The Birds

In Daphne Du Maurier's "The Birds," the birds symbolize the unpredictability and uncontrollable force of nature. Metaphorically, they represent the underlying tensions and conflicts in society,...

Three examples of foreshadowing in the first six pages of "The Birds" include Nat's thoughts about the birds' restless behavior, Mr. Trigg's comment about a hard winter, and the bird tapping at Nat's...

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...

The key events in "The Birds" include the sudden and unexplained aggression of birds towards humans, the protagonist Nat Hocken's efforts to protect his family, and the increasing intensity of the...

This is a mystery that is never fully solved in the story. What Nat and others assume at the beginning, before the bird attacks become too serious, is that the birds are acting in such strange ways...

In "The Birds," Daphne du Maurier explores themes of nature's unpredictability and human vulnerability. The story portrays a sudden, violent avian attack on humans, symbolizing nature's...

Examples of irony in "The Birds" by Daphne Du Maurier include the peaceful countryside setting turning into a battleground, and the birds, generally seen as harmless, becoming deadly threats....

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 film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds" significantly differs from the original story. The novella focuses on a farmer's struggle against violent bird attacks in rural England,...

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...

In "The Birds," author Daphne Du Maurier uses figurative language and personification to intensify the horror and the sense of dread that the reader feels for Nat and his family as they're...

Significant quotes from Daphne Du Maurier's "The Birds" include: "It was the black winter, they said," highlighting a period of intense bird attacks, and "They kept coming at him," emphasizing the...

The writer uses violent, dynamic language to describe the birds. The writer also uses language techniques like repetition, simile, and metaphor to describe 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...

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...

Nat Hocken struggles with protecting his family from the relentless bird attacks. His primary motivation is ensuring their safety, which drives him to fortify their home and gather supplies....

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

At the end of "The Birds," Nat throws his empty cigarette packet onto the fire and watches it burn. This moment is indeed symbolic: that the packet is empty, for example, signifies that humankind...

The main conflict in "The Birds" is the sudden and violent uprising of birds against humanity. This unexpected and unexplained phenomenon creates a life-and-death struggle for the human characters,...

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...

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...

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 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,...

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...

du Maurier develops Nat as focused and precise.  Though no one would ever wish to be in the situation in which he is placed, Nat is one of the best equipped to handle such a crisis.  Nat...

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...

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"...

In "The Birds," the avian attacks symbolize nature's unpredictable and uncontrollable power, challenging human dominance. The birds' behavior reflects underlying tensions and fears, suggesting a...

Nat theorizes that the birds' strange behavior is due to a sudden change in weather. He believes the abrupt onset of cold and hunger has driven them to act aggressively and irrationally, searching...

Ned Hocken, the hero of Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds," is a man who attempts to protect his family from the murderous flock of birds that has descended upon their village.

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 Cold War is a common theme in the story. Nat's wife first refers to it when she suggests calling out the army to shoot the birds. She seems to be suggesting that Britain should employ any means...

The information that Nat and his wife get from the radio in "The Birds" includes the fact that they are not alone in their experience and that bird attacks are taking place all over England. They are...

Nat assumed that the birds were behaving strangely because they signified the end of autumn and the approaching winter. At some point in the story, Nat commented on the bird’s behavior to Mr. Trigg...

The most obvious way that du Maurier is able to display the fear that Nat and his family experience is to show how the birds slowly transform their world from one of comfort to one of chaos....

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...

In the story, a strange phenomenon is gripping England. Common, everyday birds of all sorts are flying to the southern part of the country and flocking to towns and cities in immense numbers. Nat...

The story opens on December 3 with two seemingly minor incidents: Nat observes a change in the behavior of the local birds. He finds them restless and agitated, completely lacking in any intent....

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...

At the beginning of the story, Nat experiences some minor incidents which alert him to the changing behaviour of the birds. The first of these occurs when he is eating lunch on the cliff's edge...

The events of "The Birds" by Daphne du Maurier take place during autumn. This season is marked by the migration of birds, which sets the stage for the unusual and aggressive behavior of the birds...

In Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds," Nat Hocken initially attributes the birds' strange behavior to the cold winter approaching. After the birds attack his home, Nat takes the threat seriously,...

In "The Birds," BBC radio announcements initially provide comfort and reassurance to Nat and his wife by informing them of the situation and suggesting government action. The calm tone of the...

Daphne Du Maurier's "The Birds" incorporates gothic elements such as fear, supernatural occurrences, and a gloomy setting, typical of gothic literature. The story's eerie coastal setting and the...