Flight is a desirable action that we treat very highly but will never reach by the human body. In Chapter 15 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster discusses the common element of literature of the great ability of flying. This can be found in many pieces of work and is often seen as an immense feeling of freedom with a sense of majesty.
Foster begins the chapter clearly stating who and what can or cannot fly by referencing physics with a powerful use of logos and ethos. Then, enumeration is used as he tells of the eight possible people who could fly and how they do, describing their presence in literature. Before Foster directly informs the audience of his belief that flight is freedom, he tells of the past uses of flight in Greek, African as well as Aztec tales and establishes a firm tone of Ethos. When he does eventually directly tells us of his opinion on flying, that being on how it symbolizes freedom, he delivers it with a one sentence paragraph as well as a colon, one of my favorite literary devices. Foster continues on and makes it clear that flight represents escapism, freedom from the ground and is very symbolic. What he eventually makes clear to the reader though, is that the flight does not have to be mentioned as jumping off the ground and staying in the air for a period of time. Flight occurs constantly, as Foster describes flight as figurative device. It is a huge metaphor to symbolize your independence from the ground which has held you down for all of your life. The ground represents our daily troubles and woes, whatever they may be, that tie us down. Thus flight is often shown as the escape and release of these problems. The character is high in the air and no one or nothing shall ever come near them again, quite literally as well as figuratively. If at anytime this flight happens to be interrupted, such as with Icarus, the weightless ones generally meet a terrible fate. However this is not always a horrendous end for the character as a sense of rebirth may meet them once they safely touch the ground, such with the case of Fay Weldon’s and Salman Rushdie’s works. The literal act of flying is not something that can be spoken about for a lengthy period of time. But, as said, the emotions one experiences while in flight truly are the important aspects of the experience. It's an incredible metaphor that I could never exactly put together but thanks to Foster's help now I have.
I can easily relate this feeling to the Disney Pixar movie Up. In the film, Carl Frederickson is an aging and widowed senior with strong attachments to his house and the memories it holds. Caught up in legal issues and wishing to live his life to the absolute fullest, he ties several balloons to his house and floats away. At this point in the film Carl is free from the many problems that were previously holding him down to the ground. He wishes to have true freedom in life while he still can do to his age and is able to.
The power of flight is an incredible unique experience. I'm certain any human has wished that power upon them at least once in their lives. The power of no longer being bound to the earth by any attachments is an unforgettable power.
