Parrots in literature

Surprising enough the subject of parrots in literature has a small range of academics who have and continue to study the relevance of parrots in literature both as decoration or comedy and also as symbol it being a speaking animal and intelligent to boot. A variety of authors over the centuries have depicted and used parrots as enrichers and embellishers in patterns of narratives. Ovid, Skelton, Gresset, Flaubert, Stevenson, Clare and Rhys to name but a few have given us parrot characters, to wonder at and to entertain us. Jean Rhys in Wide Sargasso Sea utilises Coco, Annette’s pet parrot to reflect to the reader the mental and physical state of Annette, they are both restrained, Annette in her house and Coco by having her wings clipped, a fact which seals the birds doom when it attempts to fly off the balcony of the burning house, falling to its death. This also presages the fiery leap from Thornfield by Antoinette, Annette’s daughter, a captive bird herself.