The Infinite Birdcage Intelligent, unintelligent, furry, bare or clothed if there's one thing all life has in common, its that a life lived outside the walls is always going to be better than one trapped within. This speaks to the very foundations of existence, on this great green Earth we are not meant to live a life of imprisonment. The difference between animals and humans is that unlike animals, we have the capacity to be trapped within our own heads, by a mindset or even by the kind of lifestyle we live. The feeling of captivity can be manifested entirely in the mind, and from there, can hold hostage ones ambitions, dreams, and even the progression of their life. On the one side, a cage offers safety, care, and stability; where …show more content…
I do not think that either are in the position to have a meaningful, romantically charged relationship with anyone, let alone with each other. If at the conclusion of the novella, Holly had chosen to stay with the narrator, I believe she would have felt at home again...for a while. After the “honeymoon” phase had ended, Holly's untameable nature would have surfaced again, and she would have gone off to escape her emotionally constructed cage. She doesn't posses the ability to plan or even give adequate thought to her own future, even when it came to her dreams. O.J. Berman expressed this in relation to her future in Hollywood, "She had something working for her, she had them interested, she could've really rolled. But when you walk out on a thing like that, you don't walk back.” Holly's problems are her own, and she must learn to love herself before she can ever accept feeling at home in any scenario. Just like with a “caged” animal or pet, if you love it you must set it free and if it loves you back , it will willingly return to “captivity” because at that point, the cage dissolves and that place becomes its …show more content…
She is repressed and held captive by her own ambitions. She fears the norms of society, the stresses of cultural conformity and ultimately she fears life's potential. She wishes to find home and feel at ease but she looks outward rather than inward. She runs from her environment believing she can escape confinement without realizing the metaphorical fence surrounding her moves with her, it's inescapable and must be dismantled, not run from. The story ends with Holly falling into uncertain waters. She expresses love for the narrator, separating him from the rest of the men shes dealt with. Ultimately, though, she leaves despite this, and further cements the fact that she remains lost. Certain of finding a place in life to call home, rather than confronting her problems, the story ends without her ever leaving the cage. By the end though, I believe she became more conscious this, and figuratively broke the lock keeping her in, all that remains is for Holly to find it in herself to push open the exit and make the first steps into a new way of