T. C. Boyle's Rara Avis

In T.C. Boyle’s short story “Rara Avis,” Boyle commands the craft of perspective to explore parental relationships and sexual repression through the symbol of a rare bird. It all begins when a strange bird appears on the roof of a local furniture store. Throughout the story, Boyle uses the rare bird to symbolize a woman and, on a more visceral level, the narrator’s own sexual repression. The twelve year old boy narrator provides a unique take on the events of the story, specifically because of the details he notices. Not only does he characterize the bird as feminine, he seems to notice almost exclusively the sexual aspects in the crowd of people that forms to watch the bird. For example, he notices “a girl in a college sweater … leaning against