Sandra K. Friday
The short, short stories I have included all have themes about protagonists who are either helplessly caught, or are struggling to get free, or who have actually succeeded in freeing themselves from some form of confinement. Their attitudes and feelings expressed through their voices about their confinement are crucial to the extent to which they are able to free themselves. "The Parable of the Eagle" by James Aggrey is an interesting place to begin because the protagonist doesn't even know its freedom has been taken away from it. A chick (baby eagle) is captured by a farmer who takes it home and raises it to be a chicken among his barnyard chickens. A naturalist comes along when the eagle is grown and insists to the owner that it is still has the heart of an eagle. The farmer disagrees with him, stating, "It is a chicken, and it will never fly" (McCormack). But he allows the naturalist to test his theory. After three attempts, first picking the eagle up in the barnyard, then taking it to the top of the farm house, and finally, to the top of a high mountain, the naturalist convinces the eagle that it is not a chicken, but an eagle, and it soars into the sky and never returns. This little story also introduces body language because the eagle never utters until it shrieks at the very end as it soars high in the sky. Yet, its actions throughout the story clearly express its sense of itself.
It appears that the eagle never would have been liberated if the naturalist had not come along and insisted, again and again, "It is an eagle!" to the farmer who retorts, again and again, "No, it is a chicken!" (McCormack) This story is, in some ways, similar to the poem about the man who lives in the coconut, except the eagle has no idea that it is imprisoned in the barnyard and seems perfectly willing to live as a chicken, which is ironic because, of course, chickens are prey for eagles.
This story is short enough to be read aloud a few times during a class period. Students might discuss what they think the conflict is; at first reading, one might think it is between the naturalist and the owner, but after another reading or two, students might focus on the naturalist and the eagle, or more importantly, on the eagle struggling with itself, as each time the naturalist lifts it up and commands it to fly, it hesitates and looks around, as if it doesn't know what to do. If the naturalist had not come along and challenged the eagle to be itself, it likely still would be in the barnyard eating chicken feed. Except for a triumphant cry at the end, the eagle doesn't make a sound; the voices we hear are those of the farmer and the naturalist. All the same, with body language, the eagle expresses itself, giving us the opportunity to explore how body language works.
As a parable, the farmer, the eagle, and the naturalist all suggest people in different positions in society. We will definitely brainstorm and discuss who these characters might represent, keeping in mind the difference between an eagle and a chicken in the bird kingdom. For example the eagle might be a teen-ager who has great potential within, but is totally unaware of it, and like the eagle, is settling for a marginalized life, such as that of the chicken. The question of who the farmer/owner represents should be a lively discussion prompted by the question, "Who in our lives tries to
own
us, or eat us, or make us less than we can be?" Ultimately, I hope my students will write about themselves or someone they know who may be living in a barnyard when they should be in the mountains, soaring in the sky.