weaves, and she experiences bullying rather than belonging there. Celeste stays in the space under the floorboards because it shelters her from the cat and from humans. However, the nook doesn’t offer true physical or emotional safety because of Trixie and Illianna’s cruelty: “Celeste felt defenseless against the two marauders, who frequently bullied their way into her nook, ransacking and filching” (18). The Pirries’ cat advances the theme of the search for home and raises the suspense by blocking the mousehole under the sideboard. The cat represents an urgent threat to the mouse’s survival, but it also motivates her growth. The protagonist endures her uninspiring environs and the rats’ bullying for months until the cat compels her to seek shelter elsewhere.
As Celeste gains friends, she finds self-worth and raises her standards regarding homes. Although the stuffy, smelly old boot offers little in the way of beauty, the peaceful solitude she finds there changes her perspective on her previous residence: The nook “looked crowded, dark, dusty, musty. Memories of life here seemed stale and backward now. She was excited about her new home in the toe of the boot” (72). Celete’s excitement shows that she is ready for a change and is no longer willing to settle for a place where she is mistreated. Joseph plays a vital role in advancing the theme and building Celeste’s self-worth because of “the gentle way he gave her a home in his pocket” (331). This home offers Celeste beauty through her frequent jaunts in nature with the boy and gives her a sense of belonging because of her and Joseph’s friendship. However, Joseph’s pocket does not offer her complete safety, as demonstrated by the incident at the dinner table and the scene in which Joseph is grazed by a bullet. As much as she values her time with Joseph, Celeste must find her perfect home for herself. The dollhouse’s ornate furnishings and view of the plantation grounds feed the protagonist’s desire for beauty, the attic door shields her from feline and human dangers, and her new home provides a sense of belonging through the friends who visit her there, namely Lafayette and Violet. After facing many difficulties and dangers, Celeste experiences perfect contentment: “I’ve found home [...] There is nowhere else I’d rather be” (284). Celeste’s search for a home guides the plot, illustrates the protagonist’s character development, and offers a hopeful message about discovering one’s place in the world.
The Importance of Friendship
Celeste’s story demonstrates the importance of friendship. To drive the theme home, Cole creates a protagonist who experiences terrible loneliness. The loss of her family and her groundhog guardian leaves Celeste alone and vulnerable. Trixie and Illianna take advantage of her tragic circumstances, and the rats’ bullying emphasizes Celeste’s solitude at the start of the novel and her urgent need for friendship. Indeed, Celeste is so accustomed to cruelty that she needs time to adjust to the way that a true friend treats her: “It had been a long time since anyone had been kind to her [...] Illianna and Trixie had only given her blows to the ears and bites on the back” (88). Joseph and Celeste meet by chance, but they soon become fast friends. He shows her the first kindness she’s known in months and helps her feel safe venturing outside again. For his part, Joseph regards the mouse as a “little helper” who supports his artistic endeavors and makes his homesickness more bearable (251). Celeste’s friendship with Joseph eases both characters’ loneliness.
As the story continues, Celeste forges friendships with a number of birds who help her learn more about herself. Cornelius the wood thrush helps her face her painful past, and she demonstrates courage and perseverance by going outside alone to gather berries for him and by setting him free. Lafayette’s friendship is also vital to the theme and plot. The osprey and the mouse save one another repeatedly. He helps her get home and accidentally drops Trixie into the river, and she liberates him after Mr. Pirrie shoots him down and Audubon takes him captive. In addition, Lafayette influences Celeste’s characterization by giving her a new perspective on the world during the glorious flight in the gondola. He also helps her recognize herself as an artist through his praise of her basket weaving: “I could never do what you can do. This basket is amazing! A work of art!” (206). The final friend that Celeste makes in the story is a wren named Violet, and their budding companionship gives the novel its happy ending. The little bird comforts the mouse after her unexpected parting with Joseph and pledges to keep her company during the lonely winter. In addition, Violet helps the protagonist reflect on her experiences and the lessons she’s gained from her adventures, including “how good it was to have friends” (335). Each of the companions that Celeste meets in the novel plays an important role in her growth, emphasizing the importance of friendship.
The Relationship Between Art and Nature
Cole’s novel examines the relationship between art and nature. Audubon dedicates himself to preserving the beauty of nature by painting birds’ portraits. He and Joseph seek to mimic nature by making their paintings of birds and plants as realistic and detailed as possible. In Chapter 15, Audubon asserts that the forfeiture of a few birds’ lives is a small price to pay for immortalization in art: “I am preserving their beauty forever” (146). While there is something admirable about Audubon’s ambitious goal, the narrative calls his methods into question. In Chapter 13, the narrator’s tone is mournful while describing Audubon’s hunt for the ideal duck to paint: “It seemed that all of Audubon’s paintings started out this way. The birds were beautiful, alive, and then they were shot from the sky” (128). The ivory-billed woodpecker paints an even grimmer portrait of the cost of Audubon’s art. Moved by the bird’s death, Joseph questions his employer’s methods and suggests that he work with live subjects instead. Audubon dismisses the boy’s concerns: “There were possibly dozens in the woods where I took this one. One bird less won’t make any difference” (145). However, the fact that ivory-billed woodpeckers are now believed to be extinct suggests that sparing this one life could have made a vital difference. Cole’s story celebrates art, but it challenges Audubon’s practice of taking animals’ lives to preserve their beauty.
The protagonist intervenes and offers a way to mend the relationship between art and nature. Celeste deeply appreciates the beauty of nature and art. The mouse understands herself as a part of nature in a way that the novel’s human characters do not. She is also an artist in her own right because of her basket weaving. She loves watching Joseph and Audubon work, but not at the cost of birds’ lives. She helps the humans find inspiration in a way that respects animals’ lives by acting as a mediator between artist and subject. Driven by her horror and sadness at the ducks’ slaughter and the woodpecker’s death, the mouse grows determined to save what lives she can. To Celeste, Cornelius and Lafayette are not merely beautiful specimens but rather cherished friends with their own distinct personalities. With Celeste’s prompting, Cornelius poses with a dogwood twig and sings for Joseph. This leads to a moment of inspiration: “As Joseph worked, Cornelius lifted his head to sing again. Joseph smiled and attacked his work with even greater enthusiasm” (227). The wood thrush marvels at his portrait and takes joy in Celeste’s statement that he will “live forever in a painting” (235). Cornelius and Joseph’s interactions demonstrate that the relationship between art and nature can be mutually beneficial: Nature inspires art, which, in turn, preserves nature’s beauty. Similarly, Lafayette inspires Audubon and evades being “stuffed and pinned” by posing as Celeste directs (266). Cole’s novel shows that artists should respect nature and that art and nature are most beautiful when they work in concert.
