Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Phoenix, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed, Exploitation, and Capitalism
Man vs. Nature
Imperialism and Rebellion
Popular Culture, Spectacle, and Cruelty
Summary
Analysis
Lord Strawberry, a British nobleman, is a bird collector with the best aviary in Europe. It’s suitably big, even for eagles, and he’s created all kinds of habitats within it. But the nicest part of his aviary is empty; it’s reserved for a phoenix.
Warner gives the reader a sense of the phoenix’s novelty before it is even introduced. She does this by describing the grandiosity of Lord Strawberry’s aviary, only to reveal that its finest quarters are waiting for the phoenix, giving context as to where the phoenix fits in the bird kingdom. The reader, probably familiar with the phoenix from myth, understands now just how important it will be to the story. This opening also helps characterize Lord Strawberry as a dedicated steward of nature, but also someone who is incredibly ambitious in his pursuit of the phoenix.
Themes
While many bird experts have insisted that phoenixes are mythical or extinct, Lord Strawberry believes that they exist. Every once in a while, someone tries to sell him one, but they’re always other breeds of bird dyed orange or strange hybrid creatures—never the real thing. So Lord Strawberry finally goes to Arabia himself, finds a phoenix, “w[ins] its confidence,” and captures it.
Once again, Warner makes it clear that the phoenix is exceptionally rare and extremely coveted. The fraudsters who try to fool Lord Strawberry into thinking that other birds are in fact a phoenix prove that there is a market for rare birds, foreshadowing the phoenix’s eventual exploitation. Moreover, Lord Strawberry’s successful trip to Arabia sets up a parallel between Lord Strawberry and British imperialism. While Lord Strawberry is an idealistic explorer with no intention to profit from the phoenix, he still travels the globe to remove a rare treasure from a country that isn’t his and bring it back to England for his own benefit.
Themes
Lord Strawberry returns to England with the phoenix, which is a lovely bird. It’s charming, friendly, and very fond of Lord Strawberry. Immediately, the public is fascinated, but the phoenix is indifferent to both the attention and the eventual waning of attention as the public loses interest. The bird is quite content.
Though it is taken from its natural habitat, the phoenix and Lord Strawberry have a strong relationship. Lord Strawberry takes excellent care of the bird, and in return, the bird offers its affection. Warner contrasts Lord Strawberry with the general public. The public is also interested in the bird, but only because it is an exotic novelty, while Lord Strawberry appreciates the bird for its excellent character, too. Lord Strawberry’s care for the bird endures, while the public eventually moves on. The public’s interest in the bird, then, is shallow.
Themes
After some time, Lord Strawberry dies—but he dies penniless due to the great cost of his aviary. To settle his affairs, all the birds must be sold. The newspaper argues that the London Zoo should buy the phoenix because the public has a “moral right” to such a bird, and citizens from schoolchildren to naturalists contribute funds. But the London Zoo loses its bid; the phoenix is sold instead to Mr. Tancred Poldero, owner of “Poldero’s Wizard Wonderworld.”
Because Lord Strawberry’s death leads to Mr. Poldero’s ownership of the phoenix, Warner shows that it was foolish of Lord Strawberry to have captured the bird in the first place. While he was a capable steward when he was alive, Lord Strawberry’s death is inevitable and it leaves the phoenix vulnerable to exploitation. Likewise, the costs of caring for all his birds are so staggering that he ends up “penniless.” The London Zoo’s failure to win the phoenix also points to the fear that, under capitalism, public goods will increasingly become private.
Themes
Get the entire The Phoenix LitChart as a printable PDF.
The phoenix adjusts well to its new environment, and Mr. Poldero is pleased at first—the bird is easygoing, and while it doesn’t know any tricks, he assumes it will learn some in time. For a while, the public pays heaps of money to see the phoenix, but then interest wanes. While the bird is gorgeous and kind, it’s “too quiet, too classical” for the public’s taste—they prefer the “antics” of monkeys or gawking at a crocodile who ate a woman.
Warner compares the phoenix with the monkeys and the crocodile to judge the public (and Mr. Poldero) for failing to recognize the majesty of the phoenix. When the novelty of the phoenix wears off, audiences don’t care at all about its enduring beauty or quiet dignity—instead, they are drawn to more raucous animals, interested in spectacle over substance. Additionally, the crocodile’s appetite—having eaten a woman— reflects the audience’s own appetite for violence. This detail about the crocodile also shows how cruelty has a tendency towards self-destruction; this “woman” was once presumably a gawking onlooker, snatched horribly into the jaws of death.
Themes
While complaining about the cost of bird feed one day, Mr. Polderorealizes that the phoenix is no longer earning its keep—it’s been weeks since anyone paid to see it. He and a colleague brainstorm ideas and eventually take note of the label on the phoenix’s cage: the phoenix dies by bursting into <flames and from the ashes is reborn. While the phoenix appears to be in the prime of its life, Mr. Poldero proposes that they if they could somehow get the phoenix to burst into flames soon, they could sell tickets to the event. Since phoenixes don’t die until they’re old, Mr. Poldero decides to “do the ageing” himself.
