Birdies In Mad Men

The canary helps her remember the joy she had singing. The canary is something she could care for and love. ”If there had been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful-still-after the bird was still” (Glaspell 557). The bird’s cage defines how when she marries Mr. Wright she became trapped in his cage. The broken door symbolizes that she was a broken woman barely hanging on to hope. Mr. Wright cruel and unjust treatment to her and the bird causes retaliation. When he snapped the canary’s neck she is forced to kill him.

The scene right after this one takes place from Norman’s point of view. Here we witness him peeping on Marion while she’s undressing through a hidden hole in the wall. It is made clear to the audience that Norman is sexually repressed and that he desires Marion. In her article, “Coveting the Feminine,” Diane Negra writes on Norman Bates’ psychology and how it is stemmed in his repressed sexuality and oedipal complex, “Psycho features a protagonist who manifest extreme behavior in a desperate attempt to circumvent cultural restrictions on the expression of forms of sexuality judged inimical to the status quo,” and, “Norman Bates takes on the personality of the mother he murdered out of jealousy, projects his jealousy onto her, and murders women he finds desirable in order to punish himself,” (Negra, 193-200). The bird imagery is again prevalent in this scene. While Marion is changing she is next to two framed portraits of these small helpless little birds. Norman watches her through the peephole like a predator stalking his prey. Clearly, Hitchcock heavily included birds in the films mise-en-scene as a visual representation of Norman’s relationships with women.

Bird with the broken wing. - the bird was flying in circles, representing Edna’s thoughts in her ind swirling and her dwelling on trying to escape but not being able to.

One of the women made the comment that Mrs. Wright used to be pretty and happy, when she was Minnie Foster not Minnie Wright. This is just the beginning of realizing that she was just pushed to far into depression and couldn't live up to John Wright's expectations anymore. The Wrights had no children and Mrs. Wright was alone in the house all day long. The women perceive John Wright to be a controlling husband who in fact probably wouldn't have children and this may have upset Mrs. Wright. They eventually find vacant bird cage and ponder upon what happened to the bird, realizing Mrs. Wright was lonely they figured she loved the bird and it kept her company. The women make reference to the fact that Mrs. Wright was kind of like a bird herself, and that she changed so much since she married John Wright. They begin looking for stuff to bring her and they find the bird dead and they realize someone had wrung its neck. This is when they realize Mrs. Wright was in fact pushed to far, John Wright had wrung her bird's neck and in return Minnie Wright wrung his.

Among other animal imagery, birds appear frequently throughout the story in times of crisis. The birds often foreshadow dangers that lie ahead. For instance, when Robert's team takes a wrong turn, "the fog is full of noises"(80) of birds. Then the birds fly out of the ditch and disappear. Robert and Poole know that "[there] must be something terribly wrong...but neither one knew how to put it into words. The birds, being gone, had taken some mysterious presence with them. There was an awful sense of void--as if the world had been emptied" (81). The birds return and when Robert nears the collapsing dike and "one of the birds [flies] up cut[s] across Robert's path" as if it is trying to prevent him from going any further. Robert does not heed the warning and almost dies in the sinking mud.

Psychologists have suggested the idea that correlation does not imply causation. In The Birds, viewers find themselves unable to identify the purpose or the cause for the birds’ attacks. Hitchcock does not want us to know the answers either, since Hitchcock marvels at his ability to make viewers question his films and struggle at truly enjoying without fully understanding them. Although this essay cannot find a cause for the attacks in the town or to the characters that seem to be innocent like the children and the old man in the farm, it should shed some light on the correlation between the timing of the attacks near the Brenner family and Melanie and their internal struggle. The symbolism of the caged birds versus the free birds, the Jocasta complex Lydia struggles with, and the imagery of the light versus darkness when the birds attack represent the journey Mitch and Melanie face in trying to be together.

"The Girl Who Raised Pigeons” is about a little girl named Betsy Ann Morna who is being raised by her single father. When Betsy was born her mother died from childbirth. Since Betsy had experienced such hardship when she was born her father was determined to shield her from all the tragic in the world. When she gets a little older, her father allows her to raise pigeons. But in order to shield her from tragedy her father makes sure he clears the pigeons that died before Betsy can find out. But Betsy found out. When a wild pigeon was visiting Betsy's pigeons it died but she did not want to tell her father because “He’ll think it’s the end of the world or somethin”(17). After Betsy is caught shoplifting things change between her and her father. He watches her like a hawk and must know what she is doing at all time. After Betsy grows up all her pigeons die and this changes Betsy even more. She constantly misses them and draws pictures of them on her hands and cries about them. The story ends with Betsy seeing one of her pigeons flying over the city. One part of the city that Betsy is inspired by is her pigeons. The pigeons inspired her because they allowed her to grow up and face reality that life contains tragedies. Knowing that the pigeons die allowed her to come of age and realize what happens in the world. Having her father hid everything bad for her kept her young for the time being. But once she realized what was happening it allowed her to grow up and become the women she was supposed to be.

