The Symbolism Of The Birds And Foreign Invaders

While her writing may come off as just a typical horror story about nature turning wild, Du Maurier shows a much deeper meaning, specifically in how the birds stand as a metaphor for foreign countries (mainly Germany’s attempted invasion of Britain), and the consequences that arise when conflict begins between two nations. Notably, she focuses her literary fictional world on how war forces soldiers in combat to lose all independent autonomy over their actions and lose their free will in order to carry out their mission to annihilate humanity. Du Maurier first shows these effects of war by showing how the birds act as troops under command, especially in how the story shows nature’s creatures being sent by a higher force to kill humans. First, it is essential to mention that the birds never act on their impulses; instead, they act as if they are given commands on when to carry out attacks on humans. An example of the controlled nature of the birds is shown when Nat is describing them. He says, “There are birds in there, dead birds, nearly fifty of them. Robins, wrens, all the little birds from hearabouts. It is as though a madness seized them, with the east wind.” (Du Maurier 6) The most crucial line within this quote is how Nat mentions how the birds are “seized” with a sort of “madness.” To be seized, someone or something has to take control of your body (or even mind) with a sense of force. They are now being forcibly given orders by something controlling them, similar to how a general gives troops commands. Seizing is crucial when seeing the bizarre nature of the birds, for they no longer have independent control over their bodies. As Nat mentions, this force is called “the east wind.” The repetition of a wind coming from the east is Du Maurier’s way of combining the history of World War II and the birds' horror. The term “east” was used when referring to Germany, a country that tried carrying out attacks to take over Britain. For example, there was the infamous “Battle of Britain,” where Adolf Hitler planned out air raid attacks to take control of the country: “The Battle of Britain in World War II was between Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe, Nazi Germany’s air force, and was the first battle in history fought solely in the air. From July 10 through October 31, 1940, pilots and support crews on both sides took to the skies and battled for airspace control over Great Britain.” (History.com) When looking at the geographical position of Britain to Germany, the German soldiers were located in the east, which is the direction the air raids were flying from when London was attempted to be taken over by Hitler.

Du Maurier alludes to this sort of enemy attacker hailing from the east when Nat builds the shelter for his family. He says, “We are safe enough now, he thought, we’re snug and tight, like an air raid shelter. We can hold out.” (Du Maurier 22) The outside world is no longer normal for the family, as referenced when Nat says, “We’re safe enough now,” for the boarded-up windows blocking nature allows the family to finally get some peace. Besides referring to their home as “an air raid shelter,” Du Maurier highlights more subtle references to World War II in that people found more solace in their basements rather than the chaos brought on by the birds in the outside world. Since Germany was committing air bombings throughout British cities, it makes sense that the story would highlight how families are forced to retreat to closed spaces since the public sphere is now controlled by attackers who want to claim power and dominance.
The most crucial factor of this battle was that it occurred over the sky and was the first to take place in the air. Like the air raids, birds also spend most of their time in the sky, which is similar to the story and how they descend out of the air to cause chaos to innocent humans. Du Maurier lived in Britain when the attack happened and was deeply affected by this destruction. Lachazette mentions how Du Maurier could never forget the images of bloody soldiers after the German attacks: “Du Maurier was "shocked and shaken by the reality" of "her first sight of what war could do" when an operation went wrong minutes away from Menabilly, her Cornish home, and a "horribly injured" soldier was brought to her on a stretcher, bleeding heavily, while she stood, helpless, waiting for the ambulance.” (Lachazette 11) Seeing the bloodied solider in front of her eyes made Du Maurier realize that war had no place in war considering the violence and murders that occur during the long months of conflict. Besides Du Maurier being heavily influenced by what she saw during World War II, Lachazaette also mentions how the flight pattern of the birds is similar to the kamikaze planes that were used during the war: “More impressively still, the birds are likened to kamikaze pilots or "death-and-glory boys” with "no thought for themselves" (Lachazette 25), who "flung themselves to the death against propeller and fuselage” or "crashed, broken and bruised, on the ground.” (Lachazette 13) The fact that the birds are willing to kill themselves to carry out their planned killings is similar to how Japanese soldiers would commit suicide to do more damage to allied ships and planes towards the end of the war, which allowed for Kamikaze tactics to become more popular as a last-minute attempt to win the war, and stand as a symbol of the horrible consequences that arise from violent bloodshed.