The Birds

1. The Birds By Daphne du Maurier

2. Foreshadowing What might the following passage foreshadow? • “The whole machine and the man upon it would be lost momentarily in the great cloud of wheeling, crying birds.” • There are more birds than there are people. This detail suggests that, in a conflict between birds and people, birds would win.

3. Foreshadowing • What might the birds’ restlessness and large numbers foreshadow? • These details might foreshadow trouble of some sort. The birds seem unsettled, and Nat finds them disturbing.

4. Imagery • Imagery is language that appeals to one or more of the five senses. To which of the five sentences does DuMaurier appeal in paragraphs (p. 48 or p. 52)? • They appeal to the sense of sight. The cold, the wind, and the stab to Nat’s hand appeal to the sense of touch. The roaring sea and tapping birds appeal to the sense of hearing.

5. Imagery • What image of the wind does this generate and what might it foreshadow about the next day? • The wind invades the house; it gets in through the doors. This may foreshadow another “invasion” of the house.

6. Foreshadowing • What happens in the Nat’s room? • Several birds fly in through the open window and attack him. • Foreshadowing: • Birds tried to get into Nat’s room and attack. The scream suggests that perhaps the same thing has happened in the children’s room. • Later, the children scream.

7. Foreshadowing • Different types of birds don’t usually flock together. Is there a particular incident where the short story predicts that the birds would come together? • The short story refers to the jackdaws and gulls as “a strange partnership.” This remark foreshadows the different songbirds collaborating in an attack on the family.

8. Foreshadowing • What might the imagery of the “partnership” foreshadow? • It suggests that there may be a desperate battle between the birds and the human beings. It suggests that the birds intend to kill the human beings.

9. Imagery • “The sky was hard and leaden and the brown hills that had gleamed in the sun the day before looked dark and bare. The wind, like a razor, stripped the trees, and the leaves, crackling and dry, shivered and scattered with the wind’s blast. Nat stubbed the earth with his boot. It was frozen hard. He had never known a change so swift and sudden. Black winter had descended in a single night.” • The color words appeal to the sense of sight. “Like a razor,” “dry,” and “frozen hard” appeal to the sense of touch. “Crackling” appeals to the sense of hearing. • The effect is bleak, depressing, and scary.

10. Foreshadowing • Good predictions are based on close attention to details. Identify details in the short story that foreshadow this change to “Black Winter.” • “The wind changed overnight”; the farmer’s prediction that the weather would change and the winter would be hard. A white winter sounds lighter and more normal. In a black winter, fearsome and dangerous things might happen

11. Foreshadowing • Overnight, “black winter” has taken hold of the countryside. What might the suddenness of this change foreshadow? • Winter often symbolizes death because it is the time of year when many plants die or “sleep” until spring. The sudden coming of winter suggests that death is coming.

12. Imagery • “She said nothing of the birds. She began to push and struggle with another little girl. The bus came ambling up the hill.” What can be inferred about silence about the birds? • Since she seems cheerful, she may have recovered from the attack. However, she may feel the attack was too strange to discuss outside the family.

13. Opinion of Nat • “Boss around? Asked Nat….He clumped off round the corner of the shed. He had no time for Nat. Nat was said to be superior. Read books and the like.” What can one infer about Jim’s opinion of Nat? What can one infer about Jim with respect to his opinion of Nat? • Nat is thoughtful and intelligent. He is unlike the people around him. Jim is unimaginative since he never reads. He may be insecure since he faults Nat for being “superior.”

14. Painting of the Bird • The landscape around the bird is barren. This sky is blue, but the mirror reflects a red sky. Nothing looks the way it should. The mood of the painting is unsettling, strange, and comparable to the eerie mood of the short story. • What impression of nature does the painting convey? • Nature is harsh and threatening.

15. Painting of the Bird • What elements in the painting share a commonality with the short story? • The painting shows a powerful, threatening bird. The oddness of mirrors on a beach and their strange reflections create a sense of disturbance similar to that of the short story.

16. Weather Foreshadowing • What might the unnatural weather foreshadow? • The strange weather suggests that something has gone wrong with nature and that other odd events may occur.

17. Foreshadowing • How does Mrs. Trigg’s response to Nat’s story predict why he doesn’t call the police? • Mrs. Trigg doesn’t take Nat’s concerns seriously. • Since Nat expects the same reaction and since the police will also be skeptical, there is little to be done about the birds. In any case, it is unlikely he will call.

18. Foreshadowing • What he had thought at firsts to be the whitecaps of the waves were gulls. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands…They rose and fell in the trough of the seas, heads to the wind, like a mighty fleet at anchor, waiting on the tide. Which details found in his description foreshadow unusual events to come? • Nat thinks the gulls are waiting. He thinks they may be waiting for the time to attack the house and the Triggs’ farm.

