Birds And Other Things We Placed In Our Hearts By Timmy Reed

There are many different forms of literature out in the world. They come in forms of novels, short stories, articles, and poems. They help people by allowing them to be informed about certain topics and they even make people forget about their daily lives while they enter a totally different world. If literature never existed nobody would obtain new information, they wouldn’t escape reality, famous authors wouldn’t be famous, and publishers wouldn’t be publishing any great works of art. What makes literature, literature, is its wide use of imagery and symbolism. Without it, people wouldn’t be looking for the deeper meaning of a certain phrase and they wouldn’t be imagining what the character is going through. Besides, the authors work would

In Timmy Reeds short story, “Birds and Other Things We Placed in Our Hearts,” there is a significant amount of imagery and symbolism through the authors use of style, characterization, and theme. The profound use of symbolism in the authors style of writing greatly captures the use of imagery throughout the story. The beginning sentence of the story reads, “As our chests hollowed out, we filled them with birds” (Reed). This beginning sentence is simply stating that the hearts of humans have withered away, leaving them feeling empty, and to fill that emptiness they filled their cavity with birds. This leaves the reader under the impression that the birds are symbols of love because the author writes, “[We used] birds to stimulate [our] hearts” (Reed). Their hearts were disappearing and to gain back what they were about to lose they used birds to fill that void. However, the author decides to make a quick turn and establishes that the use of birds is no longer needed. They decided to let their birds fly into the sun, and they

The author introduces a possible theme within the first sentence witch states that the chests of humans have “hollowed out” and they “filled them with birds” (Reed). The hollowing of the chests depicts a sense of emptiness because they have nothing inside them that can give them purpose and by replacing their hearts with birds they have found a purpose and they have begun to feel a sense of happiness because they have found something that fulfills their emptiness. However, the people have soon let go of their birds because they have felt no more happiness and they continue to figure out what makes them happy because they cannot seem to be fulfilled. The couple that the author includes in the story is going through something similar, the boyfriend has been satisfied with the emptiness but the girlfriend is not okay with the emptiness. Their story is an ongoing battle for fulfillment. Before the end of the story, the author writes that the boyfriend wants his girlfriend to just breathe with him and he wants her to feel happy that she was breathing and that they were together; In a sense he wanted her to be happy that she was alive and well and that she was with someone who cares about her. Their story then concludes with a bombshell and Reed writes “You looked at me like I was crazy and I knew we would never be