the life of a caged pigeon

 Okayyyyy so there are a lot of emotions and symbolism to unpack here. First, starting off with Quimet. Do not like him. Of course he starts off like a dream, very charismatic but turning into your worst controlling nightmare subtly first and then over taking your life. I sound dramatic but look at this poor Natalia girl who was given a nickname by her husband basically calling her a pigeon, like wow not romantic at all. If anyone called me a pigeon, its out the door with you. Anyways, off topic. But also not. The pigeon nick name also symbolizes male control as well as the erasure of her identity. From the get go of their marriage, Quimet is sure to establish clear gender roles and their constraints, confining Natalia to typical woman duties while he is off playing with pigeons and thinking they’ll be able to make them some money. What a loser this guy is. 


I found it sad for the pigeons but a little funny when Natalia would shake the pigeon eggs to kind of mess with his project and not be birthing any more pigeons because then she was the one cleaning up after him. This act of her shaking the pigeons, in my eyes, symbolizes a kind of quiet oppression because no one knows she is doing it, but she is still doing an act of rebellion against Quimet. She isn’t doing anything to change her situation but her resistance is more enduring and surviving. 

You can really see how the pigeons and Natalia were made to have similar circumstances in terms of being trapped and only being served for one purpose which is to reproduce and obey. Basically she is being treated the same as a caged animal. 


After her husband was killed in battle, her life went even more substantially downward with very little food to eat and no money it was looking pretty rough for their survival. There was “no food to buy. The milk was milkless. They said the meat, when there was any, was horsemeat.” 

This kind of sums up their situation. She later goes on to say that “I had as much strength as a dead cat” (145). A lot of people in this situation would have gone insane and crazy so the fact that she had the thoughts of taking the life of her children and herself does not necessarily surprise me, but it does go against my moral compass and taking the life of your children just seems to go against every maternal instinct you could have. This also shows how bad the times of her situation were just by even having these thoughts. 


But then, she meets Antoni who isn’t necessarily the love of her life, but does show a shift in different attitudes. I personally liked Antoni but anyways. He tries to offer Natalia help during desperate times and even saves her from killing herself and her children in a way. Unlike Quimet, he was patient, caring, and was not controlling. Instead he tried to offer her emotional and physically safety and stability. Slowly but surely, Natalia starts to rebuild her self-identity and it is also symbolic when the last bird dies or she is freed, and as said in the video: “it is as though she is possessed by bird life, a sensation that is only exacerbated once she is notionally free of the birds and becomes herself free as a bird…”


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