-
The Birds
Daphne Du Maurier spent her adulthood in the region of Cornwall in southwest England, and it was the Cornish peninsula that provided settings for much of her fiction, including her short story The...
-
The Birds
On the most basic level, the conflict is man versus nature. This conflict is represented in the farmer Nat's family having to defend themselves against a savage flock of birds. The birds begin to...
-
The Birds
As the story opens, the omniscient narrator indicates that the birds’ altered behavior coincided with the onset of winter. The story takes place along a coast. Ned’s neighbor, a farmer, remarks...
-
The Birds
I think that du Maurier is trying to convey a sense of doom with the destruction at the Triggs' farm. For Nat to see the Triggs' bodies is a reflection of his worst fears. At the same time, he...
-
The Birds
I don't believe du Maurier (the author) tell us that, so we can probably assume it takes place in the present, which would have been 1951 or 1952 (it was published in '52).Check the links below for...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," Du Maurier employs a number of symbols. Here are a few to consider: The gun symbolises how man underestimates the power of nature. Mr Trigg thinks that shooting the birds will be...
-
The Birds
When the birds attack Nat's home, he develops a rational explanation as he tries to make sense of this violent and unexpected behaviour. As he tells his wife, Jill, he believes that a change in the...
-
The Birds
War quotes The situation depicted in this story consciously recalls wartime. The constant aerial attacks by the birds engender a siege mentality in the humans. Nat and his family are obliged to...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," Du Maurier uses imagery to enhance her description and to build on the experiences of her characters. Just before the first attack, when Nat is in bed with his wife, for example,...
-
The Birds
In literature, writers use the exposition to set the scene of the story. In "The Birds," Du Maurier achieves this by making two key points: the first of these being the sudden change to the weather...
-
The Birds
Perhaps in Daphne du Maurier's story, "The Birds," what she describes is more important than what her characters say, by way of adding to the story's overall suspense. Dialogue is general a source...
-
The Birds
When the story begins, the mood is calm and serene. This is created by the description of Nat Hocken, sitting on the edge of a cliff and enjoying nature as he eats his lunch. The mood quickly...
-
The Birds
Nat Hocken is very aware of and connected to nature. He is the first person, for example, who notices the change in the birds' behaviour on December third. Nat is also dependable and reliable:...
-
The Birds
Nate Hocken is not the narrator of this story. The story is told using third-person narration, from Nate Hocken's point of view. I would describe Nate Hocken as an older retired man who works...
-
The Birds
One comparison between du Maurier's short story and the Hitchcock film is the sheer terror that the birds pose, while a difference might lie in characterization. I think that a significant...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," the resolution of the story comes when Nat realises that he and his family are alone and helpless against the attacking birds. He realises this when the wireless does not play the...
-
The Birds
In the opening paragraphs of "The Birds," Nat notices that the winter is so far quite different than that of previous years. The birds are more "restless," for example, and appear to be...
-
The Birds
In Daphne Du Maurier's short story, "The Birds," the main character is Nat Hocken, who lives with his wife and two children on "the Cornish coast of England." Wounded in the war, and compensated by...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," one of the most prevalent themes is that of human survival; this is evident through the activities of Nat Hocken. In his efforts to keep his family safe from the birds, for example,...
-
The Birds
There are a number of themes in Du Maurier's story, "The Birds." Fear is, perhaps, the most obvious and is shown most clearly through the character of Nat's wife, Mrs Hocken, who looks "terrified"...
-
The Birds
In the story "The Birds," by Daphne du Maurier, Nat Hocken finds himself in a situation filled with conflict of virtually every nature. The internal conflict facing Hocken is a driving force for...
-
The Birds
I think that the birds represent the idea of a threatening presence that is larger than that of the human being. These threats are the ones that threaten our basic existence and we, as human...
-
The Birds
The silent radio and the burning cigarette can also be interpreted as symbols of man's struggle to survive. The silent radio, for example, is a stark reminder that in the fight against the birds,...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," there are a number of details which suggest that the birds might be under the influence of an evil force. When Nat goes to pick up Jill from the bus stop, for example, he notes that...
-
The Birds
As the link to "The Birds" on enotes points out, the short story by DuMaurier "presents an unrelenting portrait of terror and a compelling analogy of the atmosphere of fear generated...
