The Big Yellow Bird

One aspect of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood that was not fully discussed was the recurring "big yellow bird" that Perry Smith had seen in his dreams. There were only vague references given to these dreams that Perry was having, but I feel that even though Capote used a factual style of writing, there was a symbolic message that was derived from this bird. When I was reading the book, every time the bird was mentioned, I took note of the page on which on which the bird came back into effect, and I knew that this was something that I wanted to take into further consideration. What was the significance of the "big yellow bird," and what did it symbolize?

The first time the bird is mentioned in the text takes place during a conversation with Perry and Dick. Perry had been talking to Dick about fate and how life tends to unfold the way that it is supposed to. Perry talks about a dream that he had been having since he was a child. In the dream he is in the jungles of Africa, where there is a tree that is beautiful in form, but has an unpleasant smell. Instead of bearing fruit, the tree is littered with diamonds. Perry states that he is afraid to pick the diamonds from the tree because of a snake that is guarding the diamonds. He then states that he is more concerned about getting the diamonds, than getting bitten by the snake. His ambition to retrieve the diamonds comes to no avail; the snake takes hold of him and crushes his legs before swallowing him whole. Dick was uninterested by the story, so Perry relives the rest of it in his mind. He relives the beginnings of the "towering yellow bird." One particular event that he remembers was from the days that he was living in the orphanage with the nuns who used to torment him. After the nuns gave him a beating, the bird appeared while he slept and proceeded to slaughter the nuns and whisk Perry away to paradise(92-93).

What is interesting about the bird in Perry's dreams was that the bird's role in Perry's fantasy changed throughout the book. Originally the bird is his savior, a protector from evil that came to Perry during his darkest times. He states that the finale of the story he told Dick was "a source of private joy(92)." What is most interesting to me about the "big yellow bird" is that he did not fantasize about it. The bird came to him in his sub-conscience while he was sleeping. The bird was not something that came only when he wanted it to. He described the bird as being "taller than Jesus, yellow like a sunflower." Although I do not feel that the bird symbolized Jesus, I feel that the bird was a gift that was bestowed into Perry's psyche. The bird was his mind's way of escaping from the things that he feared. Not only escaping from his fear, but from reality as well. The reality that he was in a place that he had no control over; an orphanage that he was constantly abused in. The bird gave Perry protection and the hope that someday things would change and he would be in a better place.

Perry states that as time went on the bird would save him from almost everything in his life that bothered him. The bird then became more of his avenger than his savior. It would seek vengeance toward any one who had ever done him wrong; his father, his siblings, an army sergeant. It is not until Perry goes to jail, that the purpose of the bird changes yet again. The bird is still his savior, but its meaning takes on a much greater importance. To Perry, the bird symbolized freedom, another motif that is continuously recurring throughout the novel. Freedom has great importance to both Dick and Perry, whether it is the freedom of not being incarcerated any more, or the freedom of being on the road and traveling from state to state, city to city, and the freedom that they lose when they know that they are going back to jail for good. Not only did the bird give Perry a sense of escape from reality, it made him feel superior. Considering that he referred to the bird as a "she," the bird was almost like the motherly figure that was missing from his life all along. When he was in jail, Perry knew that he would never be truly free, but the bird gave him promise, if only for a short moment. He stated while in jail "She lifted me, I could have been light as a mouse, we went up, up, I could see the square below, men running, yelling, the sheriff shooting at us, everybody sore as hell because I was free, I was flying, I was better than any of them(266)."

The "big yellow bird" played an important role in this book. Although it took on many different meanings, it was mostly a symbol of hope for Perry. While some may feel that the bird symbolized Jesus, I do not think that Jesus would savage brutalize nuns and all of the other people who negatively affected Perry's life. While in jail the "big yellow bird" was Perry's last thing that he could hold on to. Something that no one could ever take from him, and what is sad to me is that given the brutality of his crimes, after he was hung, paradise was not where he would be spending the rest of eternity.