Revel
There’s no quiet place in the city. No matter where you go, the noise follows you, clings to you. It reaches with grasping hands around you, crawls into your ears, instills itself into your mind and takes up permanent residence there.
Even the places reserved for quiet are filled with noise. The small, secluded gardens loomed over by towering skyscrapers don’t offer so much as a small break from the sounds of the city. The distant honks of car horns, the screaming chatter of people walking by on the streets. The rings of bike bells, the opening and closing of doors, the barks of dogs, the wind, the chaos.
There’s no quiet place in the city. Yet somehow, people revel in it. They fill the space with their ugly voices; they create sound, so much sound, purely to listen to themselves. They honk their car horns, they yell; they walk, drive, ride, run. Their noise takes over, and they bask in the sounds. How can they stand their own noises?
There is a man. A silent man. His hair is white, his dark skin lined with the marks of a long and joyful life. His legs move slowly, so uncaring of the time they take to complete their task. He is completely at peace, aware of the chaos of the city around him, yet taking no part in it.
He sits in the park most days. The pigeons like him. They flock to his side, landing on his shoulders and crowding around his feet. Their coos are sweet, cheerful. Nothing like the noise of the people and the city. He accommodates them silently, his only company. And whilst he seems so alone, he has these pigeons, and he isn’t lonely. He smiles at them all, a bright, warming grin. His eyes squint with the innocent joy of the moment, his crooked, yellowing teeth shining out at the world.
Every day he brings a small paper bag, filled with a rainbow of seeds. He sits calmly, silently waiting for the pigeons he knows will arrive.
One minute passes.
Then another.
Gradually, more and more pigeons arrive; there are hundreds. They swarm him, but there is nothing threatening about their presence. The man tosses seeds to them. The pigeons take their share and settle with him, cooing quietly to him, preening their feathers. The man doesn’t fear them, and they do not fear him.
Almost every day the routine repeats. Even when he is not there, the pigeons wait for him. When he does not arrive, they fly away dejectedly, missing their food and company for the day. But he never misses two days in a row, and the pigeons will wait for him again the next morning, and the man will be there.
“Whatcha doin’ there, bud?”
“Feedin’ the scum, are ya’?”
“Makes sense. Black scum like you gotta stick with your own kind.”
“Why you smilin’ like that ey’? Think you’re funny do ya?”
“Why don’t you play with your bloody birds somewhere else huh? People like you don’t got no place in this area.”
Four boys walk past. They saunter towards the man and the pigeons. They are young, but their sneers and scowls betray their corruption. They are loud. Their boisterous laughter woven through with poisonous, ugly words darkening the peaceful space of the man. They yell at the man, and the pigeons fly away, up into the trees and the buildings beyond.
The man sits, still silent. He ignores the boys completely, instead watching the few brave remaining birds with a faint smile. The smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and a deep sadness roots there.
“Oi, why don't cha stop smilin’ ey? We’re talkin’ to you.”
The man looks up, finally acknowledging their presence. The remaining wisps of his grin fade as the boys’ loud words scare away the remaining birds.
“Useless scum. Not even the birds wanna help you now.” The boy sniggers, his friends cackling viciously behind him.
“Move, bud. Scram. Get outta here. Are you stupid?”
The man grasps the side of the park bench, arms shaking as he weakly pulls himself up. His movements are slow, as usual. The boys are impatient.
A fist connects with the man’s jaw. Deep, red blood sprays. Seeds scatter and fall to the ground, the rainbow of hues falling, seeds stained red. The frantic calls of pigeons can be heard. Yellow teeth loosen from the dark gums. Blood begins to drip down his chin. Another fist connects; teeth knocked out and broken. He lies on the ground, puddled in blood, surrounded by seeds. Unmoving.
The boys walk away, laughing, high-fiving, filling the air with their ugly words.
The man isn’t at the park the next day.
Pigeons flock to the seat, waiting. Their sweet coos and kind chatter fill the air, waiting for the man to arrive with the paper bag filled with seeds. They stand on the same ground that was, just a single day before, stained with red. The pigeons wait. Morning, noon, evening. The man does not arrive, and so the pigeons fly away.
The pigeons wait again the next day, surrounding the chair, waiting expectantly for the familiar sound of the man’s slow footsteps. Waiting for the sound of the paper bag rustling with seeds.
Again, the man does not arrive.
The boys come past again, filling the space with their ugly words, creating so much noise, their worthless sound corroding the joy of the coos. They sit, cackling, jostling each other, disrupting the sweetness of the pigeons and the fresh scents of the park’s air. The smoke clogs the space, the scent near unbearable to the birds.
The pigeons wait for the man every day, but he never returns. The boys return every day, and the scent of their cigarettes clogs the air. Each day, fewer pigeons arrive to wait for the man. Soon, the pigeons stop waiting, and the man never returns. The sound of the city clings to the boys, and they revel in it.
