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Black birds symbolize the distress that accompanies Yolanda’s strong sexual and romantic desires. When Yolanda is in the midst of a mental breakdown, she hallucinates a huge black bird emerging from her body, crawling out of her mouth, and flying away to violently attack Dr. Payne, Yolanda’s love interest. The novel’s description of the bird and its movement is rife with sexual imagery. Yolanda’s most significant conflict throughout her life is her struggle to express sexuality and romantic feelings, and the bird’s attack symbolizes Yolanda’s fear that expressing herself could harm others. The bird is unpleasant and dangerous—this is how Yolanda views her own desires.
Black Birds Quotes in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
The How the García Girls Lost Their Accents quotes below all refer to the symbol of Black Birds. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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4. Joe Quotes
Out it flies, delighting in its newfound freedom, its dark hooded beak and tiny head dropping like its sex between arching wings.
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Black Birds Symbol Timeline in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
The timeline below shows where the symbol Black Birds appears in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
4. Joe
...tennis from her window in the institution. She feels movement within her, and a massive, black bird emerges from her mouth. It flies through the window and violently attacks Dr. Payne. Yolanda...
(full context)