19. World War II • References are made to World War II as Nat remembers “the Blitz” and “blackout boards.” How is Nat’s current situation similar to that during the war. How is it different? • Alike: People have to build barricades to protect their homes from air attacks. People rely on the radio for information. • Different: The war involved enemy bombers. People knew why the enemy attacked, but the birds’ attack seems motiveless. Bombs do more damage more quickly than flocks of birds

20. War Foreshadowing • What do these memories of the war suggest about Nat’s situation? • These war thoughts hint that Nat is becoming aware that birds are at war with humans and that the results might be catastrophic.

21. Reaction Foreshadowing • In view of Nat’s realization about the birds, what steps does Nat take to protect his family and his home? • He nails boards over all the windows and fills up the chimney bases so that the birds can’t get in.

22. Reaction Foreshadowing • “The sight had been so unusual that traffic came to a standstill in many thoroughfares, work was abandoned in shops and offices, and the streets and pavements were crowded with people standing about to watch the birds.” Can one draw a prediction of what might happen? • These people don’t seem to be alarmed; they are only surprised and interested to see so many birds. This reaction means they will be vulnerable if an attack comes.

23. Reaction Foreshadowing • What might the circling gulls foreshadow? • They seem to be preparing for an attack. • While there are not specific details suggesting that the gulls would move with the turn of the tide, the short story suggests that everything in nature is collaborating against man. The wind brings the change in the weather and seems to direct the birds’ movements. The tide is also a force of nature, and it is not surprising that it should trigger the attack on man.

24. Reaction Foreshadowing • What might happen if these details about the birds were multiplied many times? • A multiplication of these events would suggest that the bird attacks were global. • Nat tries to report his sighting of large flocks of birds flying inland toward the urban areas. What is the significance?

25. Reaction Foreshadowing • The birds are probably in search of more human prey; there are far more of them than are needed to attack the few people in the area. • What will happen if Nat and Jill do not move along more quickly? • The gulls may attack them. • The picture on p. 59 or p. 65 shows a bleak, hostile setting overrun with birds as the darkness falls.

26. Black-backed gulls • The black-backed gulls join forces with smaller birds on which they would usually prey. • This observation reminds the reader of the first page of the short story when Nat noticed the “strange partnership” of jackdaws and gulls. • When Nat repulsed the attack in the children’s bedroom, he noticed that different species of birds, which would normally not mix with one another, had collaborated on the attack. • This new detail makes the short story more eerie because the birds act against their natures. It makes the family’s situation seem more dangerous.

27. Reaction Foreshadowing • Why does Nat ask Mr. Trigg to take Jill home? • Jill will be safer at home than she is out in the open, and Nat wants to stay outdoors to check on the birds. • Mr. Trigg appears to be careless, smug, overconfident, complacent and foolish. • Such insights predict that he won’t do anything to protect himself and family.

28. Reaction Foreshadowing • What foreshadowing can be predicted following the conversation between Mr. Trigg and Nat? • Since he doesn’t believe the stories about the attacks, Trigg won’t board up his house as Nat did, nor will he prepare in any way. The birds will get him and possibly his wife.

29. Foreshadowing Imagery • DuMaurier introduces the idea of birds attacking human beings with the image of the man on the tractor “lost momentarily in a great cloud of birds.” Why? • This description helps the reader to accept the fantastic event of a bird attack.

30. World War II Comparison • What do the comparisons of World War II bomb shelters foreshadow? • The importance implies establishing a safe area. The warnings on the radio suggest boarding up windows and building up defenses. The statement that the birds grow bolder with every attack shows they won’ t be contented with just tapping on the sash as they did the previous night: they’re trying to break in.

31. Foreshadowing • What details in the short story foreshadow the unusual change in the wireless programming? • When they listened to the wireless earlier, they heard stories of huge flocks of birds flying to towns and cities and roosting there while people stared at them. Details of attacks on Nat’s house suggest the birds in the cities also attacked.

32. Foreshadowing • What might the cracked glass foreshadow and why? • The cracked glass shows that the house isn’t strong or solid enough to keep the birds out. It also suggests that the birds might be able to crack through the boards with their strong beaks. • As a result the boards over the windows are reinforced with strips of tin, wood, and other metals.

33. Foreshadowing • What does the change in the programming foreshadow? • It might foreshadow that devastating attacks have been made on London, where the broadcast originates. Nat says that a change in programming usually means a national crisis or special circumstance. • The darkness in sky suggests that a storm is coming.

