John Audubon's Okay For Now

The use of animals as a way to represent humans is a very common theme with African storytelling. In “Lion-Child and Cow-Child”, both of the main characters are on a journey to leave their animal pasts behind. Lion-Child and Cow-Child are stuck in between, and are neither completely human nor completely animal. In order to complete their rite of passage, they must completely remove themselves from their animal pasts, in this case breaking ties with their animal mothers, in order to reach adulthood. The animal images comment on the fact that in the beginning these characters are not yet in harmony with nature. In “The Romance of the Fox”, mirroring is utilized to represent the connection between the boy and the fox. The fox is representative

Gary D. Schmidt uses metaphorical comparisons to enhance the reader’s understanding of a character’s development throughout the novel Okay for Now. Doug’s development coincides with his changing perception of the Audubon birds. The birds portray Doug’s feelings in important situations in his life. For example, Doug asks his father about the prizes from the trivia contest, and his father becomes very angry that Doug is questioning him. Doug is caught in the middle of a difficult situation just like the yellow Shank. He does not know whether to just stare “into this dark place” or “cross the river that divides him from it” (Schmidt 178). Doug went from being in the middle right into the darkness with one statement just as Audubon portrayed the

Schmidt uses symbolism with pictures to portray Doug’s life and his drawings. Pictures of the birds which

In the story The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, the author shows many similarities between the narrator's little brother Doodle and an exotic bird. While reading through the story the young boy is not thought very highly of. No one including, the doctors, ever thought Doodle would live past a couple days. But Doodle did just that, he lived for 6 whole years. His parents even named him William Armstrong, because they thought it would look good on a tombstone. His brother later renamed him Doodle because with that kind of name no one would expect much from him. Doodle had many obstacles growing up and didn’t really fit it. While going through life Doodle was constantly trying to prove that there was a reason for his life. Doodle’s brother tried very to have a normal little brother, so he pushed him in many ways to enable him to do normal things. Doodle could not stand up or crawl and when he did he crawled backwards, earning him the name Doodle. The brothers says to Doodle, “Aw, come on, Doodle,” I urged. “You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?”

He finds these birds atop Mrs. Windermere's fireplace. The analogy these birds create is very different than that of the Arctic Tern. Doug sees his family within the print. The analogy itself is the comparison of the birds and his family. In the print two of the birds are swimming away, this is a representation of Doug’s father and brother. Doug represents the younger bird. “It was looking like maybe it wanted to swim where the other two birds were, but maybe not. And anyway, he was afraid to try.” Okay for Now pg.54 Showing that Doug is torn between staying with his mother and going off with his brother and

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.

Although a lot of the story is pretty straight forward, she does use literary devices to help the reader understand the life of Birdie a little better. For example, in the end of the story she describes the vision of herself on the swing set outside of the hospital in saying, “Each time, the girl went fuzzy like an image on the television set with poor reception.” This simile allows the reader to really see what she saw or felt because we all can picture that type of image. Another time she uses a simile saying, “The swing is swaying gently, as if someone had just been on it.” These subtle literary devices help the reader to understand little things about the story in order for them to see the situation Birdie is in. However, there are not as many metaphors or a huge amount of other literary

James Hurst portrayed Doodle with birds. The two brothers were in Old Woman Swamp when Brother said, “Promise hung about us like the leaves, and wherever we looked, ferns unfurled and birds broke into song(7).” This quote can relate to Doodle because he was a joyful boy and dreamed big just like the quote said “birds broke into song.” Before Doodle could walk he wasn’t making his brother proud and once he did walk, he knew his brother was proud of him. There were moments in the story where Doodle could have been seen as a normal child but instead it was as if he was a bird.

The way he cooperates each drawing of each bird to a person in his life is how he expresses his feelings. On page 19 he compares the Arctic Tern to himself. He is trying to say that his life is crumbling right before his eyes and no one is there to help him and comfort him. Also on page 19 he says “The bird is falling and there wasn't a single thing in the world that cared at all.” With his father being and old drunk he wouldn't give a hoot if anything happened to anyone in his family. Every bird he recreates with Mr.Powell shows what each character means to him and how they are apart of his life. Doug is drawing as a way to express his emotions from things that go on in his life. He doesn't express them by drinking and doing other drugs like his father does with his emotions. If Doug never started being all artistic, he may be just like his father.

One species of bird in the story which acts a symbol is the oriole. “The oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle… and now

Watership Down, written by Richard Adams in 1970, is a story centered around rabbits. The two main characters are Hazel and Fiver. When Fiver senses that there is danger in the warren, Hazel and Fiver go to the leader of the warren, Threarah and tell him that all of the rabbits must leave the warren because of danger. Threarah says it is too risky to move all over the rabbits and insist that there is no danger. Regardless, Hazel and Fiver decide to leave the warren and look for a new home.

Probably one of the most important uses of animal imagery in the book comes early on, when McMurphy describes the group sessions as a “pecking party”. McMurphy explains a pecking party to Acutes as:

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.

The birdcage symbolizes the Wright’s marriage. It is breaking and past the point of recovery. “ Looks as if someone must have been rough with it” (Glaspell 875). Minnie Wright represents the bird, who is trapped. She is trapped in this marriage where she is mistreated. Though, Mrs.Wright is not killed, but her spirit is. Due to the isolation and neglect, Mrs.Wright’s spirit is killed. David Galens summarizes this drama in his article “Trifles.” He mentions “Neither woman can recall whether she actually had a bird, but Mrs. Hale remembers that Minnie did have a beautiful singing voice when she was younger” (Galens). Mrs.Peters and Mrs.Hale find the dead bird with silk around the neck. Mrs. Peters is in shock: “Somebody—wrung—its—neck” (Glaspell 115). Mrs.Hale does not know the Wright’s well, so she says “ I s’pose maybe the cat got it” (Glaspell 875). Mrs.Peters knows the Wright’s did not have a cat; therefore, the cat is a metaphor to John Wright. This bird is valuable to Mrs.Wright, because it was her only company throughout the long days when her husband works. The loneliness without the bird called for revenge. Minnie is tired of the emotionally abusive man she married. Mrs.Wright wrings John’s neck and kills him for all the things he does to slowly kill

“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.