The Symbolism of Birds in Z.Z. Packer’s The Ant of the Self Essay Sample

The Symbolism of Birds in Z. Z. Packer’s “The Ant of the Self” In Western literature. birds are frequently used to typify worlds. Birds’ anatomy. behaviour. and perceived emotions combine to do the bird a utile symbol of worlds. their ideas. and their emotions. Z. Z. Packer adds to this list of more commonly used similarities between birds and worlds by induing the birds in her short narrative. “The Ant of the Self” . with the gift of address. By making so. Z. Z. Packer highlights her usage of a squawking mixture of colourful African birds as a symbol for Spurgeon. The birds serve as a accelerator for the narrative. giving rise to Spurgeon’s and his father’s trip to the Million Man March. As the couple makes their manner from Jasper. Indiana to Washington. D. C. . Packer introduces a sequence of similitudes between Spurgeon and the birds. These likenesses show the extent to which the birds map as a symbol for Spurgeon. Most significantly. nevertheless. the birds allow the reader to more closely analyze the father-son relationship between Ray Bivens Jr. and Spurgeon.

Upon Ray Bivens Jr. ’s forceful gaining control and caging of a colourful menagerie of African birds from his ex-girlfriend’s house. similarities between Spurgeon and the birds become evident. These similarities are non inadvertent. nor are they surprising. Birds are frequently used as a symbol for worlds non merely because they possess great physical and behavioural human resemblance. but besides because we believe that we are able interpret their ideas. Birds lend themselves to going symbols because “they seem so similar us in many ways” ( Mynott 282 ) . Mynott clarifies his statement that birds are “like us” by explicating that birds “have roundish caputs with two eyes in front” and engage in behaviour to which we believe we can associate ( 282 ) . Mynott besides acknowledges that birds can be bipedal. Because of these apelike physical traits and relatable behaviours. we are led to believe that birds experience feelings and emotions which are similar to our ain. Perceived to be similar in so many ways. we farther believe that we may construe birds’ ideas or feelings.

The birds in The Ant of the Self are so used to typify a homo. However. their similarities to a peculiar character. Spurgeon. travel beyond these more general human similarities. Physically similar and behaviorally relatable. the birds in The Ant of the Self are besides speaking birds. and hence symbolize Spurgeon. Like Spurgeon. the species which ZZ Packer references are gifted talkers. While the speaking birds are merely able to whine absurd and out-of-place comments such as “Advil works [ … ] better than Tylenol. ” this ability however sets them apart from other bird species ( Packer 97 ) . Spurgeon’s talking ability besides sets him apart from those of his ain species. Spurgeon is a member of his school’s argument squad. and is capable of talking on “debate subject [ s ] like U. S. -China diplomatic dealingss. ” a endowment which sets him apart from his equals ( Packer 86 ) . In add-on. the birds which accompany Spurgeon and his male parent on their trip to D. C. are of African descent. As an African American. Spurgeon is besides of African descent. However. the birds’ symbolism for Spurgeon is non supported entirely by the fact that they portion ties to “the Motherland [ Africa ] ” ( 92 ) .

Their symbolism is farther supported by the fact that the birds’ and Spurgeon’s lives are likewise impacted by those ties to the Motherland. Because the birds are “real [ African ] birds” Ray Bivens Jr. believes that they will sell good at the “Afrocentric” ( 92 ) populated Million Man March. and hence he cages and forcefully transports them to the March. Similarly. Spurgeon attends the March merely because his “father made [ him ] come” ( 102 ) . Had Spurgeon non been Ray Bivens Jr. ’s boy. and hence non of African descent. he would non hold been forced to go to the March. Z. Z. Packer furthers her usage of the birds as a symbol for Spurgeon by working the belief that birds engage in behaviour which can be interpreted in human footings. After telling his male parent out of the auto. Spurgeon notes that the birds seem to be “looking from [ him ] to [ Ray Bivens Jr. ] as though they [ ‘d ] placed stakes on who [ would ] travel down in flames” ( Packer 95 ) . Because of the supposed similarities between worlds and birds. birds are a utile tool for writers wishing to typify human emotions or ideas. Mynott offers that birds are frequently “distinguished partially by the different human emotions they seem to be revealing” ( Mynott 282 ) .

