The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

Sprout’s journey is ultimately motivated by her desire to fulfill her deepest desires: to be free from the coop and to be a mother. She’s different from the other egg-laying hens, who obediently eat their feed in a conformist and unremarkable manner: “I’m hungry, hurry hurry!” (6). Unlike Sprout, they don’t yearn for more but instead accept their role as egg-laying hens who are destined to be confined to the coop until they die. Sprout ignores the farmer and the feed and looks outward, symbolically illustrating her wish to be free: “Sprout was sick of hearing it. She gazed into the yard” (8).

Her determination to realize the life that she yearns for is also evident in the way she climbs from the hole of death to escape the weasel after the farmer liberates her from the coop and leaves her to die; Straggler tells the barn animals, “The weasel had his eye on her, but [Sprout] escaped. She’s brave!” (27). When the other animals refuse to let Sprout shelter safely in the barn, she sets off into the wild, once again showcasing her courage and independence in pursuit of freedom.