Bird In The Hand Analysis

On April 15, I attended Bird in the Hand by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas at the California State University of Long Beach University Theatre. Bird in the Hand is about a boy who works at a theme park in Miami owned by his father who is dedicated to tropical birds. The boy, Felix, takes us on a tour of his last year in high school explaining how he came to inherit the park from his father and loses his best friend in the process. The narrator, Felix, feels caged and out-of-place, much like the imported flamingos he cares for. He considers the choices he might have made and daydreams about how his life might have turned out differently. And in a kind of dialogue with the bird, he reflects on his cultural and sexual identity.

A theatrical …show more content…
On the other hand, the play is interpreted as a drama because the audience is able to see the main character’s daydream of how he wanted things to turn out. For instance, throughout the play, Felix is caught up with his emotions towards his best friend, Gabriel, who only sees him as a friend. Felix daydreams within his thoughts of how everything should have turned out by remaining friends after Gabriel turned down Felix. But in reality, Felix and Gabriel graduate from high school and take separate paths, which breaks their friendship in the end. Also there is a sense of imagination and fantasy in the play because the characters, who are dressed as flamingos, perform a short dance performance that points out this is a nonfiction story. In the dance, the flamingos dance in unison, but one by one, the flamingos get distracted by a source of temptation which confuses the birds. At the end of their dance, the flamingos are hurt based on their poor choices that they made. The style of the play is realism and comedy. The reason for realism is because Felix has to face a real life situation that can change his life based on the decisions he would make. There was also a style of comedy because there was an intention to be humorous and amuse the audience at certain times of the play even though there …show more content…
This influenced my personal values because it made me realize that it is important to respect and acknowledge others who are different from each other. The play also focused on how the main character feels caged and wants to be free like his caged flamingos. I can relate to this because everyone can go through something that is difficult to face. Based on the play, I learned that there are times when the decisions we make can be wrong decision or have an outcome that we did not expect, but life has to continue while facing the decisions we made. For my emotional reaction, this was a work that surprised me in a way I did not expect. At first glance, the play seemed to be odd and unusual in my perspective, but after understanding the plot, it was very entertaining and learning experience. A connection I can make from what I had watched is that is can be hard to talk about your views and feelings about something or someone because you are afraid of what will happen when you speak your mind. But based on your decisions, you have to move on and continue with what you believe is