Bird Analysis

Birds have been a recurring symbol for the different attributes of human life in a majority of the pieces of literature we have read about in our years in public education. Kingston uses the motif of birds in "White Tigers", a chapter in "The Warrior Woman", to describe aspects of human life - specifically bravery, dreams, death, and innocence. Bravery is displayed when seven year old Kingston is describing her climb of the mountain. The bird follows her during the climb, where "the brambles tear off [her] shoes and the rocks cut [her] feet and fingers", yet she still remains courageous and perseveres through the hardships, with the bird as her companion throughout the journey (Kingston 20). As the bird flies alongside of Kingston during the climb, the bird can also be interpreted as Kingston's dreams of becoming a bird to literally rise above the obstacles the mountain poses to achieve greatness. Going back to reality, Kingston describes her Fourth Uncle's death, where he is killed by Communists for attempting to catch doves to feed his family. The uncle can represent innocence, as "he's too damned shy is raise his voice" against the Communists, who end up killing him in cold blood (Kingston 51). As seen in other works, such as "To Kill a Mockingbird", the mockingbird shares a very similar symbolic meaning. The mockingbird is considered to be an innocent figure, and to kill a mockingbird is to commit an unforgivable sin. Connecting the two, the Fourth Uncle can represented as a mockingbird.