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The Plastic Pink Flamingo A Natural History Summary

Decent Essays

After the rough times of the thirties, with the great depression vastly affecting a majority of American citizens, the forties and fifties brought a period of greatly needed hope and prosperity; simultaneously, the fifties also brought rise to the famous plastic pink flamingo. In her essay, “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History”, author Jennifer Price examines the phenomenon of the toy bird and the impact it had on society. By using colorful diction, a sarcastic tone, and contrasting ideas, Price is able to effectively convey her view of United States culture and reveal the inner problems of a seemingly booming nation.
Price’s commentary on the plastic pink flamingo begins even before her first paragraph. In fact, her title alludes …show more content…

Her first sentence, that the “pink flamingo splashed into the fifties,” connotes a whimsical and lighthearted feeling with the use of “splashed.” While it can be interpreted that Price is using these words that are often associated with flamingos, such as “flocking” and “wading,” in order to fit the mood of the piece, it can also be understood that Price is using such words to mock the topic, and to an extent, the American citizens themselves. Additionally, Price uses flashy words, such as “extravagance” and “flamboyant oasis,” to further exaggerate the prosperity of the wealthy in order to differentiate the middle class from the upper class. This should not be interpreted that Price is sneering the middle class, but instead, that she is trying to show how separate the two classes are and question the purpose of the middle class trying to mimic the well-off. Whether this is due to the common conception that Americans like to show off their wealth, or whether they are merely following the trend, Price is acknowledging that she can see through their façade and showcase how important image is to United States …show more content…

The first clear example of this mockery can be seen in her second sentence, “first, it was a flamingo.” This sentence immediately stands out because, in comparison to the surrounding sentences, it is short. To add more emphasis, “flamingo” is also italicized. The combination of these two techniques signals that Price wanted to highlight the phrase in order to make it seem like it is so obvious why the plastic pink flamingo was such as hit. In doing so, Price states that the reason why the flamingo was so popular is because it is a “flamingo” and nothing more, as if that was enough to justify the American citizens’ sudden infatuation with the toy bird. Price later repeats this similar tactic to describe the flamingo as “pink”. By demonstrating how simple the plastic flamingo is – stripping it down to just “flamingo” and “pink” – Price shows how silly it is for this knickknack to represent the wealth of America. Price continues with her sarcastic tone, as seen in the second paragraph, when she describes how flamingos were previously hunted to extinction by Americans, and subsequently states, “but no matter.” Again, this short idiom stands out among the rest of the more elaborate neighboring sentences. Literally, “no matter” could mean that there is no real issue with the way the flamingos were hunted and that their nearby extinction remains irrelevant. However, in the context of this essay, Price is utilizing this

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