Ruined

Birds appear frequently throughout the play, and the motif of birds reveals some interesting patterns about different characters. For example, Sophie’s singing emphasizes a parallel between her and Papa Batunga’s parrot. Like the parrot, who lives in a cage in Mama Nadi’s bar, Sophie is trapped in a life that she must endure through no fault of her own. Also like the parrot, who chatters at will at different points throughout the play and even has the last word at the end of the play, Sophie continues to sing and to express herself. Their voices are signs of hope, as both Sophie and the parrot live in their respective cages and carry on the best they can with the limited resources at their disposal.

Birds also appear at other significant points in the play. Salima describes a peacock that distracted her in the moments she became vulnerable to the soldiers who imprisoned her and kept her for five months. A stage direction compares Osembenga to a peacock, giving the director and any reader of the play insight into the threatening and powerful nature of the commander. As well, Christian is compared to a hawk in another stage direction, after his having mentioned the absence of birds in the jungle, and how such an absence portends the violence to come.