Summary Of Under The Rice Moon

Under the Rice Moon, by Rhianna Puck, is a short story about a small bird in a large, Chinese city. A small cliff swallow is trapped in a small cage at a small food vending cart on the side of a busy street. It is exchanged to many people in the hustle and bustle of the city, confused and distrot. He is eventually brought to the room of a small girl, bedridden with a fever. This bird has given up all hope of freedom by this point and doesn’t know what will become of him. The girl wakes in the middle of the night and notices the caged bird. She frees the bird out her window, knowing the distress of being kept inside. There are many themes that can be found in this short story, many of which could change someone’s life for the better. One theme

He was nullifies of his freedom suddenly when he was caught and confined in a cramped cage. The bird wanted desperately to “fly under the rice moon [that night],” but of coarse, the humans could not understand. The bird was exchanged frequently between street vendors, repetitively pleading this wish, but with no success. No one can take pity for it because they do not know what it is going through. A kind man buys the bird at a great price for his daughter, who was ridden in her room as the result of an unfavorable fever. The small bird was extremely downhearted as it was set on the nightstand of the ill, deep-sleeping, girl. The girl wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night, turning her head to notice this unlucky swallow. “I know what you need, little bird,” the girl murmurs. This girl knows how awful it is to be stuck in captivity, and pities the bird. By this time “the swallow no longer believes what people say,” and ignores this comment. She does not want this creature to be as depressed as she was, and releases it. “Although the cliff swallow now can fly anywhere it chooses, it always passes by the little girl’s bedroom each night. And each night, for a little while, both the bird and the girl are free under the rice