Wild Eyes

Amid Skylar and West’s meet-cute next to the bears, it is clear that the two protagonists feel an immediate connection, and their initial chemistry foreshadows the novel’s focus on The Transformative Power of Love and Community as Skylar gradually learns to relax in the welcoming atmosphere of Rose Hill and distance herself from the high-tension responsibilities and expectations of her fame-imbued lifestyle. Within this context, Skylar’s and West’s alternating first-person narratives create clear parallels between their seemingly disparate lives. As Silver invokes the “forced proximity” trope at the novel’s start, the two characters’ contrasting backgrounds come into sharp focus. The author uses the characters’ dress, accessories, and pastimes to capture their respective lifestyles, and even their offhand private contemplations reinforce the cultural differences between them. For example, when West first encounters Skylar, he notices that she is driving a costly Tesla, wearing “diamond studs the size of ripe blueberries in her ears” (6), and videoing herself interacting with a dangerous grizzly bear. At this point, he has no personal connection to Skylar and is only relying upon stereotypes and his observations, which illustrate her city background and suggest that she is out of place in West’s rural hometown. 

Similarly, Skylar later observes the “steel grip [of West’s hands] on [her] biceps as he [throws them to the ground,” the “scratch of his callouses,” and the “tattoos on his knuckles” (19). These details, along with West’s confident cowboy demeanor, portray him as a hard-working country man whose life is nothing like that of the “famous people,” “[a]rtists and musicians,” and “[h]andsome men” whom Skylar has dated in LA (19). Silver uses the characters’ initial impressions to convey their deeper desire to understand one another. Skylar is enamored of West because she “come[s] from the land of pale skin and spray tan” (25), while every detail of West’s appearance is authentic and hard-earned. The natural “glow of his golden skin” (25) fascinates Skylar because he seems raw and real to her. Similarly, West tries to reconcile Skylar’s appearance with her celebrity persona, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he is now interacting with her in person.

Throughout these chapters, Skylar and West are forced to overcome their first impressions of each other, especially as their day-to-day interactions reveal additional foibles and quirks. For example, although Skylar is from a wealthy, privileged background and lives the life of a celebrity, her timidity and self-defensive attitude suggest that she has endured traumatic incidents and hides even more complex facets of her character. As West collects authentic interactions with her—such as saving her from the bear and watching her as she enters the bunkhouse, reacts to the broken glass, and interacts with the horse—he begins to alter his long-held impressions of the famous singer. 

Likewise, the more that Skylar studies West, the more she realizes that underneath the veneer of the strong-willed, handsome horse trainer lies a conscientious, caring father figure whose relationship with his children suggests the existence of a softer, more docile side to his personality. These deeper complexities suggest that both Skylar and West are at transitional points in their lives. They are both still discovering who they are, what they want, and how to love themselves, and these early chapters therefore hint that they both must take significant steps in order to progress in their Journey Toward Self-Acceptance. The overlapping aspects of their perspectives on the world soon set them on parallel paths of self-discovery; while they adopt specific public personas, they both clearly have more fragile hearts and spirits, and they are both still learning to accept these sublimated aspects of themselves.

With these early chapters, the author uses the forced proximity trope to compel Skylar and West to spend more time together. When Skylar decides to stay at West’s bunkhouse, this arrangement forces her and West into the same physical domain and foreshadows new developments in their relationship. Initially, Skylar is shocked that the bunkhouse is “stark white and super small” (34). However, she soon realizes that the bunkhouse is not the sum of West’s property. When she starts exploring the place on her own, she realizes that the place holds a “beauty” that transcends its humble appearance. Although she is still adjusting to the quiet of country life, she quickly understands that living in the bunkhouse means being a part of a family and community. For this reason, she willingly spends time with Oliver at the tree, and she also joins the Belmonts for dinner and helps West with his evening chores. The more time that she and West spend together, the more their curiosity about each other grows. Their kiss at the end of Chapter 8, while premature, nonetheless foreshadows the development of a new romantic tension between them, heightening the stakes of their living situation as they try to find personal happiness and embrace a more communal sense of belonging.