The Old Bird A Love Story Analysis

J.F. Power’s emotional tone about an elderly man named Mr. Newman, shows how defeated he is about his old age using the words “bony hands” and “ancient fountain pen”. The story “The Old Bird, A Love Story”, written by J.F. Powers, talks about the life of Mr. Newman who is an unemployed and elderly man. Mr. Newman tries to acquire a job, but as time paasses he realizes that it isn’t as simple as it looks. Mr. Newman finds out the older he is, the way people think of him is different and that it's harder to find a job at his age. Mr. Newman notices that he is inferior to society because of his old age.

One of the people Mr. Newman meets is a young information girl. Mr. Newman is notified that he is required to sign papers for a chance to get the job and the line “Mr. Newman’s bony old hand clawed at his coat pocket and unsnapped a larger ancient fountain pen.”(Powers 5) tells us that the author describes Mr. Newman is as an

Newman has a conversation with is Mr. Shanahan. Powers saying “...he would like to make sure Mr.Newman understood the job was only temporary.” (Powers 7) could identify that Mr. Newman isn’t going to be needed in the future. In addition to this, Mr. Newman is determined to improve even though he is old. Mr. Shanahan throughout the interview watches Mr. Newman closely to his reactions when he is questioned by Mr. Shanahan.

After meeting Mr. Shanahan, Mr. Newman meets a man named Mr. Hurley. In contrast to Mr. Shanahan and the information girl, Mr. Hurley gave a positive feeling. Speaking about the author, Powers says “Mr. Newman slowly brought himself to realize he was “Charley” to Mr. Hurley.”(Powers 10) this indicates that Newman feels much more comfortable with Hurley then the other two characters met in the story. However, that gracious time Newman felt was short lived. The quote “ ... he’s old enough to think about using some on himself.” this quote is explaining how Hurley made fun of Newman’s