Millicent Initiation Symbolism

Symbolism in Initiation
Popularity can suck high schoolers into a hole so deep that they don’t realize that they aren’t who they want to be. Whether it makes them mean, distant, or cliquey, like Millicent, status and ego can turn people’s personalities and friendships upside down, for the worst. Through the sparrows, heather birds, basement, Millicent emerges from this hole and understands who she wants to be. Symbolism in “Initiation” represents the growth of Millicent's character, from unassertive, to her sorority initiation changing her into a confident, non-conformist who realizes the power of individuality.
The look-alike group of sparrows that Millicent imagined represent the cliquey, exclusive group of sorority girls. For example, Millicent thinks of the sparrows as, “pale gray-brown birds in a flock, one
On page 9, Millicent thinks of the heather birds, and she imagines them, “strong and proud in their freedom and their sometime loneliness”. This is exactly how Millicent knows she will be if she decides to be independent, and it is shown in a positive way, foreshadowing that not joining the sorority is the best choice for her. She used to think that popularity and being social lead to happiness, but if she’s like a heather bird, who are “strong and proud”, she realizes that she can still be happy, along with a necessary occasional loneliness. Additionally, right after thinking of the sparrows, “for some reason, Millicent thought of the heather birds,” (9). It isn’t ironic that Millicent thought of sparrows, the birds that she thought she was going to be like, and then heather birds, a bird representing what she aspires to live like. Nor is it ironic that Millicent makes her decision about not joining the sorority right after she thinks about the heather birds, as she realizes that these birds, free and happy, are what she wants to be, not