How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Birds.
Quote #4
MELANIE: [watching a man lighting his cigar as gasoline leaks around him] Look at the gas, that man's lighting a cigar!
Melanie is in the position of you, the viewer; she's watching in horror as something horrible unfolds without being able to do anything about it. That's a classic Hitchcock suspense-building move: he gives us info that the victim is unaware of so that we have to watch helplessly to see what happens. As Hitch once said, "There's no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." (Source)
Quote #5
CATHY: Mitch, why are they doing this, the birds?
MITCH: We don't know, honey.
CATHY: Why are they trying to kill people?
MITCH: I wish I could say.
Explanations are comforting, but even big brother Mitch doesn't have any. If they knew why the birds were attacking, they could avoid doing whatever is provoking them, whether it's flirting, wearing fur, or ruining the environment. In Shmoop's opinion, waiting for the violence to occur in this film is scarier than seeing it. The bird attacks are horrible, but watching the crows massing on that school jungle gym? We can't even.