# Joey explained — The Little White Bird

> Chapter companion for The Little White Bird by J. M. Barrie.

## What happens

The narrator takes David to a pantomime, where David is initially delighted but becomes distraught when the clown Joey turns a dog into sausages. The narrator arranges a tea with Joey, where David is given the dog after Joey promises not to harm it. At the tea, Joey reverses the sausage machine to restore the dog, and David joyfully plays with the clown family.

## Themes in this chapter

### Childhood and Imagination

David's vivid emotional responses to the pantomime and his imaginative engagement with the clown family's antics.

### Fantasy vs. Reality

The blurring of theatrical illusion and real emotion, as David struggles with the apparent cruelty of the sausage machine trick.

## Character check-ins

### David

Attends pantomime and tea with Joey; becomes upset at the dog's fate but later joyfully receives the dog as a gift.

### Joey

The clown who turns a dog into sausages; later reverses the machine to restore the dog and gives it to David.

### Josy

The columbine; pours tea and dances with Joeykin.

### Joeykin

The harlequin; rotates and dances; falls in love with Josy.

### Peter Pan

Not directly present; referenced indirectly through the narrator's storytelling context.

## Key lines

> Wise children always choose a mother who was a shocking flirt in her maiden days, and so had several offers before she accepted their fortunate papa.

Children cleverly pick a mother who was a flirt when young, because each rejected suitor means another trip to the pantomime.

_Opening reflection on how children benefit from their mother's past flirtations._

> He had asked in a loud voice of the middling funny gentleman (then in the middle of a song) whether he thought Joey would be long in coming, and when at last Joey did come he screamed out, 'How do you do, Joey!' and went into convulsions of mirth.

David loudly asked a performer when Joey would appear, and upon Joey's entrance, he joyfully shouted a greeting and laughed uncontrollably.

_David's excited reaction to the clown's arrival._

> He put all the sausages into the end of the machine that they had issued from, and turned the handle backward, and then out came the dog at the other end!

Joey reversed the sausage machine, feeding the sausages back in, and the dog emerged whole again.

_The magical restoration of the dog, delighting David._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_little_white_bird_se/chapters/xxii-joey
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_little_white_bird_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_little_white_bird_se/chapters