Speaking of that Canary Bird

Now, I know I just spent a whole post on the gilded cage. However, there is, suprisingly, a lot to this little animal. I think its use in the story tells us a lot about the other animal, McTeague.

McTeague does not like change. If there is one thing he hates, it is the destruction of the status quo. He wants nothing more than to be warm, filled, and having a warm bed. That's not to say that he is lazy or afraid of work. Quite on the contrary; McTeague takes pleasure in his work. When he loses his job, unlike Trina his main concern is not over the loss of income. He has lost the only thing he knows to do in the city. He also has lost one of the constant things in his life.

He loses more constants when Trina puts everything in the house up for sale. His stone pug dog, his picture on the wall, the gun manufacturer's calendar, his concertina, and his bird have been with him for forever. When he argues with Trina over what should be sold, he has no practical reason for keeping these items. His reasoning is completely sentimental. After all, someone gave him that pug dog. He remembers where he was when he bought the picture. Of all objects, the canary and the concertina are most sacred. He puts his foot down when Trina tries to sell these.

It is interesting that though McTeague murders Trina in a fit of rage over the sale of his concertina, he leaves the city without the instrument. There is one thing he will not forget, however. His pet canary.

And why is it his pet canary over all things? I suppose there are a few reasons. The first is that the bird is McTeague's only connection remaining with his past. Miners owned canary birds as pets for a very practical reason. You would bring the bird into the mine, and if the bird stopped singing, it was a very good possibility that the oxygen level was getting low. The bird warned the miner of unsafe conditions.

So the bird is McTeague's longest constant. He must cling to this bird, the only friend to stay faithful with him throughout the years. The canary is life, and he must cling to this little life. In the desert, McTeague goes to great lengths to keep his pet alive, sacrificing precious water to keep it cool. And this is quite interesting about McTeague. Sure, the man is a monster. He is violent to the point of murder. And yet, he truly cares for this little handful of life. He will preserve it come what may.

The canary bird is the only constant in the novel. It bookends the story, from the opening scene in McTeague's dental parlors to Death Valley.

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