Birds as a Motif

Throughout the novel, the author uses repeating images of birds to create a motif which explores the haunting and dichotomous nature of death. Oftentimes, when these images of birds appear on the page, they act as an omen for a coming event. While Kidane and his army are camped on the edge of Debark, they live in caves. Blackbirds circle the air, creating a sense of ominous sound as the foreboding figures sweep the air. The birds also recall those images Ettore captures with his camera, of the Abyssinian prisoners flying to their deaths over the edge of the cliff. These haunting photographs, and the author's description of them, work to combine those imagistic references to death, with those of liberating flight.

Similarly, whenever Hirut is being abused, dominated, raped, or held captive by either her own commander, or the Italian soldiers, she...