Trilling Heart birds

The birds are used for symbolic purposes throughout the novel, representing the challenges girls and women faced, and in particular the specter of misogyny and gendered violence. The author uses many evocative descriptions to capture the sense of dread that Caroline feels when looking at the birds, such as her initial thought that the "streak of red" she sees out of the corner of her eye is "some bloody piece come loose inside herself" (1). Later, when Caroline discovers the massive, interconnected Trilling Heart nest with its detritus plundered from the girls' belongings, she thinks, "What the birds wanted were the girls. The girls, whole. What other shape could an infinite hunger take? What shape other than their own?" (238). The birds have taken something from the girls just as Dr. Hawkins has taken something ephemeral from them through his sexual violation.

Birch Hill Consociation

The...