private collection

The birdcage functions as a symbol of oppression in Desmond's Reversal of Fortune. The birdcage metaphor, popularized by Marilyn Frye in the 1980s, suggests that oppression, especially that faced by women, can be difficult to see especially when considered as isolated subjugations. A single form of oppression may not have the power to marginalize a person the same way a single wire does not ensnare a bird. However, when you take a macroscopic view of oppressions faced by women a network of marginalization appears, similar to zooming out from a single wire to view an entire birdcage; it becomes clear why the bird does not simply fly around the wire. These wires of oppression become even more compounded and harder to see from the outside when considering intersectional identity and the different forms of marginalization that come with being a woman, person of color, disabled, and so on.