The Birds

'The Birds' by Daphne du Maurier in comparison to Supernatural

There are many comparisons and similarities between ‘The Birds’ by Daphne du Maurier and the Supernatural episode, ‘Bugs’.

Matt, who is the son of the developer in ‘Bugs’, tells Sam and Dean that he has noticed that the bugs in that area have been acting strange lately and seem to be gathering for unknown reasons. This is similar to ‘The Birds’ when a farmer says that ‘the birds are restless’. Also, throughout the story, many birds gather together. This starts with what appears to be ‘Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands’ of gulls out at sea and then ‘line upon line of birds, all still’.

In both stories, the birds and bugs seem to be waging war against humanity. In ‘The Birds’, it is said that the birds ‘waited, their heads turned to the wind’, and it seems as though they are waiting for orders from an unknown source. The birds that attack first ‘had no brains’, meaning that they didn’t think of their own safety, and are referred to as ‘the death and glory boys’. This is a war term to describe people that used to go on the suicide missions, just like the birds were. This is also like the bugs in a way, when they attack despite the fire and bug spray Dean is using to repel them.

After attacking Nat for the first time, the birds disappear as so as the ‘cold grey morning light (is) exposed to the room’, or at ‘Dawn’. This is exactly the same as in ‘Bugs’, when the bees leave the Winchesters and Pikes alone as soon as light appears.

Matt sees a swarm of bugs heading towards the house when Sam and Dean try to warn the family to get off the land. This is similar in ‘The Birds’, when Nat sees a ‘smudge (that) became a cloud’ and then realised that ‘they were not clouds at all; they were birds’. 

Nat warns his friends about the birds, but they don’t believe him and give him several excuses as to why the birds are acting strange. This is similar to ‘Bugs’, when Matt tries to tell his father about the bugs but her doesn’t believe him either.

One of the main differences between ‘Bugs’ and ‘The Birds’ is that we find out why the bugs attacked. It was because that after the American cavalry massacred an Indian tribe there was a curse put on the land so that no white man could ever possess it again.  In ‘The Birds’, many theories as to why the birds are attacking are suggested: ‘It will be a hard winter’, ‘...something connected with the Arctic Circle’, ‘Fright made them do that’ and ‘The Russians have poisoned the birds’. However, none of these theories are said to be correct, leaving the reader wondering and worrying about what caused the birds to act in that way. Not knowing what caused it makes the reader wonder: could something actually happen to cause it?

Another difference between the two stories are the tones and themes that come through. ‘The Birds’ concentrates more on the war and communism, and how it could take over like the birds have in the story. ‘Bugs’, however, has a more neutral tone, and the theme concentrates more on revenge, family and trust.

 Bugs and birds are both very effective and appropriate representations of nature’s wrath. There is a surplus population of both, making the thought of them attacking rather frightening because although some of them may be small, if a huge amount of them gathered together, they could easily do lots of damage. Although they would both inflict huge amounts of damage and fear, bugs are a more effective representation in this case.

Bugs can get into more places than birds can, and since there is such a variety of them, they all do different things that can allow access to many places. This is seen in the episode when the bugs managed to chew through the roof and invade the attic. They can climb, stay on the ground, fly and do many things that birds cannot also. They also breed faster than birds, making an almost endless source of them. More people are scared of bugs compared to birds because of their strange looks and what they’re like and do, making the thought of hundreds of them invading a house terrifying.