The Phoenix

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  • Created by: danzether
  • Created on: 12-11-16 14:07
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  • The Phoenix
    • Title shows how torturous Poldero was
      • According to some legends, the phoenix could live 1460 years before rebirth
    • Meaning of the story
      • Nature outlives us all and will seek revenge
        • Power balance between nature and humans
      • Not all is all that meets the eye; there could be hidden, inner strength
      • The phoenix was unique and they didn't look after it
        • How we treat nature
      • Human arrogance
      • Humans are superficial
      • Commercialism
      • What goes around comes back around; kindness breeds kindness, hate breeds hate
      • Be careful what you wish for
        • The phoenix did what they wanted, they just didn't think of the concequences
          • Poetic justice
    • The general public
      • Public was fickle (constantly changing their mood and emotions)
        • "constantly visited" AND "contributed according to their means" - in favour of the phoenix
        • "visits fell off" AND "The public don't like him. He's too quiet for them, that's the trouble." - bored of it and didn’t care
        • They were interested in the phoenix burning - torturous like Poldero
        • "The film director said, 'Well, if it doesn't evaluate to more than this, mark it instructional." - doesn't care for the bird, just for the money he could make off it; like Poldero
    • Lord Strawberry
      • "so well laid out that both humming birds and snow-buntings had a climate that suited them perfectly" - respect for and pride in birds
      • "many authorities assured Lord Strawberry that the phoenix is a fabulous bird or is extinct" - contradiction in views depict that Strawberry held a firm belief in the phoenix
        • Even with contrasting views of experts, he was 100% sure of its existence
      • "won its confidence" - kind, respectful, trustworthy man
      • "It cost a great deal of money to keep up an aviary" - devotion to birds
    • Mr Tancred Poldero
      • "considered his phoenix quite a bargain" - possessive (refers to the phoenix as "his"); thinks about nothing but money
      • "though it had no tricks, Mr Poldero supposed it would soon pick up some." - treated all animals, ever rarities as nothing but tools to make money
      •  "even paid double" - took advantage of the phoenix's already present popularity to boost business; greed for money
      • "eating his head off" - Poldero considers him a bad investment; eats a lot; doesn’t attract customers anymore
      • "and Lord knows what" - desperate to make money off this 'bad investment' once again
      • "leave that to me" - usually a sinister phrase used by a dark character, suggests that he is this dark character
      • Tortured the phoenix in the mentioned ways (look at the phoenix's character section)
    • The Phoenix
      • "charming character - affable to the other birds" AND "not puffed up by these attentions" AND "The World's Old Bachelor" - described as human
      • "food allowance was halved and halved again" AND "the heating was turned off" AND "birds of a peevish and quarrelsome nature" were put into his cage AND "cats" were tried too AND turned on the sprinkler to contrast its habitat- resisted all torture; is extremely strong
      • "capricious as Cleopatra" - assonance to emphasise on its greatness
      • Story named after him despite having a passive role for most of the story
        • Shows the power of the phoenix
    • Townsend's dislike for commercialism is evident in the story

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