49 pages • 1 hour read
Graeme Macrae BurnetA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Preface-Statements
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 15-37
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 37-59
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 59-83
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 83-96
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 96-112
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 112-126
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 126-133 and Medical Reports
Extract from Travels in the Border-Lands of Lunacy by J. Bruce Thomson
The Trial, First and Second Day
The Trial, Third Day-Epilogue
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Birds appear throughout Roderick’s written account of his crimes, often when Roderick wishes to express something indirectly or to add a poetic flourish to whatever he’s describing. This first occurs during the episode in which Roderick kills Lachlan Mackenzie’s sheep, where he describes an imaginary conversation with a crow who is eager to feast on the sheep’s carcass. Later, when he attempts to flee Culduie for good, he sees a crow who he imagines saying, “I was thinking I might make a breakfast of your eyes” (112). In both these instances, crows appear as opportunistic scavengers looking to take advantage of Roderick’s misfortune. Although Roderick claims to disavow local superstitions that hold crows to be signs of bad luck, he nevertheless uses them as signs of bad turns of fortune in his narrative. This suggests that, even as Roderick recognizes the absurdity of making decisions based on petty superstitions, he understands the utility of using those same superstitions as literary devices—making his story more convincing by underscoring whatever feeling or impression he wants to invoke in his readers.
As such, the imagery involving crows and other birds that Roderick weaves into his narrative demonstrate that he is an incredibly canny writer who is willing to take full advantage of the written word to manipulate the reader’s perception of himself, his circumstances, and his crimes.