The Birds

Question 0

Character

Answer 0

‘His was a solitary disposition’
‘Sitting on the cliff’s edge would watch the birds’
‘“Just to be on the safe side.”’
‘Nat was said to be superior. Read books and the like’

Question 1

Omen

Foreshadowing

Answer 1

‘On December the third the wind changed overnight and it was winter’
‘He had never known a change so swift and sudden. Black winter…’

Question 2

Unusual- birds

Answer 2

‘Mingled in strange partnership’

‘He had never known a change so swift and sudden’

Question 3

Survival

Answer 3

‘War-time disability’
‘Would watch the birds’
‘A warning comes to the birds in autumn. Winter is coming.’
‘The glowing sticks brought normality, the steaming kettle and the brown teapot comfort and security.’
‘“Just to be on the safe side”’
‘You had to endure something yourself before it touched you’
‘Reminded him of the old days, at the beginning of the war’
‘Nat did not want to scare her’
‘His work had been thorough’
‘To stop the growing look of panic in his wife’s eyes and to calm the fretful children’
‘He must reserve his strength for the right things, not waste it in any way’
‘A plateful of the Triggs’ soup, cut him a large slice of the Triggs’ bread’

Question 4

Futility

Answer 4

‘Make haste, make speed, hurry and begone: yet where, and to what purpose?’
‘Yet what could they do? What could anyone do?’
‘What use was a gun against a sky of birds?’

Question 5

Control

Answer 5

‘It will be a hard winter. That’s why the birds are so restless.’
‘The Russians did it’

Question 6

Cold War

Answer 6

'East wind'
'It was winter'
'It was bitter cold'
'Arctic Circle'
'The Russians did it'
'Won't America do something?'

Question 7

Ignorance

Answer 7

‘Tried to peck out my eyes.’

‘Windows were smashed’

Question 8

War

Answer 8

'The birds rose and dived and came for him again.'
'Assault'
'Jabbing'
'Stabbing'
'Weapon of defence'
'Corpses'
'In close formation'
'Suicide birds... Death-and-glory boys'

Question 9

Non-survival

Answer 9

‘Too easy-going… Maybe they’d laugh at the whole thing’
‘Treated the whole business as he would an elaborate joke’
‘Will you join my shooting match?’
‘That’s the trouble. People panicking, losing their heads.’
‘Heaven help them…in the new council houses’

Question 10

Book published in …

Answer 10

1968