The Cockatoos Summary
Patrick White

The Cockatoos Overview

Patrick White's The Cockatoos is a collection of six short stories. All of the enclosed works centralize interpersonal relationships. White's characters are either stuck in unsatisfying marriages or restricted by their home lives with their parents. Many of the characters are repressed and frustrated, and attempt to set themselves free by breaking codes of moral conduct or rebelling against social conventions. All written from the third person point of view, White's short stories explore themes including entrapment, longing, and intimacy within a range of narrative contexts.