-
The Birds
The climax in any story is the turning point in the story. It's the moment when the conflict has reached its greatest point of intensity and the moment when the resolution is in sight. The reader...
-
The Birds
There are a number of instances likes this in "The Birds." One example is when Mrs Trigg dismisses Nat's story about the attack on his home. In fact, she goes as far as to mock him: “Sure they...
-
The Birds
There are a number of examples of irony in Du Maurier's story, "The Birds." One of the most striking can be found in the fate of Mrs Trigg, the farmer's wife. She demonstrates scepticism towards...
-
The Birds
The opening of the story contains symbolism. Du Maurier uses the opening of the story to indicate a theory of correspondence, a connection between the weather and impending dramatic elements in...
-
The Birds
Early in "The Birds," Du Maurier frequently uses foreshadowing to build anticipation ahead of the birds' attack. One example of this comes in the second paragraph when Nat is eating his lunch and...
-
The Birds
The premise of Du Maurier's story is a fairly destructive one. The birds win. Humanity suffers. Yet, in Nat's characterization, one can see how Du Maurier defines the contours of survival. Du...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," Nat Hocken is heroic because he is a fearless leader. Nat proves this when the birds attack his home for the first time. Despite being attacked by the birds on his window-sill, for...
-
The Birds
It is important to note how the author effectively forshadows the later events in the novel even before the birds have started on their murderous campaign against humanity. Note how the third and...
-
The Birds
The most demonstrative external conflict in the work is between Nat and the Birds. This is external in nature as it pits two forces against one another. Nat is experiencing a fundamental external...
-
The Birds
In the story, Jim is the cowman; both Nat and Jim work for the farmer, Mr. Trigg. When Nat asks Jim whether he has had any trouble with the birds, Jim brushes Nat off. Nat then begins to describe...
-
The Birds
In thinking of critical thinking questions to ask about Daphne du Maurier's short story "The Birds," one can consider themes. One theme in the short story concerns peoples' psychological responses...
-
The Birds
The birds that form such an implacable enemy to Nat and his family are personified throughout this terrifying short story, but you might like to consider the following examples of adjectives that...
-
The Birds
In Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds, Nat Hocken has been slightly bewildered by the strange behavior of the region's bird. Nat observes the birds' seeming restlessness and their apparent...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," the birds symbolize the uninhibited and unbridled power of nature. This is shown most clearly in their violent and repeated attacks on humans. In one incident, the birds attack Nat...
-
The Birds
Nat is a realist. He is shown to be extremely perceptive about the world around him. He understands the magnitude of the challenges with the bird before anyone else. Contrary to the Triggs'...
-
The Birds
The setting of Daphne du Maurier's short story, "The Birds," is the Cornish coast of England in autumn during the threat of Cold War in the 1950's and 1960's. This time of year is appropriate to...
-
The Birds
A possible resolution and denouement would be that once Mitch leaves his hometown with his family and Marion, the birds' attacks heighten in violence and they end up exterminating one another....
-
The Birds
In "The Birds" by Daphne Du Maurier, the main character theorizes that the birds' destructive behavior is a consequence of a sudden change in weather, a "cold snap." The story is set in England,...
-
The Birds
Daphne Du Maurier's short story The Birds was a reaction to the fears faced by the British and others in the years following World War II, which saw England heavily bombed by Germany, and the...
-
The Birds
Feeding into much of the fearful atmosphere of the world stage after World War II, the story's conclusion brings to light the belief that the birds will overcome civilization. The bird attacks...
-
The Birds
In "The Birds," the characters react quite differently to the birds' attacks. Mr Trigg, for example, adopts a rather blasé attitude: he thinks that a gun will provide adequate protection, as he...
-
The Birds
I'm answering your question (and edited your question to reflect this) as if you were asking about Aristophanes' play, The Birds. If you were writing about the Du Maurier story, please submit your...
-
The Birds
From the beginning of the story, Nat is baffled by the sudden change in the birds' behaviour and tries to explain it rationally. The first of these is a change in the weather which Nat takes from...
-
The Birds
Answering the question -- on what page of Daphne Du Maurier's short story The Birds do the birds first attack -- is impractical, as it is dependent upon the student posing the question having the...
-
The Birds
In terms of Daphne duMaurier's story "The Birds," I would look at the massing gulls riding the waves in two ways. On a simple level, as the bird mass upon the rising waves, the reader is given the...