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The Girl Who Raised Pigeons
 
Anjuelle D. Floyd
Life for Betsy Ann Morgan, “…
the girl who raised pigeons
,” is difficult without amother. Betsy Ann’s mother, Clara, died of a brain tumor “
…her 
[Betsy Ann’s]
 father…came to believe …had been growing …all those times he had made love to her 
...” (p. 5)Betsy Ann’s mother, “…
Clara spent most of the first months of her pregnancy in bed, propped up, and reading…the last month or so she spent…on the third floor at Gallinger  Hospital. One morning, toward four o’clock, they cut open her stomach and pulled out the child…moments after Clara died…mother and daughter passing each other as if along a corridor, one into death, the other into life
…” (p. 6)This is the premise upon which Betsy Ann lives her life in relationship with her father,Robert Morgan, who “…
came to believe…the tumor that would consume his wife’s brainhad been growing…all those times he made love to her…
[felt]
he had somehow used her,taken from her …as she was moving toward death
…” (p. 5-6)These adroit characterizations establish the framework wherein pigeons become thesymbol and metaphor for transformation, both in Betsy Ann as she moves approaches andenters adolescence during the years of 1957-1960, a time when the familiar surroundingsof her life carefully constructed by her father, Robert, and that of the United States beginsto change.In the “…
 first weeks
…
after Miles, the barber, gave Betsy Ann two pigeons…the pigeonstook to the air and returned to Miles…when
[Betsy Ann]
had dutifully gone to fill the
9/25/2007 
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’,
 Lost in the City
 
of 6
ISBN -00679258-X)
1
 
 
The Girl Who Raised Pigeons
 
Anjuelle D. Floyd
 feed dish and replace the water…The forlorn sound of their flapping wings echoed in her head as she stood watching them disappear into the colors of the morning...in those first weeks
[Betsy Ann]
went…to Miles’ after school to retrieve the pigeons
…” (p. 9)“…That was the fall of 1957 [when] Myrtle Street [on which Betsy lived] was …one block long, running east to west…”(p. 11)During “…
late spring…Betsy Ann first noticed the nest...two feet up from the
[pigeon]
coop’s floor…The pigeons had not flown back to Miles’ in a long time…three weeks later  she saw two eggs…two small and perfect wonders along in that wonderless nest without any hallelujah’s from the world…Betsy Ann got a chair…and continued watching themale bird and the nest 
…[and]
 said 
…‘
Tell me about this
.’…
 Robert 
[her father]
discovered the hatched squabs when he went to look for dead birds before going towor 
k…” (pp. 12-13)“…
The first pigeon to die was a stranger 
.” It was
“…a year or so after Miles gave her the yearlings
.” Betsy Ann “…
had eight birds of various ages, resulting from her hatchesin her coop and from trades with the barber…and with a family in Anacostia
…” (p. 13)When her cousin Ralph asks, “
Whatcha gonna do with him?”
Betsy Ann replies, “
 Buryhim. What else stupid?...You don’t think any a them gonna do it, do you
?...
They dumped the dead bird in a pillowcase and dropped the sack …in a
[hole Betsy Ann]
dug two feet or so into the earth…near the Esso filling station… across 1
 st 
Street 
…” (p. 13-14)
9/25/2007 
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’,
 Lost in the City
 
of 6
ISBN -00679258-X)
2
 
 
The Girl Who Raised Pigeons
 
Anjuelle D. Floyd
Betsy Ann “…
turned ten…eleven
…”“…
 In the summer of 1960 there began a rumor…that the railroad people were planning to take all the land around Myrtle Street, perhaps up to L and down to H Street. Thisrumor unlike the rumor that Richard Nixon, if elected president, would make all children go to school on Saturday…and cut their summer vacations in half…had a long life
…”(p. 15)During that time “…
as more people moved out of Myrtle Street…Darlene Greenley… got Betsy Ann to steal candy bars from Peoples Drug, candy she didn’t even like
…”When her father found out “…
 Robert Morgan…only knew…his daughter had been somewhere doing bad while he was out doing the best he could 
…” (p. 18)
 Robert tanned her hide…and…withheld her fifty-cents-a-week allowance for twomonths…For some three weeks he said very little to her…and, when he did it was alwaysthe same…’You should be here, taking care a them birds…not out robbin somebody’s… store…The candy episode killed something between them…He began taking his daughter with him in the cab on most Saturdays
…[Betsy Ann]
enjoyed riding with him at first…themore she realized …being with him was just his way of keeping and eye on her…thetravels began losing something for her…Before the autumn of 1961…settled in…shewanted to be left at home…the incident at Peoples far behind them, he allowed it 
…” (pp.20-21)
9/25/2007 
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’,
 Lost in the City
 
of 6
ISBN -00679258-X)
3
of 00

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