Flight Of The Sparrow: A Novel of Early America

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses racism, violence, enslavement, sexual assault, child death, and suicide. Additionally, the source material uses offensive terms for Indigenous Americans throughout, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes of the source material.

The core motif of Flight of the Sparrow is a sparrow. It represents the theme of Notions and Experiences of Freedom. The sparrow first enters the text when Bess Parker’s father, Edmund, gifts Mary a sparrow in a cage to thank Mary for her support of Bess during her pregnancy. The sparrow, named Row, is an avatar for Mary’s own experience of captivity and freedom. Despite being confined in Puritan society, this sparrow, like Mary, is contented enough in its cage to sing. When she attempts to free the bird during the raid, it initially is so used to its life in the cage that it refuses to fly away. This is analogous to Mary’s own reluctance to question the confines of a life to which she has grown accustomed.

After her return from captivity, Joseph Rowlandson gifts Mary another sparrow in a cage. However, Mary is reluctant to keep it, and the sight of it prompts Marie to cry.