Lament for the Marginalized: The “Other” Behind Animal Imagery in A Bird in the House

Abstract

Canadian writer Margaret Laurence’s short story collection A Bird in the House is rich in animal imagery. These images carry profound cultural connotations and are highly intertextualized with various marginalized individuals—or the “Other” in different social contexts within the fictional prairie town of Manawaka: the endangered loons symbolize Piquette, who is marginalized in terms of both ethnicity and gender; the horses of the night represent the economically marginalized Chris; and the half-husky stands for Harvey, who is marginalized in both economic status and family environment. The tragic fates of the animals and the marginalized characters are closely intertwined and reflect each other, refracting the writer’s sympathy for the vulnerable and her deep humanistic concern.