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).