Other Birds

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapter 6–Interlude 3

Chapters 10-15

Chapter 16–Interlude 7

Chapter 20–Interlude 9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Birds

Birds are a recurring motif throughout the novel, appearing in the title and throughout the rest of the text in many ways. The small turquoise dellawisps, whose name inspired the apartment building in which the novel is set, are fictional birds that become a symbol for Mallow Island. Frasier knows the dellawisps intimately, forging a connection with them as strong as his bond with the ghosts that haunt him. The novel suggests that the dellawisps have an intelligence and awareness that transcends their species. Additionally, their colors are very distinctive: bright turquoise and orange, symbolizing energy and life.

Birds also appear as symbols of artistic expression. Charlotte’s date, Benny, is a woodcarver whose signature is bird carvings. Similarly, although Roscoe Avanger is in a creative drought, his alter-ego Frasier remains a prolific and skillful artist whose drawings of the dellawisps become evocative illustrations for Avanger’s book. While Frasier distances himself from his literary work, he’s proud of his art.

Birds also play a pivotal role in the story of Paloma, who becomes an invisible pigeon after death. This mirrors a story she told Zoey in childhood: “a woman who died giving birth to a son. She loved her child so much her soul went to live in the body of a bird to watch over him while he grew” (282). Paloma stresses that her family of origin has “always had a curious connection to birds” (282), which become symbolic legacy. When Paloma lost her brother at sea, he reappeared to her in the form of a bird. Thus, birds root Zoey’s family to Mallow Island, allowing Zoey and Paloma to find restoration and growth.

Witch Balls

Charlotte’s witch balls are a motif from popular folklore; these garden ornaments are commonly believed to keep malevolent spirits away. Because Charlotte has very few belongings and her space is portrayed as blankly minimalist, it is significant that she holds on to these fragile and delicate objects: They are a relic from her past, associated with her mother, who made and sold witch balls like these for the cultist camp. Charlotte surrounds herself with these ornaments, “and the symbolism wasn’t lost on her. She was trying to protect herself from the ghosts of her past” (49). Ironically, the witch balls do protect her from the spirits living in the Dellawisp, but not from the true danger of her past catching up.

Charlotte uses the witch balls for personal connection. She offers one to Zoey as an apology for her behavior and as an act of friendship. Later, she gives one to Mac to thank him for helping her. In each case, the witch ball represents Charlotte’s gradual softening toward those around her and her ability to accept love.

The witch balls are an element of magical realism, as they’re affected by the ghosts living in the apartment building. The balls break several times over the course of the novel, usually at moments of emotional or physical danger; at the climax of the novel, they all shatter at once to warn Charlotte of the approach of her knife-wielding mother Sam. This shattering ends their power—they have fulfilled their duty to protect Charlotte, who will from now on be made safe by her new friends and found family.

Food

Sumptuous food writing is a hallmark of Sarah Addison Allen’s fiction. In this novel, food carries many symbolic meanings and is presented as a primal way to express interconnection, community, and love. The setting is characterized by food: Mallow Island gets its name from the now-defunct marshmallow industry, which is now honored in various businesses throughout the town. This long-ago sweetness marks the island as a place somewhat out of time—in keeping with the ghostly presences that tether its residents to the past.

Mac, Zoey, and Charlotte all have deep connections and associations with food. Mac often finds food symbolic of love and nurture. He developed a special relationship with Camille in his childhood; both saw the food she made not just as a survival mechanism, but as emotional sustenance as well. This is a lesson he carries into the rest of his life, using food to support the people who work for him at the restaurant and the people he cares for, like Charlotte. When he is unable to articulate his feelings for her, he communicates them through food.

Charlotte has a complex relationship with food because of her traumatic childhood. In the cult, food, and in particular food preparation, became a symbol of captivity and limitation: “Teenaged Charlotte hadn’t wanted to work in restaurants when she grew up, not after all that time at the camp where the kids were expected to be on during room duty, serving the elders before they got to eat whatever was left over” (90). However, Charlotte’s special memories of Pepper are also food-based: “Food memory was one of the few profoundly good things she brought with her from her own childhood” (87).