The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

“The egg rolled to a stop upon reaching the wire mesh of the coop. Sprout looked at it—a chalky egg flecked with blood. She hadn’t laid an egg in two days; she doubted she could anymore, yet here it was—one small, sad egg. This cannot happen again, she thought.”

Sprout’s despondency and depression at being imprisoned in the coop leads her to stop eating. Her health languishes, as her chalky, blood-flecked egg reveals. Furthermore, she’s heartbroken that her eggs are always taken from her, which leads her to vow that she won’t ever lay an egg in the coop again. This passage characterizes Sprout as a determined and an independent thinker.

“Through the gap she could see an acacia tree.”

Sprout gazes at the tree in the yard. It becomes a symbol of freedom, as it occupies the inaccessible world beyond the chicken coop. This introduces The Search for Freedom and Self-Determination as a theme; Sprout’s yearning for a more fulfilling life is evident in her staring through the gap in her pen at the tree in the yard.

“The pride she felt when she laid one was replaced by sadness.”

The text reveals Sprout’s desperate desire to be a mother. Her pain over her eggs being constantly taken away characterizes her life in the egg-laying coop as deeply traumatic, and not aligned with her life’s ambitions. This alludes to The Search for Freedom and Self-Determination as a theme. Another revelation here concerns Sprout’s relative naivete; she doesn’t understand that the unfertilized eggs would never grow into chicks even if they were left with her.