Foreshadowing In The Birds

Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s basic definition of setting is “the time, place, and conditions in which the action of a book, movie, etc., takes place”, but that is an understatement. Setting is so much more than just a time period or location. Setting supplies the reader with a sense of the weather, sounds, smell, lighting, and colors of where the story is taking place. It creates mood and involves the reader in the situation, making the reader feel present in the story. Setting has many more tasks. It can generate conflict, reveal characters, and be ironic. Most importantly, it can foreshadow. Du Maurier incorporates a magnificent setting in her novella The Birds. She does a superb job of involving the reader in the story with her use of personification, symbolism, and of course, foreshadowing. The most significant function of setting descriptions in adding to the reader’s appreciation of Daphne du Maurier’s novella The Birds is foreshadowing. …show more content…
As he watched the birds, he saw them gather on the water’s edge. “Great flocks of them came to the peninsula, restless, uneasy, spending themselves in motion; now wheeling, circling in the sky, now settling to feed on the rich, new-turned soil; but even when they fed, it was as though they did so without hunger, without desire. Restlessness drove them to the skies again.” (du Maurier 1) Before reading this snippet of the story, the narrator informs us that the birds are a sign of winter. The personification of the “restless, uneasy” birds gives the reader a feeling of suspicion. Du Maurier’s use of personification, foreshadowing, and descriptive language forewarns the reader of the danger to