Essay Questions

How does Helen comfort herself after learning that her father is dead?

Helen is affectionate of visiting the birds’ parks because she loves birds. One day as she comes home from viewing her favorite bird species, Goshawk, she receives bad news that her father is dead. She is dazed to hear this bad news but she makes up her mind to keep herself occupied by training Goshawk. She acquires one and calls it Mabel. Therefore, training the notorious Goshawk bird comforts Helen because most of the time she is busy and this stops her from thinking of the death of her father

How does the literary device personification manifest itself in the novel H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald?

Helen and Mabel (the Goshawk bird) are best of friends. At first, Helen is worried that their affiliation is wobbly because she thinks that given an opportunity to fly, the Goshawk will not come back to her. Mabel is given the human abilities of reasoning with a human being. For instance, the narrator indicates that Mabel becomes agreeable with her in most aspects. She speaks to Mabel and she believes that they are able to communicate and agree on all issues.

Provide a brief description to prove that the pain of losing a parent is a predominant theme in the entire novel.

Helen is the protagonist in the novel H Is for Hawk and throughout the story, the reader realizes that she is distressed by the death of her father. She starts by getting a Goshawk bird which she names as Mabel to distract herself from thinking about her father's death. She preoccupies herself with training the bird and walking with it. Towards the end of the novel, Helen decides to start coming closer to her family members because she realizes that there are still people who love her. However, she retains Mabel who has played an essential role in helping her to overcome the death of her father. At last, she rejoins her family and accepts that life has to continue despite the demise of her father.