Social Divisions Theme Analysis

In many ways, Helen Macdonald is an aberration in the history of falconry and in the history of her Cambridge University college. Neither of her working-class parents ever attended college, yet she was a lecturer for three years at one of the world’s most prestigious universities—one that didn’t even start admitting women until the middle of the 20th century. Likewise, for much of its history, falconry was a sport for aristocratic (or at least wealthy and well-connected) men. And Macdonald still lives in a country where hunting is a sport for the landed and well-connected more than the common person—in stark contrast to the experience of her American friends Erin and Scott. The classism and sexism of falconry (and English history) haunt H Is for Hawk, in subtle ways, from the language used in falconry books to the legal ramifications of Macdonald’s hawk, Mabel, accidentally hunting on private property.

Macdonald quietly points out the ways in which the hierarchies of class and gender are both arbitrary and harmful. Belonging to a society’s upper crust certainly conveys wealth and power but offers no guarantee of moral superiority—the Nazi party, for instance, drew from the practice and iconography of falconry to justify Aryan supremacy. Likewise, the ways in which falconry experts of various eras have described goshawks as women say more about the concerns of the era than about the birds—or the female members of humanity—themselves. But the book includes hopeful evidence that falconry—and by extension, society—can overcome such biased history. The modern sport that Macdonald describes can be enjoyed by almost anyone, even suburban dads attending fall festivals with their kids. And in exposing these barriers for what they are—artificial boundaries established to protect the privilege of those at the top, the book argues eloquently for the creation of more welcoming spaces.