Birds Symbol Analysis

For Ari and Dante, birds represent their childhood innocence and fleeting sense of wonder as they grow up. During their first summer especially, Dante is fascinated by birds. He consistently rescues them when he finds them hurt or, once, when he finds boys shooting at them with pellet guns, and he sees them as a symbol for the unknown potential he wants to protect in himself and the world around him. However, the way that Dante goes about rescuing the birds—often, it puts him in danger of violence or, in the case of the accident, in the path of a speeding car—reinforces how young and innocent Dante is. Ari’s fascination with Dante’s interest, meanwhile, represents Ari’s own innocence and sense of wonder. Following the accident, the birds and the innocence they represent begin to look less positive, indicating that both Ari and Dante are growing up and gaining experience—they will never again look at birds the same way, as at this point, they began to symbolize their innocence lost after the accident.