Textual Analysis Revision - Consequences of Love

October 21, 2015

Textual Analysis Revision

Consequences of Love

Everybody experiences jealousy and experiences some type of suspicion in their lives, even towards the people they know and trust the most. The short story “Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot” explores what extreme jealousy and paranoia can drive a person to do. R.B. Kitaj’s painting “My Cities” also demonstrates the effects of jealousy and self esteem issues by how the figures express themselves through their colors and orientations which may suggest that their actions that may drive a person to take extreme measures, even against the people they trust. Jealousy and insecurities in relationships can cause someone to have excessive suspicion, which drives people to do insane things, which ultimately results in depression, defensiveness and helplessness.

The story “Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot” describes a man who has some jealousy issues. He has always suspected his wife of cheating but has never had any concrete evidence to prove so. His jealousy causes him to follow his wife and climb up a tree to spy on her where he had an unfortunate accident and fell to his death, only to be reincarnated as a parrot. As a parrot is he adopted by his wife to go and live in his own house, yet is tormented by the fact his wife brings home multiple men and he cannot do anything about it because he is now a helpless parrot.

“Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot” shows us the immediate feelings of depression that a person may feel as a result of jealousy through its gloomy atmosphere. When the parrot first sees his former wife in the pet store, he expresses that “for a moment I think she knows it’s me,” (Butler 220). This is the first time the parrot has seen his wife since his accident and all he wants is for her to notice him and to return to the way they were before. He realizes that he will never have his old life back and starts projecting feelings of depression. A really heart-wrenching part in the story is when the parrot says “those times when she would tell me she loved me and I actually believed it.”

The painting “My Cities” captures the feelings of various characters in the story with its abstract background which promotes depression. The artist chooses to paint vivid and confusing figures and creatures which may not be pleasing to the eye. This provokes a gloomy atmosphere, and gives it a depressing vibe. If someone is always surrounded by gloom, its likely to alter their emotions and make other aspects of their life harder.

During the story it is blatantly said that the deceased husband had some trust issues with his wife. He states: “I’d look for the little black hairs on the sheets when I’d come home on a day when the whiff of somebody else was in the air,” (Butler 221). A little while later you learn that this extreme paranoia of his wife being unfaithful is what caused his fatal accident. This painting exemplifies suspicions by these figures creeping around underneath everyone else like they’re shielding a secret, almost like skeletons in a closet. As soon as the parrot sees the first man with his wife at the pet store, he immediately recognized him as “the kind of guy that I always sensed her eyes moving towards” (Butler 221), which just shows how he observed his wife’s behavior so much to the point where he became delusional and created a false idea that his wife was cheating on him. In this case, death was an irreversible effect of his extreme paranoia and jealousy.