Daphne Du Maurier's Short Story 'The Birds'

How much could fear save?

In the short story “The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier which was later made into a movie by the producer Alfred Hitchcock. “The Birds” is about a small town in England during December, where birds suddenly change their attitudes and Nat Hocken’s the first one we know of to notice it. Nat’s family boards up their house to protect them from the birds nasty attacks. Nat soon finds out that his extra precautions made them survive, unlike the family's friends the Triggs who disregarded it . Nats fear drove him to protect his family, while Mr Trigg wasn't scared of the birds so he felt there was no need for insurance and his family ended up dying.

Nat fears that his friends and neighbors will get hurt so he tries to warn them, but this warning wasn't taken seriously because no one had the fear level that Nat had towards the birds.

Lot of nonsense. They like to scare you on the wireless (Mr Trigg)” (Maurier 58).” Nat actually fears the birds and what they are capable of. Meanwhile Mr. Trigg just shrugs it off he thinks that because that their birds they couldnt do much. This also leads Nat to survival and Trigg to his down fall.

Nat knew there was something wrong with his gut feeling, this brought fear which could have just saved more people if they feared the birds too. For example the text states,“See to the windows and the chimneys too, like they tell you (54 Maurier).” Nat seems to have a feeling that he needs to prepare for this weird phenomenon, this feeling is probably brought onto him due to fear of his family getting hurt. Fear gave him the idea to prepare for the birds which saved his life the first night just like it will on the second