"mr green" is narrated by a catholic woman who was taught by her grandfather about ancestor worship. as a child, she was saddened when her grandfather told her that she could not tend to the worship of her family members because she is a woman. mr green is a talking parrot that belonged to her great grandfather; after his death, she cares for the parrot, bringing him to the united states with her. when mr green grows old and melancholy, plucking out his own feathers, the narrator kills him by wringing his neck as she had learned from her mother and grandmother.