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On The Waterfront Pigeons Essay

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18122 Mr. Edgar On the Waterfront Essay Assignment A City Full of Pigeons and Hawks In Elia Kazan’s movie On the Waterfront, we see that pigeons and hawks are used to symbolize different characters in the movie. Pigeons are used to represent characters that are weaker and more susceptible to the mob. On the other hand, hawks are used to represent characters that are more powerful and influential to others. Certain individual in the movie begin as either a pigeon or hawk and mutate into the other by the end. Timothy Dugan is an example of someone that remains a pigeon while Terry is one that begins as a pigeon and morphs into a hawk by the end of the film. To begin, Timothy “Kayo” Dugan is a character that would be considered a pigeon almost …show more content…

At the start of the film, Terry is a new, naive member of the mob. The movie opens with the mob having him lure a man named Joey Doyle onto a roof with one of his pigeons. Terry believes that the mob is simply going to talk to Joey when in reality they push him off the roof, killing him after he ratted on them. Terry later meets Edie Doyle, Joey’s sister who is looking to find who murdered her brother. At first, Terry tells her nothing in fear of what would happen to him, despite the fact that he knows the people who murdered Joey. Terry even says “You know this city’s full of hawks? That’s a fact. They hang around on the top of the big hotels. And they spot a pigeon in the park. Right down on him.” This proves that the mob is very controlling and impactful on those that they encounter, including Terry himself. Terry is afraid of going against them, proving he begins as a …show more content…

Over the course of the film there are many things, including people, that lead to Terry’s transformation. First, Terry falls in love with Edie, which has a huge impact on him and leads him to realize he needs to tell her who murdered her brother. Father Barry also helps him realize that he needs to testify against the mob. He constantly tells Terry to listen to his conscience and do the right thing. The final thing that tells Terry he needs make a change is the murder of his own brother, Charlie. All of this informs Terry that he needs to make a change. He goes to court to testify and later heads down to the docks and confronts Johnny, eventually getting into a fight with him, leading the longshoremen to rebel against him, putting an end to the reign of the mob. This all culminates into Terry’s drastic transformation. He mutates from a weak, disrespected pigeon who considers himself a bum into an esteemed hawk and the mob can no longer dictate

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