Rationale
My creative piece ‘Revel’ was written to symbolise the fragility of innocence and human connection whilst making a comment on the subconscious and inherent racism present due to our society’s colonial history. I have used symbolism throughout my creative story, using pigeons to not only represent the man’s connection to the peaceful space of the park but also due to the commonly accepted idea of pigeons being ‘dirty’, much like the way racists view people of colour. The boys in my story are a symbolic representation of corruption and the ways connection can be pushed away, emphasising the fragility of connection and peace.
The thematic statement I have presented in my piece through the symbolism of the pigeons is a comment on the delicate nature of innocence and peace. I not only presented this statement through symbolism of the pigeons, but I also deliberately set the tone of my work to aid the characterisation and setting of ‘Revel’. The first sentence of my story is evidence of this, “There’s no quiet place in the city.” This short sentence instantly creates a setting that is already corrupted, yet the lack of urgency of the language I have used suggests that the corruption is accepted, almost welcomed. “The noise follows you, clings to you. It reaches with grasping hands around you, crawls into your ears, instills itself into your mind and takes up permanent residence there.” By personifying and anthropomorphising the city’s noise, the noise becomes a villain of the story. The beginning of my next paragraph, “Even the places reserved for quiet are filled with noise,” suggests that places of peace have already been corrupted by this noise. The acceptance of the corruption in the city is made known through the sentence, “Yet somehow, people revel in it.” This is proof of the city not simply accepting the corruption, but welcoming it with open arms, displaying the fragility of innocence and peace.
The silence of the man in my story is key in his characterisation. Just as the sound is presented to be a corrupting force in my story, the man’s silence and innocent joy is an instant way to connect the reader to the man, making the audience empathise with him and view him as good. “He is completely at peace, aware of the chaos of the city around him, yet taking no part in it.” The introduction of the pigeons as the man’s company is a suggestion of a community outside of the city’s chaotic noise. Whilst the pigeons, unlike the man, produce sound, their sounds are described as “sweet, cheerful. Nothing like the noise of the people and the city.” This ties the pigeons to the man even further, as these pigeons are made clear to be innocent and peaceful. “They swarm him, but there is nothing threatening about their presence.” The use of the word ‘swarm’ in this sentence is deliberate. It characterises the pigeons by accepting the existence of the stereotype that pigeons are contemptible creatures, but by following this with the clarification that the pigeons are unthreatening, it effectively subverts the stereotype. The man and the pigeons are at peace with one another, illustrating the pigeons’ symbolic representation of community and connection.
The tone of my work changes drastically with the introduction of the boys. Brash and incomplete words juxtapose the peaceful descriptive sentences of earlier paragraphs as the boys “saunter towards the man and the pigeons.” The change in tone alludes to approaching conflict, with the crude dialogue re-introducing the noise of the city in a much more demanding manner. By calling the man and the pigeons “scum” the boys liken the man to the pigeons but in a negative manner, instantly portraying their racist nature. The man’s lack of acknowledgement of the boys is a display of strength, but the way their words have hurt him is illustrated with the way “The smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and a deep sadness roots there.” When the man finally acknowledges the boys and begins to leave his seat, the importance of the detail of his slow movements described early in the story takes on a new meaning, as the impatience of the boys ends with the man being beaten to the ground, and the pigeons have all flown away. This is the point in the story where corruption takes hold of the man’s previously calm space. “He lies on the ground, puddled in blood, surrounded by seeds. Unmoving.” The seeds remain symbolic of the man’s connection to the park and the city through the pigeons. The short description is designed to draw out emotion from the reader, creating a sense of desperation, anger and sadness.
The pigeons continuing to wait for the man every day after his death is key to their symbolic presence. They remain connected to him. “They stand on the same ground that was, just a single day before, stained with red.” These invisible bloodstains represent the permanence of the corruption that has begun to take hold of the space. In just a short time, the innocence is fractured. Throughout the days after the man’s departure the pigeons begin to diminish, as the peace shatters further. “The boys return each day, and the scent of their cigarettes clogs the air. Each day, fewer pigeons arrive to wait for the man. Soon, the pigeons stop waiting, and the man never returns.” As the boys take over the space, the man’s connection to the space dwindles due to the pigeons leaving. The pigeons and the man never returning is symbolic of the corruption taking its final, permanent hold on the space, and the final line in the story, “The sound of the city clings to the boys, and they revel in it” is a callback to the early introduction of the noise, creating a sense of finality to the story and continuing to draw emotion from the reader.
My story explores the fragility of innocence and peace whilst making a comment on the racism still present in society through the symbolism of pigeons. I have used different literary techniques and deliberate control of language and tone throughout my work to manipulate responses from the reader and create an immersive story. ‘Revel’ presents my ideas creatively through symbolism and tone, effectively characterising the different elements of my story and drawing emotional response from the reader.