How important is letting go of the hawk to Helen's journey?

Ultimately, Helen will stop looking after Mabel. How important is letting go of the hawk to Helen's journey?

It is a major milestone to her journey. If she can't let him go she cannot let the death of her father go

I agree with michellem that it was the point where she was able to go on with her life with out her grief overriding her ability to function in her normal world. She accomplished the all consuming training to get past her all consuming grief and it worked for her and letting go of Mabel was the point where she knew she could go on without her beloved father.

It was absolutely crucial that Helen moved on by letting go of Mabel. Not doing so would have grounded her further in her isolation that could perhaps be termed self-imposed. I wanted to applaud Helen at the end of the book; I thought she'd NEVER cross the hurdle.

I agree with joyces and michellem. It was crucial that she be able to break from Mabel for her to be able to move forward and function somewhat normally in the "real" world.

I feel that the letting go of the hawk is more representative of where Helen is in her journey as opposed to actually being important to the journey. She recognizes that "Everything changes. Everything moves." and that life is just filled with changes and movement that are out of our control. While she is separated from Mabel, Mabel's feathers and eyes and coloration will change, and we can feel that Helen will change too, her grief lessening over time.

I agree with the prior posts. Letting Mabel fly free is Helen's way of facing up to her own fears of abandonment which have come to the forefront following her father's death. She finds, however, that despite her fears, Mabel returns to her.

I agree with the prior posts. Letting Mabel fly free is Helen's way of facing up to her own fears of abandonment which have come to the forefront following her father's death. She finds, however, that despite her fears, Mabel returns to her.

It was the painful but critically necessary step to beginning to move on from her grief. She learns that loss is not total. One always holds the love for that person, or that hawk! close in the heart.

For Helen to return to a healthy & productive life, she had to let Mabel go free. She did this in several places in her story. Each step was significant to her own recovery. The last paragraph in her Acknowledgements is very moving where she thanks her father & Mabel. I teared up here & had to breath a deep breathe of gratitude for Helen's story.