Using Animal Retribution Fiction for the Promotion of Environmental Awareness: the Case for a Reinterpretation of Daphne Du Maurier's "The Birds"

In the search for effective means of representing and conveying urgency environmental crisis facing humanity in coming decade, not all images hit mark with same forcefulness. Al Gore's phrase "An Inconvenient Truth", instance, strikes one's imagination far less than "house on fire" metaphor popularized by French President Jacques Chirac Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Another powerful image is to be found Daphne Du Maurier's allegorical novella "The Birds" (1952), which focuses a small Cornish community's fight survival when organised hosts winged creatures take killing humans wake sudden climate change. Not only that story visionary its suggestion self-sufficiency degrowth are more viable or sustainable current economic systems, but it offers us today striking catastrophic backlash needs avoid. Maurier thus creates frightful tale animal retribution preys suddenly turned into predators, human beings need face implacable anger they have aroused if wish prevent sort Silent Spring (Rachel Carson) reverse.