Summary Of The Pink Flamingo A Natural History

"Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false." These profound words spoken by Swiss philosopher Henri Amiel illustrate the wretched vulgarity and superficiality of the virus-like spread of materialism. In the essay entitled "The Pink Flamingo: A Natural History" by Jennifer Price, Price examines the popularity of the well-known pink flamingo and how it relates to the ideals and whims of American culture. Using American fascination of the plastic, pink flamingo as her medium, Jennifer Price shows her evident disdain for the superficial materialism present in American society.

Jennifer Price introduces her analysis of the flamingo fad by presenting the rise of the pink flamingo in American culture
Price 's use of imagery in her essay and the interpretation that follows shows that she believes the plastic flamingo is obviously not even fit to represent the true flamingo. Price lists the colors, "tangerine, broiling magenta, livid pink, incarnadine, fuchsia demure, Congo ruby, methyl green," in order to establish images that overwhelm the reader 's mind with bold colors. The extremely bold colors of the plastic flamingo such as "livid pink" and "broiling magenta" formulate the conclusion that the plastic flamingo could never be synonymous with the quiet, demure brilliancy of a real flamingo. Thus, once the reader has interpreted the color imagery and concluded that all of the colors are just "too much", the reader can make the connection that society is also "too much" obsessed with putting on pretenses of wealth as opposed to focusing on issues that really matter such as the preservation of the real flamingo. Price also makes use of repetition in order to express the magnitude of the plastic flamingo 's color in society. Jennifer Price states, "Washing machines, cars, and kitchen counters proliferated in passion pink, sunset pink, and Bermuda pink." By stating that the pink fad present in the plastic flamingo was also transferred into household appliances such as washing machines and kitchen counters, Price implies that the materialism and vulgarity of appearing wealthy spread into the home; the infiltration of materialism into the home meant that the desire for wealth and extravagance had also infiltrated the aspects of American life. Price 's criticism of the flamingo 's color fascination supports the essay 's idea that Americans are only satisfied by boldness and extravagance as evident in the pink coloration of household appliances because