The canary multiplies a potent symbol in this story. In one respect, the bright canary signifies joy and music in Minnie Wright’s bleak life. The bird provides her with company, music, and beauty.

The pretty songbird trapped in a cage also becomes a symbol for Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale remembers the young Minnie Foster: “‘She—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery’” (156). Her marriage to John Wright choked the life out of the Minnie, just as he later choked the life out of her pet canary. For Minnie, the loss of the canary represents the death of her own essence, as well as the loss of a precious companion. John Wright’s murder of the helpless bird reveals him to be a cruel man with a treacherous disregard for his wife’s feelings.

After 20 years of living with a hard man who oppressed her, controlled her, and deprived her emotionally and physically, Minnie Wright lashed out in anger and repressed emotion. She strangles her husband, in a heart-broken echo of the cruel neglect and deprivation she has suffered over the years.