Margalo is a character in the novel, but she also serves as a symbol. For Stuart, Margalo symbolizes inspiration. He loves her in the chivalrous way a medieval knight loves his lady. She represents the ideal of adventure and fantasy, and her disappearance is the inspiration he needs to leave the safety of his childhood home and venture into the world as an adult. Though he is searching for her, Stuart is not so much looking for a little brown bird as he is following an impossible dream because the dream is worth pursuing even if it can never be found. Indeed, Stuart feels irresistibly compelled to search. He is a dreamer and will never be content with anything less than the ideal that Margalo represents for him. Unlike Harriet and Ames’ Crossing, which symbolize stability and comfort, Margalo is the future and a reason to continue on his adventures.

It seems impossible that Stuart will ever find such a tiny bird in such a large world, but she is the thing that gives the world—and his life—meaning.