34. Sensory Language • Sensory language relates to the senses. What does DuMaurier accomplish with the use of sensory language such as shuffling, beating, sweeping. Whistling, singing, tapping and jostling? • The sound effects enable the reader to hear the noises made by the birds and by Nat. • The sound of silence implies the calm before the storm. The birds are regrouping for another attack.

35. False Prediction • Nat’s wife and Jill predict that the planes will kill the birds and rescue them---a false prediction. Why? • If birds fly into the propellers, the planes could be knocked out of the sky. • Nat believes that the planes all crashed due to collisions with masses of birds, a more logical predication.

36. Foreshadowing and Imagery • In what ways does the image of experts gathering add to the tension of the short story and as well as to the foreshadowing? • If experts are gathering, the situation is clearly very serious all over the country. It also lends a note of hope; it makes the reader want to see if the experts solve the situation.

37. Nat’s Theory • What is Nat’s theory of the birds? • The birds obey the forces of the tides and the east wind. Throughout the short story, there have been references to the wind bringing a change in the weather and affecting the behavior of the birds. Nat observes that the birds have begun moving as the tide turns.

38. Significance of the Cows • What is the significance of the cows being outside, waiting to be milked? • Nat thinks it will be safe for the cows to stay in the open; they won’t be attacked. The birds are out to destroy human beings, not animals. • The fact that the birds would not be interested in the “easy meal” of unprotected cows suggests that they are not motivated by hunger. The birds are activated by hatred for humans.

39. The significance of Nat’s Dream • “Nat dreamed uneasily because through his dreams there ran a thread of something forgotten…it was connected in some way with burning aircraft.” • When his wife “awoke him finally” implies that he finally realizes what he had forgotten: • Since his worry is connected with fire, he must have forgotten to bring in firewood or fuel, or to block the fireplaces properly so that the birds can’t come down the chimneys.

40. Finally Awakening • What does the realization that Nat forgot something foreshadow? • Birds will come down the chimney since there is nothing to stop them. His only way to scare them off is to light the fire. • What effect does the ticking clock have on the short story? • It serves as a reminder that high tide will occur in a little more than four hours. The birds will begin another attack with the arrival of high tide.

41. Prediction of Nat’s Family • What prediction can be made after one reads about the spirit the family shows? • They will not give up or give in. They will hold out against the birds for as long as they can. They may turn out to be strong enough to defeat or outlast the birds.

42. Man vs. Birds • Advantage for man: • Human beings are smarter. Nat has already figured out when it will be safe to go outdoors and he has planned how to make the best use of the time he has. • Birds are more numerous and therefore physically stronger. Nat and his family are isolated. • The birds come down the chimney.

43. Sound Effects • What effect do words such as pattering, brushing, tapping, thud, smashing have on Nat’s mood? • The sounds make Nat feel tense and anxious; they may have a similar effect on the reader. • In this short story, no bird has sung, cried, or called to another. That effect adds to the sense of unreality and makes the situation even more bizarre. Normally, birds sing and they call to one another. It all adds to the implication that all nature is disturbed.

44. Significance of the Land Birds • What effect do the land birds have on the short story when they don’t fly away as humans approach? • It frightens everyone because the birds are no longer safe or predictable. The fact that they sit and watch implies that the attacks aren’t over. They are only waiting for night to attack. If the attacks were over, the birds would have flown away as humans approached, not sit and wait.

45. Foreshadowing • What events led to the foreshadowing of the deaths of Jim and the Triggs? • They didn’t believe Nat’s story of the attack on his house or the radio warnings. Mr. Trigg said that he didn’t intend to board up his windows. Jim thought Nat was imagining things when Nat warned him about the birds.

46. Foreshadowing • Do the deaths of everyone at the farm foreshadow a similar fate for Nat and his family? • No, because the Triggs didn’t take any precautions against the birds. • Yes, because Nat and his family can’t do enough to protect themselves; the birds are too strong for them.

47. Foreshadowing • What foreshadowed the fact that Nat would be unable to get the exchange on the telephone? • The fact he couldn’t get any news broadcasts suggested a general breakdown in communication. • The dead phone line suggests that Nat and his family will be completely alone in their struggle against the birds.

48. Final Prediction • What will happen next? • The birds will attack the house again, and no military force will come to the rescue. • The birds have evidently killed everyone else in the area: the Triggs, Jim, and the postman. • There were no signs of life at the council houses.

49. Final Prediction • The birds will attack Nat’s house because Nat and his family may be the only ones left. • The birds haven’t moved because they are waiting for the tide to turn.

50. The Final Word • The point of the story is that the threat of nature always will exist and people will never be able to control it. • DuMaurier doesn’t resolve the situation because the struggle of humans with nature is not resolved.