| "The Birds" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Daphne du Maurier |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror, thriller, novelette |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Publication date | 1952 |
"The Birds" is a famous novelette by Daphne du Maurier, first published in her 1952 collection The Apple Tree. It is the story of a farmhand, his family, and his community, who are attacked by flocks of seabirds who have organized themselves into avian suicide warriors. The story is set in England shortly after the end of World War II. By the end of the story it has become clear that all of Britain is under aerial assault.
The story was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name, released in 1963, the same year that The Apple Tree was reprinted as The Birds and Other Stories.
In 2009, Irish playwright Conor McPherson adapted the story for the stage at Dublin's Gate Theatre.
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The story was inspired by the author seeing a man ploughing a field while seagulls were wheeling and diving above him; Du Maurier developed the idea of these birds becoming hostile and attacking.[1] It is implied that the East Wind is connected to the birds' attack — a possible reference to the threat of Communism and the Cold War in which the United States and UK were embroiled in the 1950s and 1960s.
The story was dramatized for radio and TV several times, including:
Farm worker and war veteran Nat Hocken notices an unusual number of birds behaving strangely along the peninsula where his family lives, which he attributes to the coming winter. That night, he hears tapping at his bedroom window. When he opens it, he is pecked in the knuckles by a frightened bird. Some time passes, and the tapping resumes. As Nat opens the window again, a number of birds strike him and disappear. He hears screams from his children's room and rushes to them, only to find a swarm of small birds flying around their room. Nat fights them off with a blanket until dawn, when they fly away, leaving about fifty dead birds on the floor. He reassures his wife that the birds were restless because of a sudden change in the weather.
The next day, Nat tells his fellow workers about the night's events; but they give it little importance. As he goes to the beach to dispose of the dead birds, he notices what appear to be dark clouds over the sea but are actually tens of thousands of seagulls waiting for the tide to rise.
When Nat gets home, he and his family hear over the radio that birds are attacking all over Britain, presumably because of the approaching winter. Nat decides to board the windows and block up the chimney. Later, he goes to pick up his daughter, Jill, from the school bus stop. Then he sees his boss, Trigg, with a car and asks for him to give Jill a lift home. Trigg cheerfully claims that he and some others are unfazed by the announcements and plan on going out and shooting the birds. He invites Nat to come along, but Nat rejects Trigg's offer and continues home. Just before he reaches home, the gulls descend, attacking him with their beaks. Nat reaches the cottage with minor injuries.
Soon massive swarms of birds are diving for the house. A national emergency is declared on the radio, and people are told not to leave their homes. The birds continue to crash mindlessly against the cottage. During dinner, the family hears what sounds like gunfire from planes overhead, followed by the sound of the planes crashing.
The attacks die down, and Nat calculates that they will only attack at high tide. The next day, when the tide recedes, Nat goes out to get supplies from the neighbors. There are piles of dead birds around the houses, but the birds still alive simply watch him from a distance. Nat goes to the farm where he is employed and finds Trigg and his wife dead. Later on, he also sees the postman's body by the road and realizes there are no signs of life from any of his neighbors' homes because they have all been attacked and eaten by the birds.
Nat returns home with the supplies, and in a few hours, the birds resume their attack. The story ends as Nat smokes his last cigarette while the birds continue their siege.