Vultures as an Ominous Motif in Jen Beagin's Big Swiss

What Vultures Literally Represent in the Novel

In Jen Beagin’s Big Swiss, the vulture motif first appears in chapter 6 when Sabine shows Greta a pine tree taken over by thirty-nine black vultures. These are real birds—black vultures native to South America that have migrated north. Sabine identifies them by their featherless, wrinkled heads and tells Greta they have been roosting in the same tree for days. She calls a group of vultures a “committee” and explains that they sunbathe by holding their wings open and regulate body temperature by excreting on their own feet. Their diet is strictly carrion—they eat only dead animals. Sabine presents them as confused migrants, but Greta immediately reads them as a threat, asking if they will attack her dog Piñon.

Where the Vulture Motif Recurs

The vultures appear at three key moments in the novel. First, in chapter 6, they occupy the pine tree across the road while Greta and Sabine watch them from the yard. Sabine counts thirty-nine birds and gives Greta binoculars to study their “horrible heads.” The birds are motionless, wings spread like capes, looking like “miniature Draculas.” Later, in chapter 10, when Big Swiss reveals that Keith assaulted her and is now free and possibly following her, Greta sees a black truck idling near the pines “where the vultures roosted.” The truck peels away as a fire alarm blares. In chapter 11, Sabine returns home, spots vultures on the roof, and calls the sight an omen, then tells Greta she looks “more alive than in years.”

How the Meaning of Vultures Changes

The vultures begin as an eerie natural spectacle. Sabine treats them with curiosity and dark humor, reading about their habits online and noting their biological quirks. Greta feels only unease, worrying about Piñon’s safety and interpreting the birds as stalkers. The initial meaning is ambiguous—these are real birds that happen to have settled in the neighborhood, not supernatural messengers.

The meaning shifts in chapter 10 when the vultures become spatially linked to Keith. His truck idles directly near the roosting pines, and he peels away as the alarm sounds. The birds no longer feel accidental; they mark the space Keith occupies. What was a strange natural event becomes a material sign of danger. In chapter 11, Sabine explicitly names them an “omen.” By this point the narrative has charged the vultures with anticipatory dread—they point toward the violence that will later erupt when Keith stabs Luke and wounds Big Swiss.

The final shift occurs when Sabine, after spotting vultures on the roof, tells Greta she looks more alive than she has in years. Here the omen is not simply about death but about Greta’s own relationship to vitality. The vultures arrive when Greta is emotionally withdrawn and ethically compromised; they linger as her affair with Big Swiss deepens; and they prompt a comment about her renewed aliveness. The birds become a contradictory sign—they warn of external danger while also marking the moment Greta begins to reengage with life.

Character and Theme Connections

The vulture motif is most directly connected to Sabine. She is the one who spots them, identifies them, counts them, and reads about them online. Her mix of fascination and dark humor reflects her own eccentric, perceptive nature. She treats the vultures as a fact of country life rather than a supernatural threat, even as she calls them an omen. Her character in the novel is associated with unconventional wisdom and direct talk—she runs a weed shop, has been through rehab, and sees through Greta’s evasions. The vultures suit her sensibility: she is comfortable with death as a natural process.

The motif connects to Greta through fear and avoidance. Greta initially fears the vultures will attack Piñon; she cannot accept Sabine’s reassurance that they eat only carrion. Her fear reveals her anxiety about vulnerability and loss—Piñon is one of the few attachments she allows herself. Later, when the vultures become linked to Keith, they externalize the threat Greta has been transcribing. She knows Keith’s story from the therapy files but has tried to keep it abstract. The vultures make the danger concrete.

The vultures connect to Big Swiss / Flavia more indirectly. She tells Greta about Keith’s assault in the same chapter where the vultures are linked to his truck. She also describes growing up on a farm and handling the skull of her childhood dog. She is comfortable with death and predators in a way Greta is not. The vultures mirror her own hardness—she is described as having “icy veins” and a bearing that alters rooms. Like the vultures, she is imposing and feeds on what others cannot face.

Thematically, the vultures relate to trauma and recovery: they appear when Greta is confronting her mother’s suicide and her own passive approach to life. They also connect to voyeurism and ethics: Greta has been watching Big Swiss through transcripts, and the vultures watch the house from the tree, an unsettling parallel. The motif touches emotional detachment vs intimacy: Greta reengages with life even as a lethal threat gathers around her.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Sabine call the vultures an omen, and what does this reveal about her character?

Sabine calls the vultures an omen in chapter 11 when she spots them on the roof. She is unsentimental and direct—she has already counted them, studied their habits, and told Greta they eat carrion. Naming them an omen suggests she reads the landscape for signs, but she delivers the warning lightly, as part of her eccentric pattern of speech. Her comment reveals that she is attuned to danger yet unafraid, comfortable with mortality. Unlike Greta, who panics, Sabine integrates the vultures into her worldview without dramatizing or denying their presence.

2. How do the vultures become linked to Keith, and what does this connection achieve?

In chapter 10, after Big Swiss tells Greta about Keith’s assault, Greta sees a black truck idling near the pines where the vultures roost. The truck then peels away. The vultures’ physical location becomes Keith’s location. This spatial link transforms the birds from a natural curiosity into a sign of specific danger. It also reinforces the novel’s method of embedding threat in the ordinary landscape—Keith is not a lurking figure in the shadows but a neighbor who parks near the same pine tree. The connection forces Greta to acknowledge that the violence she has been transcribing is physically close.

3. What does the contrast between Sabine’s and Greta’s reactions to the vultures reveal about each character?

Sabine responds with curiosity and humor. She hands Greta binoculars, describes the birds’ biology, and calls the group a “committee.” Greta asks only whether the vultures will eat Piñon and expresses revulsion at their heads. Sabine accepts the vultures as part of the environment; Greta sees them as a personal threat. This contrast reinforces Sabine’s groundedness and Greta’s tendency toward anxious, self-protective reactions. It also previews how each character handles later crises—Sabine with pragmatic attention, Greta with avoidance and dread.

4. Why does the novel place Sabine’s comment that Greta looks “more alive” immediately after she calls the vultures an omen?

The juxtaposition creates a paradox. Sabine first warns Greta that the vultures are an omen—presumably of danger or death—then immediately tells her she looks more alive than in years. The vultures thus signify both a lethal threat and Greta’s renewed engagement with life. This double meaning reflects the novel’s treatment of risk and vitality: Greta only feels fully alive once she enters a high-stakes, ethically compromised relationship. The vultures frame her awakening as inseparable from danger, suggesting that recovery and recklessness, for Greta, are tangled together.