Importance of Caterpillars

Throughout the novel, drawings of caterpillars and moths interject, presented with facts about the critters. From the opening section, their presence makes the islanders wary as they are compared to an army (27). The caterpillars represent a change that is about to occur, yet no one in the town is clued in as to what that change will be. Girls scream as caterpillars touch their hands and the general reaction to their presence is disgust. The island has suffered from infestation before and knows what the insects will do to their foliage. As the plot thickens, the caterpillars become an overbearing presence.