Yellow Bird

Through out the second section of the book there are several references to yellow birds. One example is, “I’m a normal. I only dream about blond chicken. Speaking of which, you hear about the nanny goat’s nightmare?”(93) This quote, spoken by Dick, references a blond chicken or a yellow bird, and a few lines down it mentions a goat; this is just one of the times that a yellow bird is compared to an escape goat. Another quote is, “Still they were remarkable photographs, and what made them so was Perry’s expression, his look of unflawed fulfillment, of beatitude, as though at last, and as in one of his dreams, a tall yellow bird had hauled him to heaven”(120) this quote again mentions a yellow bird which brings him to heaven. Some people may say that the yellow bird represents an angel however I believe that it symbolizes freedom. Dick and Perry both have killed people and they know their freedom will not always be attainable, so they in created in their minds an unrealistic example of a way to get freedom for example dick wants to use his yellow bird as an escape goat, and Perry wants his idea of a yellow bird to take him to heaven because he feels that even though he had killed two people he still deserves to get into heaven because he is still a good person on the inside and doesn’t deserve to go to hell.