[3] Woolf was asked to write a piece for the family newspaper, which was at the time edited by her nephews Quentin and Julian Bell.
Quentin joked that he and Julian nearly rejected it for publication, describing it as an "improving story, based on the very worst Victorian examples.
The text primarily considers the ethics of human/pet relationships, as Woolf concludes the story by suggesting that "kindness to animals" leads to happiness.
Her companionship with James the parrot implies an interdependent connection, as both rely on each other in various ways; the story argues against moral frameworks which reduce human and nonhuman animals to their functional "use" within society.
Kristin Czarnecki in turn theorizes that Woolf's children's storytelling arguably freed her from certain highbrow "constraints" associated with literary culture in the early twentieth century.