He references several illustrations of the usage of human-specific traits in the description of birds. such as “kind. ” “stern. ” and “astonished” ( 282 ) . It is non such a immense spring from the ascription of such human features. to “anthropomorphic misdescription” ( 282 ) . The birds in The Ant of the Self are said to be looking “as though they [ had ] placed bets” on who would lose Spurgeon’s and his father’s confrontation. While Spurgeon is taking a base against his male parent by telling him out of the auto and onto the shoulder of the route. the birds’ funny glimpses are exposing Spurgeon’s ain ideas. The birds. a symbol for Spurgeon. inquire whether he or his male parent will “go down in flames” ( Packer 95 ) . The caged birds. which are so capable of human looks. are showing Spurgeon’s ideas. ZZ Packer endows the birds with a expression of human quizzicality. holding them glimpse from the nervous Spurgeon to his enraged male parent. Spurgeon admirations whether he or his male parent will win. and the birds. as his symbol. express this. As a symbol for Spurgeon and his ideas. the birds help uncover Ray Bivens Jr. ’s character every bit good as the nature of his relationship with Spurgeon.

Early on in the narrative. the reader understands that Spurgeon is routinely mistreated and neglected by Ray Bivens Jr. As a immature kid. Spurgeon was ignored by his male parent while sing him on the weekends. and says that “ [ I ] was so world-weary I’d work in front in text editions. delegate myself prep. whatever at that place was to make while waiting for Ray Bivens Jr. to break wind himself wake up [ … ] ” ( Packer 85 ) . Because the birds map as a symbol for Spurgeon. it is important that Ray Bivens Jr. mistreatments them every bit good. Spurgeon himself highlights this disregard when he asks his male parent. “what about the birds? You didn’t believe to acquire nutrient. did you? ” ( 94 ) . In maintaining with his character. Ray Bivens Jr. did non retrieve to supply for the birds. Ray Bivens Jr. deficiency of concern for the birds. which map in the narrative as a symbol for his boy. reveals that Ray Bivens Jr. is anything but a concerned or supportive male parent. His disregard of the birds symbolize the life-time of inattention Spurgeon has received from his male parent. Ray Bivens Jr. ’s deficiency of attention for the birds is aggressively contrasted by Lupita and the birds’ relationship. and Spurgeon and his mother’s relationship.

Since the birds typify Spurgen. Lupita’s intervention of them is brooding of Spurgeon’s mother’s intervention of her boy. Spurgeon. Unlike Ray Bivens Jr. Lupita loves the screaking colourful birds. even the “Rainbow lorikeets who squirt their putrid frugiverous crap on you” ( 89 ) . Although the birds. as Spurgeon points out. “technically” belong to Ray. it is Lupita who loves and attentions for them ( 91 ) . Similarly. even though Ray Bivens Jr. is Spurgeon’s male parent. and is“ [ Spurgeon’s ] blood [ … ] . ”it is merely Spurgeon’s female parent who loves and attentions for him ( 88 ) . Because of his parenthood. Ray should care for his boy. merely as he should care for the birds because he is technically their proprietor. But as a symbol for Spurgeon. Ray’s intervention of the birds’ shows that he is uninterested in being a lovingness male parent. Ray Bivens Jr. ’s relationship with the birds is non merely inattentive. it is opprobrious. Since the birds map as a symbol for Spurgeon. it is expected that Ray Bivens Jr. ’s relationship with Spurgeon is besides violent. This outlook is right. Ray Bivens Jr. ’s maltreatment of the caged. defenseless birds foretells his physical maltreatment of his boy. who is besides slightly caged and defenseless. This concatenation of maltreatment is non surprising and provides the reader with another lens through which to measure the two male character’s relationship.

Animal maltreatment and kid maltreatment are all excessively normally linked. In a reappraisal of the correlativity between animate being and domestic maltreatment. research workers found that “in the bulk of the households where there was grounds of physical maltreatment there was besides carnal abuse” ( Becker and French 402 ) . Of peculiar relevancy to Ray Bivens Jr. ’s function in The Ant of the Self is the determination that “in about two-thirds of the pet mistreating places. male parents were the maltreaters [ … ] ” ( 402 ) . These findings merely attest to Ray Bivens Jr. ’s relationship with his boy as an opprobrious 1. and the function of the birds’ as a symbol for Spurgeon. During a labored conversation with his boy. Ray Bivens Jr. approximately beats the noisy birds’ cages together. Later. after an thorough experience in a saloon. Ray Bivens Jr. physically assaults his boy. It is natural. both because of Becker and French’s findings and because of the birds’ function as a symbol for Spurgeon. that Ray besides beats his boy. The birds are a symbol for Spurgeon and have similar intervention from Ray Bivens Jr. . and hence function to farther develop the reader’s comprehension of Spurgeon’s and his father’s relationship. The birds in their coops symbolize Spurgeon. who is trapped by his father’s parental power over him. As the birds are trapped in their coops and unable to support themselves from Ray Bivens Jr. ’s onslaughts. Spurgeon’s relationship with his male parent has trapped him and rendered him unable to avoid his father’s maltreatment.

