(Du Maurier hated the former, apparently, disapproving of the many liberties Hitchcock took, but gave her blessing to Roeg's more faithful version of her later story). Bearing out the perceived wisdom that short stories – in particular, scary stories – make the best films, these short masterpieces are better-known today as the movies they inspired: Hitchcock's infamous 1963 avian thriller and Nicholas Roeg's darkly erotic 1973 Don't Look Now. GradeSaver, Web.Despite her reputation as a 'romantic novelist', a label the author herself always chafed against, Daphne du Maurier wrote two of the most menacing tales of 20th-century fiction – The Birds and Don't Look Now. 'The Birds and Other Stories Symbols, Allegory and Motifs'. Next Section Metaphors and Similes Previous Section Analysis How To Cite in MLA Format Wolf, Julia, mohamed Hussien. Will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback. You can help us out by revising, improving and updatingĪfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. Trigg starts shooting the birds, he thinks that doing so will solve the problem, but the gun turns out to be useless against the birds. The gun is a symbol of how humans minimize the power of nature. These clouds are met throughout the entire story, and help the author to develop the theme of terror, the feeling of helplessness and lack of hope. The birds are organized into dark clouds which cover the sky, and no sign of sun and light can be seen. The fire is a symbol for warmth and peace. The main character Nat understands it very well, and when getting necessary things for the siege, fuel for the fire is the main one in his list. As long as the fire is set in the fireplace, the birds cannot get into the house through the chimney. The fire becomes a symbol for salvation and and life-saving. The community of birds is an allegoric representation of the community of people, with the only difference – birds do not attack each other, while people have done the complete opposite. Like during the war, there is inhumanity and absurdity in killing thousands of people, and the very war was just a simple destruction and extermination of humankind. The allusions to the Second World War help to understand the main idea and message of the author.

The reason why they started behaving so aggressively against people is not clear – it is just a fact that birds start attacking people all over the country.

We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.īirds are the main image and the main object of discussion in the story. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

The birds by daphne dumaurier