Z For Zachariah

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Birds are a recurring symbol of hope in the novel. Because the world has been destroyed and the air is poisoned, birds are initially absent from the novel, and Ann goes over a year without seeing them. However, when Ann starts plowing the field, she sees a group of crows flying overhead. She writes, “There were crows, sharp and black against the sky, wheeling in a circle over the field. I counted eleven of them, and I realized they had remembered the sound of plowing” (96). These crows, and their return to the field once Ann begins to plow, symbolize hope that life will return to normal. Just as the crows come in search of the seeds they used to find in the field, Ann plows the field in the hope of planting crops that will sustain their lives and the future of the valley.

When Ann goes to the church to pray, she finds a baby crow that has fallen from the belltower overhead. She saves the crow, thinking that “it might be a good omen” and remembering the time before the war: “When [she would] wake up in the morning, look out the window, and see a bird the first thing” she would feel as if “it is a symbol, and that something good will happen that day” (125). When she was a small child, she would compare birds to “prayers,” as both fly up to heaven. For Ann, the discovery of a baby bird is important in that it represents hope for the future of the birds. The next time she visits the church, the crow is gone, and she realizes that its parents must have saved it. While these events occur, Ann is envisioning a future with Loomis. He is still sick, and she still has hope that they will one day get married, have children, and create a new society in the valley, renewing humanity just as the birds are renewing their own species. For now, she is helping Loomis recover, just as she helped the crow; the bird’s survival and rehabilitation gives her hope that Loomis can do the same.

In the final pages of the text, birds are mentioned one last time as Loomis calls to Ann after she has left the valley. He tells her that he saw birds “west of here…circling” but that he couldn’t find where they went (148). As Ann leaves the valley, she does not know where she is going, how long she will be able to survive, or whether she will find anyone else alive. However, Loomis’s admission gives her hope that these birds mean clean air, which means the chance of more survivors and a new life for her.