The Sparrow
by Russell Chesman


"You have to kill it," the man said.

He was standing next to Noah, peering down at the sparrow that lay in the snow. The sparrow's wing was broken, and though its brown-feathered body was facing away, frail and thin-looking, it kept a wary eye on them from over its shoulder. Noah was quiet and, tugging his toque down with gloved hands, watched the bird solemnly. He knew that he wanted to help the sparrow--he had already tried to catch it--but he had not thought that far ahead. He had not considered what he would do if he actually caught the sparrow.

"You have to kill it," the man repeated. "It won't survive in the cold."

The man, who had a round face and a dark moustache and, despite the cold, wore his jacket unzipped, sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. It was the middle of January in Toronto. The morning was grey, the weather below freezing. It was snowing, and the flakes were falling quickly to the ground.

Noah had found the sparrow injured on the sidewalk in front of his house and, instinctively, had tried to pick it up. But the sparrow had fled, fluttering its one good wing and making quick erratic leaps along the snow as Noah trailed behind. It had flung itself onto Bathurst Street, to the edge of traffic and Noah had to circle the sparrow and shepherd it back to the sidewalk. That is when the man had appeared, walking up to Noah, telling him he had to kill it. There was no malice in the man's tone. He spoke the words plainly as a matter of course, as if recalling a life-lesson he had learned in his boyhood. But if any fleeting vision had come to Noah during that first attempt to catch the sparrow, it was on of nurturing it back to health, of keeping it alive. Killing the sparrow had not even occurred to Noah as an option, but now, with this strange man, it seemed the only one.

The man adjusted his pants and, minding the sparrow, bent down on the sidewalk. His jacket slid up, stretching tight across the shoulders. To Noah it seemed like the jacket was too small, and as he watched how the man was squatting in the snow, his crack showing, his belly protruding, his hand reaching out to the sparrow, it gave the impression of a child that had grown too big for his clothes. Just then the sparrow leapt away, flitting wilidy across the sidewalk, and over the curb. It landed under a parked car.

"You flush it out," the man grunted, rising. "I'll catch it on this side."

The wind had picked up in the street, and Noah shivered as it froze along the back of his neck. He had forgotten his scarf, and he thought of getting it now. He looked over his shoulder to the house where he lived, a brick-lain character home south of Harbord Street, and looked to the frosted window of his attic apartment. He had moved there for school the previous fall, ill-prepared for the cold winter that had finally set in. As Noah turned back to the car, he saw his reflection in the window. He had a thin, smooth face, and wore a green army jacket with many decorative pockets he never really used. He pulled the collar up to cover his neck, and stepped off the sidewalk.

Under the car, the snow had turned to an ash-grey slush. Noah placed his hand on the trunk and crouched behind the rear tire, scanning below for the sparrow, while the man, standing near the hood, surveyed the space between the car and the curb.

"There it is." The man pointed.

Noah crouched lower, trying not to get his jeans wet. He saw the sparrow huddled in the slush a few feet away from the tire and, holding onto the bumper, swung his free arm at it. As he flushed the sparrow from under the car, he became aware of the traffic slowing to a stop in the street. A feeling of self-consciousness came over him. He got up slowly, brushing the wet kneecap of his jeans, kicking the slush off his boots, and keeping his back to the road while the man trudged after the sparrow. Then the light changed, the traffic pulled away, and Noah went to where the man was standing. The man seemed invested in his own thoughts and his eyes wet, perhaps from the cold, were staring blankly at the injured bird.

The sparrow was breathing rapidly, exhausted from having escaped the man, and it watched cautiously as the two tall figures towered over it. It had very little energy left, and though it could not fly, flight was its only thought. The sparrow dragged its wing through the snow scouting the landscape--the sidewalk, the street, the yard--all barren, all bleak, all exposed. Finally it saw the hedges that lined the property, dividing the houses. The tops were covered with snow, but underneath there was brown earth and roots and twigs in which the sparrow could hide, away from the two tall figures. Its breathing slowed, and it waited.

Noah looked away from the sparrow, away from the man. It had stopped snowing, but the morning was still grey, and all he could hear was the wetness of the road and the passing cars. A woman dressed in a black parka strode by on the sidewalk. Her hood was up, her head was down, and she did not notice them or the injured bird. After she went away, the man took a tentative step towards the sparrow. His foot sunk in the snow in the yard, and slipped below the surface. Then his knee caved in, and he toppled over. The sparrow darted past Noah, and got stuck in a softly packed snowbank. Noah hurried forward, but when he saw the little bird up close, struggling to free itself its wing splayed out from its body, he hesitated, and let up. The sparrow pulled loose from the snow, and flipping itself through the air, disappeared below the hedges.