At this point, the phoenix costs more to care for than it earns from ticket sales, and since Poldero finds no inherent value in the bird itself (he cares only to make money off the bird), this situation is unacceptable to him. Mr. Poldero’s decision to exploit and prematurely age the bird, then, is dictated by the demands of the market: if he doesn’t torture the bird, he will lose money on it. It’s worth noting that while Mr. Poldero’s logic is monstrous, he’s not solely culpable for the violence that he plans—he’s responding to financial incentives that are dictated by the public’s taste, so the public is also to blame.
Themes
To age the phoenix, Mr. Poldero cuts its food back severely, turns off the heat, and puts mean birds into the phoenix’s cage. But the phoenix remains beautiful, dignified, and amiable. Not even alley cats bother it. Reading that the phoenix’s natural habitat is dry, Poldero then puts a sprinkler above its cage, and the phoenix begins to cough. Every day, Poldero abuses and harasses the bird.
Mr. Poldero’s initial failure to age the bird ostensibly suggests a triumph of nature against man. Yet when Mr. Poldero changes his strategy, he is able to degrade the bird’s health. The sprinkler system seems to be aging the bird effectively, but Poldero also chooses to abuse the bird himself by yelling and poking at it. This choice implies that Mr. Poldero takes some degree of violent pleasure in the abuse. While the decision to prematurely age the bird is motivated by profit, Mr. Poldero’s choice to jeer and poke at the bird is motivated by pure cruelty.
Themes
By spring, the phoenix’s health has deteriorated enough for Mr. Poldero to begin an advertising campaign for its death. Once the phoenix starts nesting with straw—a sign of imminent demise—Poldero sells the film rights. He ferociously publicizes the event and raises the price of admission.
Mr. Poldero is extremely calculating in his effort to build publicity for the phoenix’s death. Selling film rights, publicizing the event, and raising the price of admission speak to his business acumen and greedy instincts to raise as much money from the event as possible. The medium of film, interestingly, will allow Mr. Poldero to profit off the event even after the phoenix has already combusted—audiences around the world will be able to experience the phoenix’s death anew. These decisions come together to paint Mr. Poldero as a shrewd businessman. Yet, as this gears up just as the phoenix begins to build its nest, the publicity campaign again highlights the morbid cruelty of popular culture. This is making money from the premature death of a majestic bird who has been tortured into poor health.
Themes
A large crowd gathers around the phoenix on the day of its death. A loudspeaker booms, describing the phoenix as being “as capricious as Cleopatra, as luxurious as la du Barry, as heady as a strain of wild gypsy music.” The announcer says that the phoenix embodies “all the fantastic pomp and passion of the ancient East, its languorous magic, its subtle cruelties…” The cameras are flashing, trained at the bird. Everyone expects the bird to soon combust.
The loudspeaker’s comparisons of the phoenix to Cleopatra and la du Barry (a royal mistress and victim of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution) are significant: they draw attention to the spectacle of death. Both figures are as famous for their deaths as for their lives (Cleopatra’s suicide by allowing a snake to bite her has been depicted countless times in art). The phoenix’s death, too, is a spectacle, drawing cameras and audiences gaping at the bird’s demise. The comparisons to “Cleopatra” and “wild gypsy music,” as well as the references to “the ancient East,” are also meant to exoticize the phoenix. This exoticism adds to the spectacle, making it feel rarer and more extravagant. But these comparisons also draw attention to the imperialist exploitation taking place. The phoenix is from “the ancient East,” it’s immortal (sort of), and it was captured from Arabia. Its death reflects the violence committed throughout the Middle East for the sake of the British empire.
Themes
Yet just as the “thrilling moment” of the phoenix’s death is about to arrive, with the entire audience “breathless” before its cage, the phoenix “[appears] to fall asleep,” nestled on its pyre. Disappointed, the film director makes a note to earmark the footage for educational purposes if the phoenix doesn’t do anything else.
The phoenix unintentionally undercuts the audience’s anticipation of destruction. They expect to be entertained with an explosive spectacle, but instead they watch as the phoenix apparently only lays down “to fall asleep”—hardly the destruction they were waiting for. Though the phoenix will burst into flames moments later, here Warner refuses to allow the audience to even have a moment of cruel pleasure: all they get is disappointment. Finally, the film director’s order to save the footage for educational purposes shows how everyone in the society, not just Mr. Poldero, is looking to make a profit.
Themes
But at that moment, the phoenix does burst into flames—they shoot upward and outward in all directions. Very quickly, everything is burned to the ground. “Some thousand people” have died—including Mr. Poldero.
Mr. Poldero is seemingly able to control the phoenix. He is able to prematurely age the bird, and he is able to accurately predict the evening of its death, Yet, Mr. Poldero is unable to control the flames, which destroy everything. The flames at the end of the story, then, remind readers of the unintended consequences of rampant cruelty and exploitation. The final moment of destruction is a moment of poetic justice. The audience that wanted to see the phoenix’s death (including Mr. Poldero) is killed. They are punished for their cruelty. What both Mr. Poldero and the audience desired, however, was for the phoenix to burst into flames—and they actually got what they desired. In this way, Warner suggests that cruelty and exploitation are self-destructive. Similarly, through the way that the phoenix has been connected in the story to both nature and British Imperialism, the story implies that the exploitation inherent in Britian’s relationship to nature and to its colonies are similarly going to lead to disaster.
Themes
