27 pages • 54 minutes read
Ted HughesThe Iron Giant
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaThemes
The Relationship Between the Natural and the Mechanical
Nature and technology are connected in the story in the way that the Iron Man interacts with nature through his encounters with the elements of air, water, earth, and fire. The Iron Man is a strange and puzzling combination of mechanical parts and an inner sentience that gives him emotion, thought, and the ability to communicate. The Iron Man first appears in a totally natural setting, a stark contrast of metal against a windy and grassy landscape: “The wind sang through his iron fingers” (1). He seems drawn to the sea, and when he plunges into it, he breaks apart; his hand, as it lays on the rocks, is compared to a crab on its back. The Iron Man’s parts are picked up by gulls who try to eat them, but his very existence clashes with the world in which he was introduced. The wind cannot ravage him, and the sea cannot consume him, so he proceeds with his journey to find metal to eat. Like all living things, the Iron Man consumes to sustain himself, but the Iron Man consumes only metals, which implies that his purpose is to cleanse the Earth of waste and to heal the damage done to the environment by the rapid development of technology and the disposal of what is no longer deemed useful.
When the farmers decide that the Iron Man cannot be of any use to them and may, in fact, be a threat to their way of life, they trap and bury him. When the Iron Man is buried, for a time he becomes part of the natural environment. A hill forms over his body, and he lays dormant there for several months. However, the earth does not suffocate him, symbolizing a harmony that exists between him and the natural world. This is emphasized after he emerges and returns immediately to his task of consuming metals. When Hogarth takes him to a large scrap yard where he can dine freely, it shows how technology can be used to benefit and heal the Earth if employed thoughtfully.
The climax of the story brings the Iron Man face to face with the space dragon that, like him, is built to consume. However, unlike the giant, the dragon only consumes living things, representing the dangerous capacity of technology to destroy the planet and humanity. These two technological forces oppose one another, and in their battle, the Iron Man once again faces an elemental challenge, this time against fire. Twice heated to extremes, the Iron Man does not melt and emerges victorious against the dragon. Though he is mechanical, the Iron Man does not exist at odds with nature and can therefore use his encounters with the natural world to learn and eventually emerge as a champion. The way he combines his technological strength with respect for nature offers a paradigm for humans facing threats to their existence, whether it be war, climate change, or a dragon from space.
Overcoming the Obstacle of Judgment
The Iron Man is a simple story with complex undertones, and one of these is the harsh and hasty way that humans judge things they do not understand. The Iron Man appears seemingly out of nowhere, and his origin does not really matter; instead, the way his presence is received and how this changes with the help of one person who dares to think differently is what matters.
Hogarth is the first person to see the Iron Man, and this first interaction is predictably one of sheer terror and panic, which is followed by the panic and defensiveness of the farmers. Hogarth’s father is the only adult to actually see the Iron Man in the beginning; the other adults simply hear about him and decide that he must be stopped somehow. They do not pause to reflect or attempt to reason with the giant entity; instead, they decide to trap and bury him. When they do finally see the Iron Man, they instantly believe him to be a menace, based solely on his appearance: “He really was a monster. This was the first time most of them had had a good look at him. His chest was as big as a cattle truck. His arms were like cranes, and he was getting rusty, probably from all the old barbed wire” (31). Possibly because he is a child and not yet tainted by prejudice and hatred, Hogarth starts to feel guilty upon seeing the Iron Man become trapped and the Iron Man’s clear emotional reaction to it. When this more “human” side of the Iron Man is revealed, Hogarth’s perception changes.
The Iron Man makes the brave and selfless decision to trust the humans and to help them defeat a new threat that has emerged on their planet. He does this despite the way he was treated and judged as a monster, and the traits which made him most feared (his size, his metal body) became his greatest assets. Although the dragon that lands on Australia becomes the Iron Man’s nemesis, they share one important experience in common: Both are seen as one thing, a monster, and not given the opportunity to be reasoned with. The Iron Man understands this and finds a way to use his intellect and cunning to trick the dragon into defeat, demonstrating that there are more effective ways to solve conflict than by burying it or attacking it. By being willing to save the same people who tried to hurt him, the Iron Man proves that the way to overcome judgment is to refuse to stoop down to its level.
The Human Capacity to Be Both Cruel and Kind
Within human beings exists a duality of cruelty and kindness, greed and generosity, of love and hate. The Iron Man as a character symbolizes this duality and acts as a hyperbolic version of what it means to be human. At the same time, human beings themselves show that their initial judgments of others can lead to cruel and harmful acts but that all it takes is one singular voice that is willing to speak against cruelty to change it.
When the humans first discover the Iron Man, their immediate reaction is fear and hatred, which often go hand in hand. Because they do not understand the Iron Man, nor do they know where he came from or what he is, the farmers instantly default to fear and panic. Their fear and panic make them worry that they are powerless against this massive entity, and this helplessness is what leads them to hate him. Prejudice itself will usually contain a fear component and a hatred component, and the combination of these is what leads the farmers to bury the Iron Man underground. Their hope is that as long as they can’t see him and as long as he isn’t destroying their farming equipment, then they need not worry about him. In fact, the Iron Man becomes almost forgotten, to the point where people start to assume the hill is just an ordinary one. The Iron Man only destroys what destroys nature; he does not consume living things, nor does he attack them; instead, he consumes the junk that people have made and left to rot.
Hogarth is the only one who sees something more in the Iron Man and finds ways to reason and bargain with him, eventually even befriending the giant. Hogarth represents the kinder and more understanding side of humans, which is more often present in younger people who have not become bitter to the world. Hogarth can see that the Iron Man is essentially innocent; he has been designed to perform one task, and he performs it. The Iron Man is affected by Hogarth’s kindness, as it allows him to see that not all humans are cruel. The result is that the Iron Man is willing to help the humans find a way to defeat the star spirit and save their planet from being consumed. The star spirit is also innocent; it finds itself drawn to the conflicts of Earth and wants to do something about it. Its method of choice is simply to destroy what is causing the problem, but it is the Iron Man who helps the star spirit see that his song is just as powerful a tool for change.