Noah went to help the man, but the man waved him off, pushing himself up as unsteadily as a baby learning to walk. They both stood silently then, looking at the hedges and the brown earth that drew a line in the snow. The man started to say something, and Noah leaned in, but he could not hear him over the noise in the street. Suddenly the man walked away, toward College Street, and he did not say goodbye or even look at Noah when he left. It was as if he had just remembered something, something from long ago that he should have done, but never did.

Noah turned back to the hedges. He saw the sparrow nestled awkwardly against the base of a small evergreen. He went forward, paused, and went forward again. He was thinking of what he should do, how the sparrow would not survive in the cold, when a streetcar came lurching to a halt in front of the house next. A load of passengers got off, and Noah could fell them looking his way. He pulled his gloves tight and, pretending he was only crossing the yard, disappeared inthe crowd on the sidewalk.

I hope it's not too late, but here is my read on the story.

I think that this story is possibly talking about the incompetence of people in the face of even trivial problems of life. I know it might sound like a bit of a stretch but let me explain.

Firstly, I think that perhaps the sparrow is symbolic of the average person. The sparrow is a pretty common-place bird with no real special distinguishing features as opposed to lets say a hawk or an eagle or something. With that, I think the sparrow symbolizes the common-man or the average person. Secondly, I think that the winter is symbolic of the challenges that people have to face in life. The winter, just like death, is something that everyone must go through.

And then there's the issue between the sparrow, Noah and the man. Even though all three of them want what is best for the sparrow, all three of them have different conclusions on what to do. The sparrow wants to run away, Noah wants to try saving it, and the man says that they have to kill it. Again, this seems to fall in line with this idea that nobody really knows what to do. And even though it might be silly to think that the sparrow should know what to do, I think it's symbolic of people who even though they're not sure of what to do, they don't want to accept help from others from mistrust, skepticism, or stubbornness. Even if it just dies in Noah's care or lets the man kill it, either choice seems better for it then just dying a slow lonely death in the cold.

And then there's Noah and the man's incompetence in even dealing with the winter. Both of them are unprepared as the man's jacket is too small and Noah has forgotten his scarf. Even such a trivial problem as the cold winter, both are not able to deal with it effectively. And looking again at the larger picture, I think the story is trying to point at how ill-prepared we are in the face of even the small challenges of life never mind the larger ones. And that nobody really knows what they are doing.

However, that being said, Noah's doubt and self-consciousness ultimately leads him to do nothing and lets the sparrow to die in the cold. Several times throughout the story he's quite self-conscious about looking stupid or strange even though he's trying to help the bird. Even if he is unprepared to take care of the sparrow, it certainly has a better chance of surviving with Noah than out on the snow. And the old man seems to have a similar experience when it says that when he leaves, it looked like he had just remembered something long ago that he should have done but never did. Perhaps the man was just like Noah in the past, and didn't do something out of doubt, fear, and uncertainty, and now has lived to regret it.

So with all that, the story seems to be saying that even though we are all ultimately completely incompetent in dealing with the numerous challenges in life, we should not let doubt and uncertainty of others or ourselves to clog our minds as that only leads to inaction which is the worse. It's better to do something and fail, than to do nothing at all.

With all that being said though, I am not an English professional or anything so you don't have to take anything I say completely seriously. I hope this helps you get some thinking done though.

Motif: Clothing, Remembering Past Thought, Flight


Noah- a young boy, school-age ‘ He had moved there for school the previous fall, ill-prepared for the cold winter that had finally set in’, going through a time of change. Note that symbolically, fall is considered a time of change and loss, so setting the scene in the middle of January, in winter, suggests that he was still gloomy about the loss, and his spring hadn’t arrived yet. From the aforementioned line, I would presume that he had struggled with the move (ill-prepared, cold winter). Setting the scene with winter already establishes the author is quite acquainted with pathetic fallacy, and they use this technique to a greater extent ‘the morning was grey, the weather below freezing. It was snowing, and the flakes were falling quickly to the ground.’’grey’ is a fair, yet rather awkward indicator of colour. Naturally suggesting an ambiguity in lieu of dichotomy, it pairs oddly with Noah’s statement ‘Killing the sparrow had not even occurred to Noah as an option, but now, with this strange man, it seemed the only one.’ Similar to the be-all and the end-all, it suggests an ‘all or nothing’ attitude, so having such an ambiguous colour to first describe ‘the morning’, as in the events of the story, seems ill-fitting. I would suggest that this grey reflects a confliction and awkwardness for the reader. If one analyzes for solely basic sense, it is, stripped to it’s core, a question of moral dilemma. The author’s intention is to have the reader both uncomfortable and conflicted.


And i give up writing this because I should be studying something else, i would analyze the sheer amount of clothing that has been mentioned along with the colours. Note the particular choice of ‘sparrow,’ as a bird as well. I'd say the woman in black mentioned at the end has a certain meaning that is both symbolic and interpretive.