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What Is The Tone Of The Plastic Pink Flamingo Essay

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After an economic depression in the 1930s, Americans underwent a phase of joy and expressed their excitement in a series of trends. One of the movements was the obsession over flamingos and the color pink. In the essay “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History” by Jennifer Price, she talks about this vivacious tendency, but in reality she is mocking U.S. culture with her diction, tone, and allusions to show how Americans get easily obsessed with trends. Although she never clearly states her opinion of this trend, her point of view on U.S. culture can be seen through her word choice. Before she even starts her essay, irony is seen in the title with “plastic” and “natural” which shows that the essay throughout will be satirical and not serious …show more content…

In Prices first paragraph she starts with “first it was a flamingo” the sarcasm is pretty obvious, but her sarcastic tone shows that Americans took a simple item such as the flamingo to build an obsession. Price is able to draw attention the the irony when she discusses the hunting and extinction of flamingos but after draws attention how the Americans used the flamingo as a symbol of fortune and became a popular trend, especially in already-flamboyant places of the previous decade like Las Vegas. Price seems to be supporting this trend, but she is actually pointing out the ignorance of Americans. When Price talks about the extinction of flamingos and says “but no matter”, it represents the mentality of Americans during this time because americans didn’t know the history of flamingos in the U.S. and practically didn’t care because they continued using it for their own good. She later states a rhetorical question about why Americans emphasized the words “Pink Flamingo”. Again Prices tone is sarcastic and mocks the trend as if saying the Americans looked foolish by following this trend. Price views Americans that followed this obsession as ignorant and thoughtless in that they once pushed the birds to extinction but are now using the flamingo as a sign of wealth and “pizzazz” for them to make a

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By her saying “But no matter,” she uses the parody of those whom she is criticizing. As if saying that hunting flamingoes to extinction is disparate to the plastic flamingos that are not accommodating to the lives of the people. She goes to on to convey the popularity of the plastic flamingo, without going back to the subject of the actual bird as if they are inferior.

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