A memoir is a form of writing that's slightly different from an autobiography or an essay. It usually focuses on a specific time or event in a writer's life. Like, in this case, Helen MacDonald explores the time she was dealing with her father's death and trained a wild hawk. To picture this, think of a memory box full of polaroids from a specific period of your life.

Helen uses her relationship with nature, especially through the wild hawk, as a mechanism to deal with her grief. Imagine going for a long run or punching a boxing bag after a bad day at school - this is what her interaction with nature means to her, a way to cope.

Questions to Consider

• How does Helen's interaction with the wild hawk mirror her handling of grief?
• What does nature symbolize in this passage?

This passage brings up a fascinating tension between the wild and the tame. The hawk is wild, but Helen is trying to train (tame) it. Similarly, grief is a wild, unruly emotion that Helen might be trying to control or understand (tame). It's like trying to make a wild cat a pet, challenging but potentially rewarding.

Helen uses nature (the hawk) to navigate through her changes and transformations, specifically her father's loss. She's essentially taking a chaotic life event and trying to find order in it, like trying to solve a massive puzzle.