What is the significance of the bird in poisonwood bible?

the parrot, Methuselah, is a symbol for the doomed Republic of Congo.

Mesthuselah is denied freedom for the majority of his life, resulting on the loss of the ability to fend for himself. Even after Nathan Price sets him free, Methuselah stays near the house he's always known and continues to rely on humans for food.

The vulnerable Methuselah is, in the end, caught and killed by a cat, meeting his doom on the same day the Republic of Congo begins its own short lived independence.

Within a few months, the equally vulnerable nation will also be set upon by a predator (the U.S.) and killed, much like Methuselah the parrot.

(not original material. Found on Sparknotes. which you should have done in the first place.)