The canary by katherine mansfield

With the aim to reveal the theme of loneliness, the author of the short story uses several symbols. The first one is the bird, which, in this particular context, stands for hope because the woman does not feel lonely only till she has a pet. In other words, the bird gives the main character confidence and some sense of security that she is not alone in the world. The way the narrator speaks of her dead pet shows that she lost hope after the bird died.
The second symbol the author uses in her piece is the cage. In this short story, the cage is the symbol of loneliness. Just like for the bird, the cage is what restricts it from spreading the wings flying away, for the older woman, it is the loneliness that confines her. Overall, the woman herself is the caged bird.