Analysis Of The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History

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In her essay “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” Jennifer Price provides a brief history of flamingos - both real and live. She makes the compelling argument that the popularity of the pink flamingo in the 1950s works as a convincing metaphor for the consumerism and hypocrisy inherent in American culture. She uses literary and rhetorical devices such as allegory and metaphor, frivolous diction, vibrant imagery, irony, contrast, appeals to authority, and historical references to assert her claim. The pink flamingo is used by the author as an allegory for American culture. Price writes, “The flamingo had made the bird synonymous with wealth and pizzazz.” This is especially ironic in the context of modern culture, as lawn flamingos are now primarily viewed as being tacky or a stereotypical decoration of the lower-class. By writing “In the 1950s, namesake Flamingo motels, restaurants, and lounges cropped up across the country like a line of semiotic sprites,” Price shows that flamingos had become tied with consumerism:She uses the phrase “semiotic sprouts” and other similar …show more content…
For instance, Price writes, “Vacationing Americans had been flocking to Florida and returning home with flamingo souvenirs.” In the following paragraph, she completely changes her tone to one of remorse and mild amusement and contrasts this with: “Americans had hunted flamingos to extinction in the late 1800s, for plumes and meat.” As well as exposing the hypocrisy inherent in American culture in the 1950s, this deliberate contrast also shows that American consumerism has existed since at least the 1800s, only in less apparent form. Also, Price humorously compares the habitats of real-life flamingos and “fake” flamingos: one lives in “saline and alkaline lakes in mostly warm habitats” and the other lives in “temperate New England,” which conveys a fakeness and
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