daphne du maurier the birds and other stories

The story is more frightening as compared to the movie. These avid descriptions paint clear pictures of an apocalypse in the reader’s mind. Black winter had descended in a single night” (De Maurier 328). The author posits, “The sky was hard and leaden, and the brown hills that had gleamed in the sun the day before looked dark and bare. One of the apocalyptic descriptions is what Nat sees through the window. The death of birds here symbolizes doom, which is normally associated with apocalypse. In the story, the author posits, “There are birds in there, dead birds, nearly fifty of them” (Du Maurier 328). The story gives avid description of scenes and the reader can almost tell what is about to happen. The story seems more apocalyptic as compared to the movie. Which is more apocalyptic: the story or the film? Which is more frightening and why? Which is more believable? However, the gulls in this context are circling, which foreshadows that something wrong is about to happen. Normally, gulls fly in a coordinated harmony with one bird taking the lead and the rest following to form a streamline in a bid to counter air resistance. Unfortunately, Nat points to a black winter hence, bad things would happen.Īt another point, the author notes that the gulls “were circling, hundreds of them, thousands of them, lifting their wings against the wind” (Du Maurier 325). Normally during the winter, snow falls and given that snow is white, it signifies that the winter comes with good things. In literature, black is associated with misfortunes, while white signifies fortunes. The use of black in this context points to an impending disaster. Nat’s daughter wonders, “Will it snow, Dad? It’s cold enough” (Du Maurier 317), but Nat answers, “This is a black winter, not a white one” (Du Maurier 317). However, Du Maurier uses foreshadowing to hint at the bad things about to happen in the story.

Normally, foreshadowing does not necessarily imply that bad things are about to happen, as it can be used to foretell good things.

Therefore, the restlessness noted by Du Maurier foreshadows something bad, which is about to happen. Normally, birds are peaceful and admirable creatures especially whilst in their natural habitats.

Daphne du maurier the birds and other stories