A Scream of Triumph? Or Despair?

Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks

This week I read Fox by Margaret Wild and one of the lines that stood out to me was, "In the stillness, Magpie hears a faraway scream. She cannot tell if it  is a scream of triumph or despair." 

Fox is about Dog and Magpie, Two best friends who help each other. Dog helps Magpie "fly", and Magpie helps Dog see. They live happily together until Fox comes along. He pretends to be their friend, until he finally convinces Magpie to go with him. He runs across the desert and leaves her there alone. Magpie realizes what she did was wrong, and goes home to try and fix it. 

The scream in the quote comes from Fox after he leaves Magpie alone. I think that it is a scream of both triumph and despair. I think that it was a scream of triumph because he had accomplished what he wanted to, taking Magpie away from Dog. He succeeded in what he wanted to do. But it is mostly a scream of despair for what he had done. 

Confucius once said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” I think that this means that revenge will not only hurt the person you are out to get, but yourself, too. And this applies to Fox screaming in despair. He didn't realize that what he had done was was wrong until he had already done it, but by then he was already hurt. Fox had separated the only two creatures who took him in and accepted him and were his friends. He was back to square one, all alone again. He was hurt by his actions, which was why he was screaming in despair. If you do something that bad to two friends like Dog and Magpie and end up without any friends, you will not only be guilty but even more lonely than before.