The Trumpet of the Swan

The trumpet is the artificial means by which Louis can communicate in the swan world and play music in the human world. For Louis, in adolescence, it symbolizes triumph over his disability. In adulthood, the trumpet marks Louis’s development into a professional and renowned musician and his ability to woo Serena and thus start a family.

Two modes of communication (swan and human) come together in the wooing of Serena. Louis is able to communicate his feeling for and to her, catch her attention with a rendition of “Beautiful Dreamer” that makes each note encapsulate feeling and technical mastery. At the end of the novel, Louis uses the trumpet to be a swan in the most complete way possible.

Louis’s first attempt to resolve the issue of communication is to learn how to read and write. He successfully accomplishes this goal; and although it does not solve his communication problem with the other swans, he is now able to communicate with the humans he encounters. Furthermore, he can read his own correspondence, learn independently from books, and write his own letters and songs. Written texts allow him to access and transfer information so he can lead a life of informed independence.