There are encounters with several birds throughout the majority of the stories: there is, of course, the sparrow that predicts Ewen MacLeod's death; there is Grandmother Connor's perpetually silent canary, Birdy; there are the hauntingly-voiced loons in the appropriately named story 'The Loons'. They make subtler appearances as well: Grandmother MacLeod's hair is once described as 'white-feathered wings in [a] snare'2; there is the blue Chinese carpet 'with its birds in eternal motionless flight'(p. 47); the ladybird that climbs, falls, and climbs again, despite its ability to fly.

Much like the kitchen, the birdcage is also used as a symbol for Mrs. Wright. In the play, Mrs. Peters finds the birdcage empty. The two ladies also find that the cage?s door hinge is pulled apart. The ladies conclude that someone had ?been rough with it.? The cage in the play suggests many things. A cage signifies imprisonment and captivity. This easily fits within the play and represents the confinement

Probably the most notable use of birds occurs when after ten years, Sula returns to the Bottom accompanied by a “plague of robins”(89). The word plague indicates that the birds represent a wave of sickness that Sula brings alongside her. The citizens of the Bottom recognize the birds as a sign of evil, but choose to accept its wickedness rather than try to rid of the robins. “But they let it run it’s course, fulfill itself, and never invented ways to either alter it, to annihilate it or to prevent its happening again. So also were they with people” (90). Here, Morrison is comparing the townspeople’s feelings both towards the evilness of the robins and towards the evilness of Sula. They welcome Sula’s return to the Bottom the same way they they welcome the birds. Sula’s personal experiences with wickedness are also acknowledged through the robins as Sula

Symbolic objects can be observed by inquisitive and perceptive readers. Symbols fit naturally into context and can be overlooked by even the most perceptive reader. A symbol can have no apparent connection to the text, and therefore be considered as irrational, but the symbol's relation to the object is often typical for what it stands for. However, the main goal in using symbolism is to grasp a more complex meaning beyond its natural state. Glaspell's use of a birdcage is an apparent connection to Mrs. Wright's life on the farm with her husband. While Mr. Wright works on the house farm, Mrs. Wright is held captive; as a caged animal, alone to fulfill wifely duties. In agreement, a composed analysis by Ariang Bangga on Glaspell's Trifles explains how, "Traditional beliefs have held women captive for years. In Trifles, [readers] clearly [see] that there is an obvious distinction between men’s and woman’s role" (Ariang Bangga 1). The bird cage signifies Mr. Wright's treatment and harshness toward his wife to prevent Minnie from socializing with the outside world. Due to his cruelty, Minnie is like the trapped bird imprisoned by traditional male dominance. With that being said, another object of significance is brought forth, that being the bird. Glaspell strategically places symbols for readers to form their own suggested significance. In this matter, the bird is only allowed to wonder within its cage and depend completely on its owner. Relatively, Minnie is conformed to housekeeping matters and what Mr. Wright allows. Turning back to the birdcage that the two women found later in the play, it was found already broken without a bird inside. Marisarah’s article, "A Study of Symbols," suggests that the bird was removed roughly, resulting in the cage breaking. "It implies what just happened to Minnie's life, which she can finally [break away] from a cold and hard husband with a rough way too"

The bird is also seen in Molly’s flashback whilst at the Moore River Settlement, the use of a close up of her face in bed fading to an undershot of the eagle in the sky, brought back memories and is followed by a close up of Molly and Maude giving her the determination to escape and find their way home. Again, when the girls are struggling on their long journey home and they collapse, Noyce uses an extreme close up shot of Molly’s eyes as she hears the sound of the eagle, her eyes slowly open and then the film uses a low angle shot of the eagle flying above the girls in the sky. The audience senses their vulnerability and the challenge that lies ahead. This is followed by a high angle shot of Molly standing and looking at the eagle providing her with the inner strength to continue the journey home. As they continue, there is an aerial shot of trees, the sound of an eagle, an example of diegetic sound and the audience has a sense that the bird is guiding the girls home.

“Our mouths opened and shut and we froze where we sat. I suppose we could have honked and waved and it wouldn’t have raised any more pandemonium than this poor mother already had to deal with but instead we held perfectly still. Even Turtle, after a long minute or two the quail got her family herded off the road into some scraggly bushes” (96). The birds are significant symbolism in this book. They often appear in the book to symbolize Turtle; Kingsolver did this to show Turtle is a strong survival instinct child. First, when Taylor took Turtle to doctor and discovered that she has been abused and raped. As she makes this discovery, she sees a bird nest on a cactus. This shows that Turtle, in spite of her surroundings she keep persists. Also, when Turtle met the robber, a sparrow got caught in Lou Ann’s house, the bird getting scared shows the Turtle’s confusion and fright. But sparrow survives and leaves the house; this shows that even though Turtle is going through confusion she will survive. Finally, the quote shows the moment when Lou Ann and Taylor found a family of birds on the road. This quote symbolizes how Turtle is satisfied with her small family, feel safe, and she is happy.

The flying eagle is another symbol in this film that has been exclusively embraced. The bird first appears to Molly and her mother at the beginning of the movie. Her grandma points towards the bird and says to Molly, “See that bird? That’s a spirit bird; he will always look after you.” This scene shows the bird importance to the Aboriginal. The bird gave Molly the courage to escape Moore River. While in

Birds are a sizable image in The Awakening. Edna feels like a caged bird, and wishes to be freed. When