Tyler’s interest in Mrs Carlyle’s pet budgies reflects her broader hope to find loving relationships with other people. Since Tyler is so fascinated by the birds, Mrs Carlyle promises to give her a chick should the adult female bird lay eggs. Tyler is enamored of the idea of raising a bird of her own, reflecting her hope to one day be able to nurture something on her own terms. Furthermore, after Mrs Carlyle tells her she’s reported the contents of Tyler’s journal to the authorities and offers to take her home, Tyler immediately asks to go to Mrs Carlyle’s house instead, to visit the aviary.
At the end of their conversation about Tyler’s family circumstances, Tyler asks, seemingly out of nowhere, if the mother budgie would bite her if she put her hand in the nest; Mrs Carlyle confirms this, but is visibly sad as she does so. At a moment in which her own family situation seems more insecure than ever, Tyler finds hope and safety in the birds’ ability to care for their offspring, and seems to wish she could play a role in that process by putting her hand in the nest. Mrs Carlyle’s sadness in confirming that the mother would bite her shows that she recognizes the tragedy in the fact that Tyler’s circumstances don’t allow her to experience healthy, loving relationships in own family, and that she senses the intensity of Tyler’s desire to build this sort of relationship.
Mrs Carlyle’s Budgies Quotes in Seventy-Two Derwents
Mrs Carlyle has two budgies, a boy and a girl, and they have built a nest. If they have baby budgies and if I’m allowed she will give me one. You have to wait until they’re old enough to leave the nest before you can take them away from their parents because they need special looking after. In my mind I can picture this ... after she says this, when I walk back into class and down to my desk, I feel my skin buzzing like someone stroked it.
I said if I put my hand into the nest now would the mother bird bite me? And she looked so sad at me and nodded. We fed the birds and then she drove me back to the mall.
If your budgie’s eggs hatch please will you call one of the babies Alicia. One day I will get an aviary and then I will come and get her, Mrs Carlyle. That’s my promise.