The Final Straw: The Attic Attack

Melanie is finally forced into submission for good in the final attack scene in the attic. The birds attack because it was not Melanie's place to go upstairs when she hears the bird noises. Melanie knew that she should have woken Mitch up, as is made explicit in her attempts to do so, and yet she grabs the flashlight, a symbol of masculinity previously relegated to Mitch, and heads up the stairs. She tried once again to be the hero and for this the birds will brutally punish her. She enters the room and the birds instantly fly at her face. They continue to do so until she becomes weak and calls out for Mitch to save her. She then falls to the floor, drops the flashlight, symbolizing her relinquishment of any masculine traits she had left, and cries for Mitch to take Cathy to safety, indicating that she has obtained maternal instinct.

Only when she expresses maternal instinct and calls to the man for help does Mitch show up to rescue her. She is then completely at his mercy as he carries her down the stairs and performs the ultimate act of subjugation by force feeding her a brandy. He then carries her out to the car and places her in the back seat where she finally comes to term with Lydia and the two share an intimate moment locking eyes and squeezing hands.