You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Shut Ins - A Short Story Diversion
As I understood it's not really about a bird, but about an old lady, who has no one to talk to except for a bird in a cage. If I understood it correctly, then she also has no means of supporting herself financially. After all how often can she steal a package with food? Am I right?
Yes. Her husband, who was the one who ventured out into the world for supplies, has recently passed away. She is running out of food but hasn't left the apartment in a very long time due to what used to be called 'bad nerves.' She has money, but hasn't dealt with the finances in years. She doesn't know how to have things delivered because that would involve either using the computer or interacting with a human, and she doesn' like to do either.
I wrote another related post called Shut Ins: Across the Hall about her neighbour, who is dealing with his own issues about interacting with the world.
Thanks for your careful reading and caring enough to ask!
My pleasure. It's a great idea to use this conversation with the bird as a means to show how lonely this person is. It's much more effective in making the reader commiserate with the character than a direct author's narrative. A thumb up!
Thanks! As a little Easter egg of sorts, Charlotte Perkins (the bird) is named after Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper', another story about a solitary woman of questionable sanity.
I followed you and now will read your other texts. Cheers!