What did you think of the imagery of birds throughout this short story - and do you see any connections to Frith?
"She'll stay. She will never go away again. The Lost Princess is lost no more. This is her home now - of her own free will."
The interesting thing was that when Philip Rhayader said this, the parallel is between the snow goose and Frith ... but during the evacuation at Dunkirk, and afterward, the snow goose is seen as "the soul of Rhayader taking farewell of her before departing forever." Why do you think the snow goose is so important to this tale?
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I loved the bird imagery! (I kept thinking of the film "Winged Migration" as I was reading — a really fantastic homage to migratory birds, if you haven't seen it).
ReplyDeleteI thought the snow goose was important because its initial injury brought Frith and Philip together, obviously, but also because it was a loner, an outsider who didn't fly with its own kind but who took up with the pinkfeet (when it socialized with other birds at all), so it was like Philip in that way — and also in its protective, nurturing nature.
The natural world, particularly animals, can be a very strong bonding experience for two people because it gives them a mutual focus for contemplating the mysteries and "miracles" of life and our own place in nature and in each other's lives.
The story also seemed to divide the world into two kinds of people: those who look upon animals and the natural world and see majesty and wonder and those who look upon it and see opportunities for plundering and killing. (The war-makers must be in the latter category ...)
I love that Philip not only appreciated the beauty of the natural world but sought to reproduce it over and over again in his art — a kind of worship, and also a kind of triumph over what at first appear to be his own physical defects.
Great insights ... thanks for posting! Yes, I love the passage where it describes Philip:
ReplyDelete"Physical deformity often breeds hatred of humanity in men. Rhayader did not hate; he loved very greatly, man, the animal kingdom, and all nature."