Reviewing The Imprisonment of The Jealous Husband in a Parrot as Depicted in Robert Olen Butler's Story

Jealous Husband Literary Analysis

Be careful what you wish for, in other words be careful when trying to catch your wife “in the act”. Robert Olen Butler uses symbolism to propel the story and leads the reader to understand the mentality of the once man who now faces the confusing mentality of a parrot. Butler has a style that sways readers to thinking he has amazing literature or something more mediocre, but, regardless of criticism, Butler’s story A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain became famed and because of it Butler has an award for new authors with his name on it. In this story, Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot, the title gives the plot away. A man unable to confront his unfaithful wife faces a fatal incident while trying to catch her. As the incident occurs he wishes he had wings, this later comes to haunt him as he is reincarnated in the form of a parrot and becomes pet to his unfaithful wife, watching various men come and go. We get a constant view into the birds mind showing us the psychological appeal with the husband’s racing thoughts. The most difficult thing to unearth in this story is the symbols Butler has hidden in the parrot.

In this story Butler uses strong senses of symbolism. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. To dissect this story I will be using the reader response point of view. Reader response means I will be ignoring the author’s information and even some of the textual information and focusing more on what I get from the story and how I experienced it.

The husband is presented as curious and thoughtful despite his possessive nature and unwillingness to confront his wife. His lack of confrontation, skeptical nature, and constant worry are relatable and yet make the reader frustrated with him. In one set of dialog we get a better insight to the husbands thoughts, “He'd been there a month in the shipping department and three times she'd mentioned him. She didn't even have to work with him and three times I heard about him, just dropped into the conversation. ‘Oh,’ she'd say when a car commercial came on the television, ‘that car there is like the one the new man in shipping owns. Just like it.’ Hey, I'm not stupid.” (Butler 188). He immediately suspects his wife of cheating and lets extreme worry rack his mind though she has done nothing to make him suspect this. The anxious dialect both internal and external and skittish nature of the husband pushes this point to the forefront of the readers’ mind. This is where I see the connection to a certain symbol, specifically the parrot he becomes.

A parrot’s personality is easily identifiable. Parrots tend to be extremely curious and rather emotional, as well as their strong tendency to claim their love and affection. Their mannerisms are described stating that they are, “famous for their insatiable curiosity and their multi-tool beak” (Nat Geo WILD) and that, “Parrots often show affection by preening your hair, nibbling on your chin or screeching loud enough to shatter eardrums when you leave the room – perfectly acceptable behavior according to the parrot marriage manual. If he's upset about where the relationship is heading, your parrot can deliver bites that remove chunks of flesh or trash his cage with the skill of a party hungry rock band.” (King). The image of a parrot is quite significant, and when this information is tied into the human mind, a specific characterization can become present. Their obsessions with love, extreme emotions, and intense curiosity can lead these birds to be complex creatures. These characteristics tie directly with the characteristics of the husband and make the reincarnation of him as a parrot more entertaining.

The husband’s reincarnation in the form of a parrot is one critical to the plot line. Due to the extent of emotional characteristics of both the husband and the parrot, it isn’t just coincidence or personal preference causing the symbolism of the parrot as his personality and dying wish. One prime example of his bird-like, yet still human-like, actions is shown when he states, “and this brain that works like it does now could feel that tiny little voice of mine ready to shape itself around these sounds. But before I could get them out of my beak there was this guy at my wife's shoulder and all my feathers went slick flat like to make me small enough not to be seen and I backed away. The pupils of my eyes pinned and dilated and pinned again.” (Butler 187). Although the technical feather slickening and pupil dilation may be specifically bird traits, his personality also decides to shrink back at the presence of another man. Some of the husband’s parrot-like features may not be due solely to his change, but also who he is, which presents an idea as to how he blends in with a parrot so well. These similarities tie the two beings together well.

The way Butler uses the parrot to symbolize the personality, expression, and emotion of the husband fits well. Reading the story through this life made the husband seem more defined as a character and produced a much crisper mental image. Tying characters to significant traits and depicting them as symbolic individuals may help greatly to clear up the mental image of a character. Reader response helped me read this story and appreciate how it made me feel and what I got from it instead of fully analysing it. As an analytical person I found this refreshing and will most likely be using this point of view again.