ipl-logo

Literary Elements In Daphne Du Maurier's Short Story 'The Birds'

454 Words2 Pages

Daphne du Maurier’s short story “The Birds” is a piece of fiction that displays many literary elements. This story displays suspense, foreshadowing, and imagery. By using these literary elements du Maurier creates an intense story that leaves the readers wondering what happens next and wanting more.
First, foreshadowing is used to reference events that will happen further into the story. The birds had been more restless than ever this fall of the year, the agitation more marked because the days were still. (52) This quote shows that there is something strange happening with the birds and hints towards something more later in the story. In one scene, Nat askes Mr. Trigg if he has boarded up his windows yet. He replied, saying that the birds were a bunch of nonsense and that he had nothing to worry about. (66) This scene hints towards Mr. Trigg’s death because he did not take the proper precautions. In these examples, foreshadowing is used to hint towards an exciting part of the plot.
Next, suspense is used to make readers sit on the edge of their seats as they wonder what is going to happen next. The wings folded suddenly to its body. It dropped like a stone. (66) This quote makes the reader anxious as they wonder if the bird’s attack will be a successful one. Three hours to go, and while they …show more content…

He felt the thud of bodies, heard the fluttering of wings, but they were not yet defeated, for again and again they returned to the assault, jabbing his hands, his head, the little stabbing beaks sharp as pointed forks. (53) This quotes makes the reader in vison someone being attacked by birds. They may even feel the poking of the birds’ beaks or the thuds of the bodies around them. He could feel the blood on his hands, his wrists, his neck. Each stab of a swooping beak tore his flesh. (66) With this quote the reader imagines the dripping blood and the birds picking at his

Show More
Related
757 Words | 4 Pages

The bird was sick for a while with a very high fever and stomach problems but bad luck for the guards. The bird was able to pull through and survive. Another cost of war infections and diseases. In the camp POWS would go through infections and sickness from starvation.

Read More
237 Words | 1 Pages

“At that moment the bird began to flutter, but the wings were so uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and spray of flying feathers it tumbled down,”. When the ibis gets

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

2003 #3 Birds, something we see almost on a daily basis, one here and another one over there, but how many times in our lives will we be able to witness tens of thousands of birds flying over the sky. John James Audubon and Annie Dillard describes their own personal experiences with massive flocks of bird. Both author takes time to help the reader visualize the grandness and coordination of the birds. However with contrasting diction and syntax utilized by the authors, the two articles are able to have different effect on the audience after finished reading them.

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

The ratio of birds to humans is approximately 300 to 7, so if humans were attacked by a mass of birds, there’s a very slim possibility of survival, if any possibility. This is the base of the plot of Daphne du Maurier’s short story, The Birds (1952), and Alfred Hitchcock’s movie adaptation of the same name, which came out in 1963. While there are similarities between them, such as the conflict and the theme, there are also differences, such as the characters and the setting. This essay will be covering the similarities and the differences between the short story and the film. There are a few similarities between the short story and the movie, like the conflict and the theme.

Read More
653 Words | 3 Pages

This shows that he is ready to protect his family knowing there is a good possibility of him getting hurt and that he would use anything in order to keep the birds away.

Read More
394 Words | 2 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s The King of the Birds is a narrative explaining the narrator’s obsession with different kinds of fowl over time. The reader follows the narrator from her first experience with a chicken, which caught the attention of reporters due to its ability to walk both backward and forward, to her collection of peahens and peacocks. At the mere age of five, the narrator’s chicken was featured in the news and from that moment she began to build her family of fowl. The expansive collection began with chickens, but soon the narrator found a breed of bird that was even more intriguing; peacocks.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

This quote shows how Bird becomes distrustful due to the school system and the government banning books and blocking sites causing him to want to learn more. In addition, this causes him to ignore all the propaganda being spouted by the people around

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

The scene begins to unfolds in their minds. Mr. Wright yanking open the cage door, taking out the bird, and breaking its fragile neck was enough to make Mrs. Wright lash out, and in a heat of passion, kill her husband. As the trifles collect,  the women worry that the men will see their findings, and have what they need to prove Mrs. Wright guilty. Though the men believe her to be the murderer, the women are trying their best to hide the evidence that will prove it.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

Do you know anyone who has Orinthophobia, the fear of birds? Or do you yourself fear the birds? “The Birds”, written by Daphne De Maurier, is a short story that uses various literary terms to make an exceptional piece of writing. The story uses the literary devises such as foreshadowing, imagery, and characterization to create an exhilarating tale. Maurier uses these three components to tell a thrilling story that keeps the reader on edge.

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

A dead bird, a dead man, a jailed wife, and five people to investigate such things. In “A Jury of Her Peers” in order to find the guilty culprit, there was a need to find a motive. The men would spend all day searching for the reason someone would murder the Mr. Wright, and so would the women. When the women finally did find a motive, they would hide it from the men. They had the right to do so because they themselves had felt the same way Mrs. Wright did, the men were being disrespectful, and the women were dismissed from the men’s sides to look upon things with no significance.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

They both conclude that someone was rough with the empty birdcage. Immediately afterward, Mrs. Hale comments on the men’s progress to find evidence, saying, “’I wish if they’re going to find any evidence they’d be about it’” (Glaspell 1416). Mrs. Hale’s remark is ironic because her current conversation about the birdcage’s door hinge is indirect evidence, yet she is growing impatient with the men’s attempts to discover any solid evidence. A little later on, Mrs. Hale relates the idea of a bird to Mrs. Wright by saying, “’she was kind of like a bird herself.’”

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

“A bird in the house . . . had swung itself up to the secret sanctuaries” and looked upon the garden silently. Margaret Laurence introduces this bird as an intruder, disrupting the “secret sanctuaries.” of the family. A bird in the house is a message of death to come, and here it sits upon the roof of their house, out of reach for the spruce’s giant wings.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

In the story the bird saw everything that was going on, it, “appeared to observe the door”, but the bird didn’t do anything about it. Instead, it continued its daily life as if nothing happened. The diction the Wallace uses describes the emotions of the character’s and the environment which they

Read More
1379 Words | 6 Pages

In a perfect world, there would be no fights, arguments or disagreements that result in destruction and pain. Unfortunately, the world is full of constant battles that cause many relationships to fail. Divorce rates have skyrocketed over the past years and young families are slowly falling apart. Although each relationship is different, one of the main reasons that arguments occur is because of a lack of proper communication or hidden secrets. Either of these things can create chaos.

Read More
959 Words | 4 Pages

His hands are chained to a rock which is beneath a tree. On top of him is a large eagle that is tearing off flesh from his chest and blood is oozing out. The

Read More

More about Literary Elements In Daphne Du Maurier's Short Story 'The Birds'

Related Topics

Open Document