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Symbols
The birds that flit around the garden in the interludes between the chapters describing the characters’ lives represent the phases of human life. As the light of dawn strikes the garden, the birds start to sing one by one, as if they are being born in that moment. During the school days of Bernard, Neville, Louis, Susan, Jinny, and Rhoda, the birds sing wildly in a joyful manner. By the time the protagonists are in college and settling into the paths of their lives, the birds have likewise begun to sing in a harmonious chorus. At the middle point of day, when the birds begin pairing off and building their nests, the protagonists begin their adult lives—Neville begins a string of serially monogamous relationships, Louis and Rhoda become lovers, and Bernard and Susan each marry. In the afternoon of life—the protagonists’ peak adulthood—the birds become silent and content, as if they’ve gorged themselves on song. Then the birds in the garden become more isolated—and fly farther into the empty sky—as the protagonists reach middle age. By the final chapter, which casts Bernard as the sole survivor of the group, the interlude features the cry of a single bird in a lonely tree.
Birds Quotes in The Waves
The The Waves quotes below all refer to the symbol of Birds. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
“I see a ring,” said Bernard, “hanging above me. It quivers and hangs in a loop of light.”
“I see a slab of pale yellow,” said Susan, “spreading away until it meets a purple stripe.”
“I hear a sound,” said Rhoda, “cheep, chirp; cheep, chirp; going up and down.”
“I see a globe,” said Neville “hanging down in a drop against the enormous flanks of some hill.”
“I see a crimson tassel,” said Jinny, “twisted with gold threads.”
“I hear something stamping,” said Louis, “A great beast’s foot is chained. It stamps, and stamps, and stamps.”
“Look at the spider’s web on the corner of the balcony,” said Bernard. “It has beads of water on it, drops of white light.”
“The leaves are gathered around the window like pointed ears,” said Susan.
[…]
“Islands of light are swimming on the grass,” said Rhoda. “They have fallen through the trees.”
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Chapter 18
Quotes
Again I see before me the usual street. The canopy of civilisation is burnt out. […] But there is a kindling in the sky whether of lamplight or of dawn. There is a stir of some sort—sparrows on plane trees somewhere chirping. There is a sense of the break of day. I will not call it dawn. What is dawn in the city to an elderly man standing in the street looking up rather dizzily at the sky? Dawn is some sort of whitening in the sky; some sort of renewal. […] The stars draw back and are extinguished. The bars deepen themselves between the waves. The film of mist thickens on the fields. A redness gathers on the roses, even on the pale rose that hangs by the bedroom window. A bird chirps. Cottagers light their early candles. Yes, this the eternal renewal, the incessant rise and fall and rise again.
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Get the entire The Waves LitChart as a printable PDF.
Birds Symbol Timeline in The Waves
The timeline below shows where the symbol Birds appears in The Waves. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...leaves of the trees in the garden of the nearby house by the sea, the birds begin to sing and the sleepers in the house wake.
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Chapter 3
...the waves sparkle with light. The brightness raises sharp shadows on the grass and the birds sing joyfully in the garden. When the sunlight falls on the exterior walls of the...
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Chapter 5
...light changes the colors of everything on the beach. In the garden, a chorus of birds sings with abandon, until a black cat stalks past and alarms them, sending them briefly...
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Chapter 7
...into the shore rhythmically, with the incessant energy of an engine. In the garden, the birds have gone their separate ways, each singing its own song from its own vantage point....
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Chapter 9
...illuminating and warming everything. In the garden, the flowers burst into profuse blooms as the birds cease their love songs and begin to weave together nests out of twigs. The sunlight...
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Chapter 11
...clouds begin to diffuse its light. The narrator describes how the garden becomes quiet, the birds “glutted” with singing. Everything from the leaves on the trees to the water in the...
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Chapter 13
...lower in the sky, the narrator says, the color leaches out of the scenery. The birds circle through the air, coming to rest individually and in groups in the trees. The...
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Chapter 15
...harvest time and the crops have been gathered. The shadows grow long, and a solitary bird takes a sip of water from a pool in the middle of the moor. The...
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Chapter 17
...leaves to the ground and shadows drape everything inside and outside the house. A lone bird sings forlornly among the dark hills. The darkness solidifies and moves in waves over the...
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