Short Story Review || The Birds (1952)
"A small English village is terrorized by birds whose intent it seems, is to rid the earth of all humankind."
: 🌕 : SPOILER ALERT : 🌕 :
The screech of the bird’s call in the wee hours of the morning brightens the day to a cycle of enamouring experiences. The summer’s sun & the spring’s chirps nostalgically coven the tender seasons that chime with the wind’s call. Depending on the area where you live, the species of birds you cross paths with may lead you to completely disagree with my first statement, describing the whooshing hum of shared space in the sky & on Earth. Supposing you know the Magpie or the Crow; perhaps you are familiar with the Raven or the Heron; the birds that colour the skies, the lakesides, & the green grass, liken our waking hours to marvellous dreams where great beasts walk among us. Occasionally these dreams turn into nightmares, the likes of which one will never be able to escape due to the frequency of flight & the soundless flap of feathery-soft wings.
“All the while he searched the hedgerows for the birds, glanced over the top of them to the fields beyond, looked to the small wood above the farm where the rooks and jackdaws gathered. He saw none.”
I find it rather cruel to begin this review by highlighting Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (1963) but, I feel inclined to do so because it is how this story is most commonly known. When I finally came to learn that the film was in fact adapted from this very story, the one I am set to review with you now; I was conflicted.
Daphne Du Maurier’s story is not haughty & trite, with acrylic nails & tapping heels screeching down gravel laneways. Her story describes a humble home, farmland in the United Kingdom—England—where a family is attempting to make do with what little they have, following the end of World War II. Whereas Hitchcock’s film completely alters the landscape to incorporate a dazzling blonde beauty & a handsome mysterious man, I struggled to comprehend the draw of switching gears so aggressively; Was this story not about the natural terror which humanity cannot stave off?
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In essence, this is a story about birds attacking humans. Anyone who has crossed paths with a Canadian Goose will have substantive material to call to mind in order to accept that the ebbs & flows of the Aves, need not look further than their humble backyards. However, in this book, the birds go mad—clinically insane—& endeavour to murder every human being they come in contact with.
There is no reason for this behaviour & as I said, having met quite a few ill-tempered birds myself, I do not believe that they need a reason to be mad. Humanity has treated birds rather dastardly throughout the centuries & perhaps du Maurier has caught on that the species has grown tired of our dull behaviour. On the other hand, perhaps the world is changing & the birds are just as worried about their existence as we are about our own.
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The main character, Nat, notices that each species of bird has flown over the sea to land in his small English seaside village accompanied by a looming evil glance. Nat is unsure of why the birds have done this but he purports that it might be due, in part, to the cold front that has made the harvest more difficult this season.
The story explores Nat’s attempts to keep his wife & two young children safe while the birds fight to break into their home at night. As a main character, Nat is easy to follow. The reader does not know much about him & his way of life but the author has allowed enough space between words for the reader to come to their own conclusions. Nat was most probably a soldier in WWII, he works the land tirelessly to provide for his family, & he does not trust the government, nor does he believe in the whims of humanity.
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The story explores a post-war society that is distanced from the major cities. Citizens acknowledge that they matter less than the hubs of society & yet recognize that their daily chores provide necessary goods for the whole country. The discourse surrounding the government’s ability, or desire, to aid those outside of city centres is presented through Nat’s wife’s ideologies. She believes that the military should simply come to the town & shoot all the birds. She goes so far as to say that using Mustard Gas to rid the town of all the animals would be the best course of action, better than doing nothing.
This inclusion in her fight for safety is odd. Having lived through WWII, Nat & his entire family, save perhaps his very young children, would be aware of the devastating & uncontrollable effects of Gas. Why would Nat’s wife desire the use of chemical warfare in her village when there is no certainty that she would be protected from its effects?
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Though I enjoyed Nat & his scurry to remain calm & collected, there was a profoundly unspoken nature to his character that I wished had been further explored. Overall, the story does not present readers with any depth & rather, a reader who has lived through a period of war or for whom the reality of war is ever-present may have a better appreciation for the subtle nature of the nature vs. man discourse that transpires in this plot. However, I wanted to learn more about the man who fought in the War, & I wanted to understand how troubling it must have been for him to sit & bide his time while the government he fought to protect left him to be pecked dry by birds.
This is not to say that du Maurier needed to explore more character range or allow Nat a soliloquy to add depth to the situation. Readers are encouraged to meet Nat where he is & rather than speak & rumble about every single detail—as does his wife—Nat remains pensive, silent, & tormented.
The contrast of the two characters was difficult to accept. Having read this in the 21st Century I found Nat’s wife to be an utter annoyance. She screamed & cried & refused to allow Nat to leave her in the house alone, to keep their children safe, because she couldn’t do anything alone. Why was this? Why was she rude to her husband while simultaneously requiring him to do everything for her & their children? Could she not have checked on the children at night? Why was she always telling him that he was wrong in believing that the Military would not arrive to desecrate the hundreds of birds?
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Perhaps the author has made a conscious decision to include such different & polarizing facets in a narrative that presents them with a situation that is completely outside of their control. Their ability to remain calm & attempt to survive the night is a balancing act, one the reader may not appreciate & rather, one that several people might find altogether silly & naive. This brings us back to the introduction & the comparison between the source material & the film adaptation. These stories only have one thing in common; birds want to kill humans.
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When I watched the film for the first time I went in with very high expectations, eager to watch a film that would be a terror the likes of which I had never seen. Unfortunately, though the main cast of characters was delightfully fashionable, & though the aesthetic of the cinematography was lovely, the screech of the birds annoyed me so terribly that I grew weary of watching people lack a basic understanding of the species that came around the seaside town. The film was fine—such is my review. However, I would not encourage anyone to watch it, I’m not sure that there is any need to read this story either; nothing happens that would drive the mind into turmoil.
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Ultimately, I recognize the value that this story presents & the importance that it holds in discussing the realities of post-war society, primarily through the lens of non-city communities. The horror is in the reality that people are left to their own devices, without the guidance they feel they may deserve by governing bodies. Otherwise, I do not know that I have much to say about the flow; the writing was simplistic & straightforward, & the dialogue juvenile & dated.
In all honesty, I finished this story happy to be done with it & eager to write a review that would see me file this chapter of literature away until it came up in a future discussion. There is nothing to love or hate in what du Maurier has written, rather she had a simple story to tell about the flows of a society that would never recover from the nationalistic need to be great, powerful, & brave. Whereas, citizens were penalized, impoverished, & despairing.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this link — « The Birds » by Daphne du Maurier
Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK, & Daphne du Maurier for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
C. 💌