Essay Questions

What was du Maurier's inspiration for writing "The Birds"?

du Maurier was inspired by a man she was working in the fields near her home in Fowey, Cornwall, whom she saw working in the fields whilst seagulls swooped and dove overhead. However, the story as a whole was an allegory of the Blitz, the main aerial bombing offensive by the German Luftwaffe during World War Two, which decimated parts of London over a two year period. du Maurier and her fellow Cornishmen were well aware that as a potential landing point for a German sea offensive, they were in as much of a perilous position as their countrymen in London.

The birds allegorize the German attack from the air, and the situation of the bird attack is almost identical to the situations that would arise from the Blitz. For example BBC Radio updated the public before going off air, the radio silence thought to make it more difficult for the Germans to tell where they were because lights everywhere would be in darkness. Nat boards up his windows and chimney which is also what the Londoners did during the Blitz. The threat of the avian attack created fear and panic in the majority of those in their path, creating an atmosphere very similar to that of London awaiting an attack from the sky.

The old man in "The Apple Tree" is a man oblivious to the needs of others. How does du Maurier demonstrate this?

The old man is a man who never changes. Even when his wife is dead, his entire world revolves around himself, and he lacks the will to think of or do anything for other people. Whilst his wife is alive, he neglects both her and their marriage. They are both physically present but there is no warmth between them, and try as she might his wife cannot make him connect with her.

The man does not change after she has passed away. He is certain that her soul is inhabiting the old apple tree in the backyard and he is rather spooked by this. He vows to cut the tree down, but as he was when she was alive, the man is still neglectful of his wife after her death. The tree remains standing and he never makes any effort to either tend to it or remove it, thereby mirroring the effort he put into the marriage whilst she was still living.