BIRDY A Novel Essay Research Paper

BIRDY A Novel Essay, Research Paper I. Type of Book A. Fiction B.Call Number: Fiction W C. Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. D.Latest Copyright Date 1978 E. 310 pages II. Title and AuthorBirdy by William Wharton III. Setting and Time:This story takes place in the New England area in pre W.W.II times (they get drafted for W.W.II). IV. A.Main Characters and brief description: ?Birdy?-This is his nick name and is what everyone refers to him as in the story. He loves birds. At first he was fascinated with pigeons and then moved on to canaries by eighth or ninth grade. B. Alfonso Columbato- His nick name is Al. He is of Sicilian decent, but was born and raised in the US. His dad would beat him up as a kid, and his main goal was to get big and beat up his dad. He was Birdy?s best

friend from the time they were little kids until the end of the book. He is very tough and into girls a lot. C. Vittorio Columbato- This is Al?s father. Later in the book, it tells of a time when Al beats him up. He is a ?cheapo? and doesn?t have a very good relationship with his son. His wife usually ends up trying to stick up for Al. D. Birdy?s dad- I don?t recall seeing his name anywhere in this book. He and his wife don?t have very much money. He makes about $800-$900/year as a janitor for the school his son goes to. Late in the book, he tries to help Birdy take care of his canaries because Birdy makes more money than he does raising and selling canaries which is about $1000-$1500/year. E. Weiss- This is the psychiatrist in the ?loony bin? where Birdy is being kept throughout

the book. He is pretty smart and knows how to get inside of people?s heads although he never figured out through the entire book that Birdy was acting like a bird in the ?loony bin?. He is a bigger man and basically a jerk. F. Renaldi- This was a man who worked in the ward and helped Al out a lot by not telling Weiss lots of Birdy?s improvements. At the very end of the book, he helps to break Birdy out of the mental hospital. V. A. Beginning (How story starts out) This story begins as Al telling the story. He is telling about some of the good times he and Birdy have had throughout their childhood in detail basically telling you how he and Birdy have always been best friends and did a lot of crazy stuff as kids. He is saying all of this to Birdy because Birdy is in the corner of

this loft in his pigeon suit, and Al is trying to get him to ?come around?. They went on tons of adventures and imitating one of their favorite comic book heroes. Al goes on telling how he and Birdy got started breeding pigeons and selling them trying not to let their parents find out for some extra money. Al gets disinterested and Birdy stays with the birds for the majority of his time and watches them learning what different signals mean and how he can train them and talk to them. He successfully does all of this and can even get the pigeons to eat from his lips. His parents eventually tear down the loft in which they kept the birds. They never found his pigeon suit. This was what Birdy made out of real pigeon feathers so he could be more like a pigeon. Birdy?s real dream was

to fly. He was obsessed with this. Once he even made some big wings and tried to jump off of a dump pile of trash over a creek to fly. Before that, he fell off a big gas tank trying to get pigeons and claimed it was like flying. He never got hurt from it though. Birdy was so into birds that when he was keeping his canaries, he started to flap his arms two hours a day so maybe he could flap the wings he made to fly. He even dreamt about canaries and how he was one, and later he falls in love with a canary named Perta as a bird. He begins to obsess over these dreams and what happened in these dreams would happen in real life. In his dream, he mated with Perta, and in real life, Perta had some fertile eggs she laid. He really fell in love with her. He sang to her and danced with her