Essay Questions

The birds that Lorrie Moore employs in Birds of America are more metaphorical rather than literal. Support this statement using illustrations from Birds of America.

In Birds of America, Lorrie Moore incorporates birds ranging from pink flamingoes to devious crows and even bats in most of the short stories that make up the anthology. Moore presents her skill as a master in the composition of these stories given their previous publication in various mainstream periodicals, including The New Yorker and The New York Times, just to mention but a few. Moore’s use of the different types of birds in her stories enhances metaphorical usage than contributing to literary magnificence.

Moore uses the metaphor of the birds to directly present various themes to the reader without being explicit or unequivocal. Additionally, the use of this stylistic device in her literary works plays the role of enabling her to make an implicit, hidden, or disguised comparison between two things that are dissimilar and unrelated but which have mutual physiognomies at a closer, more in-depth look. For instance, Moore implies a relationship between the migratory behaviors of birds and the aspect of the spiritual migration of humans. As such, she is able to present clearly the point of an environmental and divine movement that most individuals go through as their lives are influenced by certain forces that make their ability to maneuver utterly difficult.

Despair, dolefulness, and depression are central in Lorrie Moore’s Birds of America. Support this statement using illustrations from Moore’s anthology of the same name.

In Moore’s anthology, Birds of America, the concept of despair and dolefulness make its way into most of the short stories that make up the collection. For instance, most of the women characters in the short stories are caught up with answering their own problems with respect to the concept of motherhood, a situation that is dotted with despair. In “People Like That,” the central couple is presented as dealing with the probable demise of their child.

On top of that, “In Terrific Mother,” one of the characters who is also due to have their own child learns the hard way of their apparent lack of what it takes to have a child and to be a mother, as a result of their despair, they allow the death of a child. All of these scenarios are dotted with despair and depressing outcomes for the characters, a situation that promotes Moore’s emphasis on women as givers of life having a more intimate and personal experience with suffering.