Short Fiction · Chapter
The Sparrows in Madison Square explained
A young aspiring writer arrives in New York City, believing the literary tradition that writing about the sparrows in Madison Square will guarantee a $15 sale to the Sun.
What happens
A young aspiring writer arrives in New York City, believing the literary tradition that writing about the sparrows in Madison Square will guarantee a $15 sale to the Sun. After writing an inspired piece, his manuscript is rejected. Bitter and hungry, he throws a branch at the sparrows, killing two, and joins a ragged stranger to roast and eat them. The stranger reveals he too once came to New York with the same sparrow-writing plan, but was robbed of his $15 before he could submit it.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The narrator believes the romanticized tradition of writing about sparrows will guarantee success, but the reality is rejection and hunger.
Ambition and Failure
The narrator's literary ambition is crushed by rejection, leading to a bitter, ironic outcome.
Humor and Irony
The narrator's hopeful inspiration turns to hatred, and the sparrows he romanticizes become his meal—a darkly comic twist.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The young aspiring writer from the provinces who comes to New York to break into literature, follows the sparrow-writing tradition, and ends up roasting the birds after rejection.
- Billy Keogh
The ragged stranger who shares the sparrow roast; he also came to New York fifteen years earlier with the same sparrow plan but was robbed of his $15.
Key passages
“The young man in straitened circumstances who comes to New York City to enter literature has but one thing to do, provided he has studied carefully his field in advance. He must go straight to Madison Square, write an article about the sparrows there, and sell it to the Sun for $15.”
A poor young writer arriving in New York to break into literature should, according to tradition, immediately write about the sparrows in Madison Square and sell the piece to the Sun for $15.
Establishes the central literary trope the narrator believes in.
“I got my theme cut out clear from the bird notes, and wrought it into a lesson, and a poem, and a carnival dance, and a lullaby; and then translated it all into prose and began to write.”
I derived my inspiration from the sparrows' songs, crafting it into various forms before turning it into prose.
Shows the narrator's initial creative fervor.
“The confounded pests of sparrows were making the square hideous with their idiotic 'cheep, cheep.' I never saw birds so persistently noisy, impudent, and disagreeable in all my life.”
After rejection, the narrator now finds the sparrows irritating and ugly.
Highlights the ironic reversal of the narrator's feelings.
“I drew forth my manuscript story of the sparrows, and offered it for burnt sacrifice.”
I took out my rejected sparrow manuscript and used it to start the fire for cooking the birds.
Symbolic destruction of the narrator's literary dream.