Ray Bivens Jr. has locked both his boy and the alien birds inside the auto and into an oppressive relationship with him. The fact that the birds were free to wing before Ray Bivens Jr. caged them reflects the loss of freedom Spurgeon experiences at the custodies of his male parent. The reader senses that Spurgeon experiences and desires the greater freedom he enjoys when apart from his male parent. In fact. it was freedom from disbursement clip with his male parent which drove Spurgeon to fall in his school’s argument squad. He thought that “ [ he ] would ne’er hold to see Ray Bivens Jr. again” if he joined ( Packer 85 ) . Once in the ownership of Ray Bivens Jr. . the birds are cruelly caged and stripped of their freedom. For old ages. “romantic sensibilities” ( Lutwack 153 ) have held that maintaining birds in coops is barbarous. This position. which holds that striping birds of flight is despotic. is a common subject in literature. In The Manciple’s Tale Geoffrey Chaucer insists that even a well-cared for bird in “his coop of gold [ will ] be nevere so gay” as the bird left “in a wood. that is ill-mannered and coold” ( lines 168-170 ) . Lupita’s birds. harmonizing to this point of view. are much happier winging freely around her place. than they are when they are crammed into coops.

ZZ Packer uses this point of view to set up the oppressive quality of Ray Bivens Jr. ’s and Spurgeon’s relationship. Lutwack explains that the subjugation felt by a caged bird is “a common metaphor for any restraint placed on a person’s freedom” ( Lutwack 153 ) . Ray Bivens Jr. restrains the birds’ freedom. and because they symbolize Spurgeon. he besides restrains his son’s freedom. ZZ Packer ensures readers’ consciousness of the oppressive force of Ray Bivens Jr. by stressing the freedom that the birds and Spurgeon enjoy when off from him. The colourful birds fly freely around Lupita’s place under her admiring oculus. and Spurgeon is “the adult male of [ his mother’s ] house” and drives her to church under the regard of her proud eyes ( Packer 95 ) . The birds’ entrapment by Ray Bivens Jr. and their symbolism of Spurgeon depict Ray Bivens Jr. ’s presence as a kind of coop which Spurgeon must project off in order to be free. The birds’ symbolism reveals that Spurgeon’s relationship with his male parent is non merely oppressive and opprobrious. but that it is “the little. blind. crumb-seeking part” of Spurgeon which he must project off in order to go free ( 101 ) .

When Spurgeon does project of his male parent. he may simply get away to the modern twenty-four hours equivalent of Chaucer’s meager “forest. that is ill-mannered and cold. ” but it is “his libertee this brid [ Spurgeon ] desireth ay” ( Geoffrey 170-174 ) . As a bird released from its coop into a cold. predicting forest. Spurgeon is left entirely. hapless. and bruised on the streets of Washington D. C. He has dramatis personae of his coop of a male parent. and seized the freedom which has been robbed of his symbol. the African birds. Despite his deplorable province. Spurgeon is unagitated and able to see that the relationship he had maintained with Ray Bivens Jr. meant nil after all ( Packer 114 ) .

As Geoffrey Chaucer maintains. the bird desires its autonomy above all. Like his symbol. the birds. Spurgeon excessively desires his autonomy above all. The colorful. screaking. African birds in The Ant of the Self map both as a goad for the two chief characters improbable route trip to Washington D. C. and as a symbol for the storyteller of this narrative. The birds’ connexion with Ray Bivens Jr. enhances the reader’s apprehension of Ray Bivens Jr. ’s relationship with Spurgeon. Without the birds. the narrative would non hold been able to take off. Even more significantly. the reader would non hold understood Spurgeon’s and Ray Bivens Jr. ’s separation as Spurgeon’s flight from a coop similar to those occupied by his symbol. the birds.

Plants Cited

Becker. Fiona and French. Lesley. “Making the Linkss: Child Abuse. Animal Cruelty and Domestic Violence. ” Child Abuse Review 13 ( 2004 ) : 399-414. Print. Chaucer. Geoffrey. “The Manciple’s Tale. ” The Canterbury Tales. Modern Library Edition. New qqqqqqYork: Random House Inc. 1994. 531. Print. Lutwack. Leonard. Birds in Literature. Florida: University Press of Florida. 1994. Print. Mynott. Jeremy. Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience. Princeton: Princeton qqqqqUniversity Press. 2009. Print Packer. ZZ Drinking Coffee Elsewhere: Narratives. New York: Penguin Group. 2003. Print