In order to reach adulthood, Louis must use his intelligence and abilities to navigate around the inability to speak, and in so doing, becomes much more dependent on human modes of communication. As a child, Louis faces the dilemma of navigating swan life without a voice. Because Louis feels his disability marks him, he grows up with a sense of worry, unease, and sadness at not being able to fully communicate with his family. In adolescence, his inability to speak becomes a major impediment to love. Louis chooses to learn to read and write, but this does not help him with other swans. After his father presents him with a trumpet, he learns to play bugle calls and songs. This allows him to pursue a professional career as a musician and he develops ambitions, another marker of human life. By the time Serena reenters his life, Louis can use his trumpet to woo her properly, and transitions back to a swan’s life—free of work and focused on his family.

Sam Beaver is on a similar journey to reach early adulthood by the end of the novel. As a child, he wrestles with open-ended questions that have no clear answers and creates private spaces for himself where he can work out a system of values and a way of being in the world.