The Birds Essay

“The Birds”

The men and women of the world did something that affected Mother Nature, thus having the birds attack people around the world; how tough can the men and women of this world can come to get over this chaos? Even though birds had been flying the skies for over a thousand years, they had shown the people of what they are capable of doing and cannot. The short story “The Birds” by Du Maurier and the movie “The Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock; the short story has a better story, because in my opinion Nat is a better hero than Mitch and that Nat had to do most of the hard work, unlike Mitch he didn’t have to act alone because of Melanie. Although both the short story by du Maurier and the movie by Alfred Hitchcock explored heroism, the short story had the better version, because du Maurier had used better war imagery and showed more heroism in Nat, giving the reader an idea that the short story sends a serious message. In the short story, the author explores that the main issue the birds are attacking is because of the “Black Winter” and the author is also showing how Nat tries to be a hero to save his family from the birds. During the bird’s attacks, people’s survival instincts had kicked in, for example, Nat boarding up his windows and doors to make sure birds cannot get in his house, and he also tried warning other people what was going on, making him a hero. Additionally, the short story has also shown human’s impact on nature, and also how they reacted during the bird attacks, for example, Mr. Trigg asking Nat if he wants to shoot some birds and see who has the most at the end of the day. A specific quotation from the short story that showed Nat’s heroism, “He went upstairs, and worked there the rest of the morning, boarding the windows of the bedrooms, filling up the chimney bases” (du Maurier 58). In the film, the director Alfred Hitchcock had explored the issue by having Mitch and Melanie talk about birds in the beginning and then later on, birds start attacking the people of Bodega Bay. The film had Melanie follow Mitch to Bodega Bay and then afterwards helped each other during the bird attacks along with Annie Hayworth who is a school teacher and lover of Mitch. There was also survival instinct involve in the film, for example, Mitch also boarding up the windows of their house, and trying to find a way to get out of Bodege Bay. In addition, both Mitch Melanie acted as a hero, because Melanie saved the kids in the school, and Mitch keeping his family safe from the birds. In conclusion, even though both version issued heroism, du Maurier’s short story comes up to the top, because is showed more war imagery, and heroism in Nat, making it a far better than the film.