Analysis Of Flight By Doris Lessing

In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.

“Flying,” by Alice Miller is a complex story about a woman named Allie, who reminisces about a time spent when her cousin Mack taught her to fly when she was just a young girl. On different occasions when Mack visited, he would show her how to do new things. As Allie grew up she found herself thinking of the secret that Mack shared with her and how he told her not to tell anyone or she may get hurt. Allie longed for the feeling of flying, if she could just reach out and talk to Mack but too much time had passed. She dreams of flying in her sleep, not for long periods of time, but just enough to embrace that feeling she had years ago. She wonders if many people have experienced flying the way that she has and if she could fly by herself without Mack. One day, Allie tries to fly on her own and succeeds, soaring higher than she did with Mack. Before Allie knew it, she was flying through the clouds and around town. Now that Allie has experienced the feeling of flying again, more than ever she wanted to share with her kids. One night after the children were asleep she wanted to share her secret with her boys but instead chose her daughter. Miller suggests that when a person is afraid of doing something on their own, sometimes it just takes a little bit of courage to step out and let go of the things that could be holding a person back.

“Flying,” by Alice Miller tells the story of woman reminiscing on the time that her cousin taught her how to fly when they were kids. It begins with the main character, Allie, flying in the air with her cousin, Mack, when she was six years old. Allie has many questions and Mack tells her that all boys can fly and instructs her to not tell anyone that she knows this secret. He also tells her not to ever try to fly without him and compares this secret to the myth about Prometheus giving the God’s fire to man and being punished for it. As the years went by, Allie wonders if she would ever fly again and even doubts if the memory was real. She becomes a wife and a mother to two sons and a daughter but still wonders if flying is possible. One night, she decides to test her memory and tries to fly out of her backyard. She slowly ascends just as she did when she was young but even higher. Over the next few days, her urge to fly again grows. One night, she sneaks into her children’s room and picks up her daughter to take her outside and show her how to fly. The story ends with Allie telling her daughter to promise not to tell the boys what she is about to experience and excitement building in Allie for her daughter. The central idea of this story is the pursuit of satisfaction never ends.

As Cole stared at the tiny bodies, sadness flooded through him. The sparrows were so frail, helpless, and innocent. They hadn’t deserved to die. Then again, what right did they have to live? This haunted Cole. Did the birds’ insignificant little existences have any meaning at all? Or did his (82)?

Although Birdie’s sad story seems to be very tragic, it is not identical to the normal literary tragedies that we normally see. Usually, a tragedy is written with a heroic character and features characters acting out the roles of the story. Instead, Waxen Wings displays a girl who loves flying, but is caught up in a series of unfortunate events Unless the reader is also a lover or flying, it is

Sherman Alexie’s Flight Patterns tries to tackle a challenging subject. It probes the underbelly of modern life, sifting through the cloudy American mind that’s full of seemingly useless information, in search of what’s truly important in life. This happens through the stories two main scenes. The first depicts William’s relationship with his daughter and wife, and conflicts in life. The second engages William in a taxi-cab conversation that shuffles his priorities and forces him to confront his problem. This pushes him to his tipping point, and when the ride is over, he becomes uneasy and cares only to hear his family’s voice, not about his job, or the fears that had previously been driving forces. Alexie is trying to show that

Hello. I am Anna Zhang. Today, I will discuss the motif of birds in Joseph Boyden’s novel: Three Day Road by sharing two quotes following with my personal analysis.

"The Girl Who Raised Pigeons” is about a little girl named Betsy Ann Morna who is being raised by her single father. When Betsy was born her mother died from childbirth. Since Betsy had experienced such hardship when she was born her father was determined to shield her from all the tragic in the world. When she gets a little older, her father allows her to raise pigeons. But in order to shield her from tragedy her father makes sure he clears the pigeons that died before Betsy can find out. But Betsy found out. When a wild pigeon was visiting Betsy's pigeons it died but she did not want to tell her father because “He’ll think it’s the end of the world or somethin”(17). After Betsy is caught shoplifting things change between her and her father. He watches her like a hawk and must know what she is doing at all time. After Betsy grows up all her pigeons die and this changes Betsy even more. She constantly misses them and draws pictures of them on her hands and cries about them. The story ends with Betsy seeing one of her pigeons flying over the city. One part of the city that Betsy is inspired by is her pigeons. The pigeons inspired her because they allowed her to grow up and face reality that life contains tragedies. Knowing that the pigeons die allowed her to come of age and realize what happens in the world. Having her father hid everything bad for her kept her young for the time being. But once she realized what was happening it allowed her to grow up and become the women she was supposed to be.

The essay also explores the quality in humans to want to connect to nature; pigeons are a transition from nature to urban areas. Ballenger comes to a conclusion as to why we don't completely exterminate the species when he states, "'pigeon control' is a war that we will never win because we also battle our own conflicting desires: the

The story “Flight Patterns” is a short story in which Sherman Alexie, the author, presents Native American literature which is new around this time in age. William Cline, the main character represents your stereotype native American. This story takes place post 9/11; therefore, the level of security has been increased greatly along with the amount of hostility towards darker skinned people. William describes how he feels out of place because he has all the traits of a native American but he feels likes he needs to try in order to keep up with his culture. He points out that his wife, Marie, is the one that lives up to the title and has no cares in the world. Her culture comes natural to her and she is not self-conscious about her appearance unlike her husband. Their daughter Grace, has a little bit of both parents. She has the carelessness of her mother and yet she strives to be like her dad as well. William’s family lives in Seattle and they are one of the first native American families to settle there; therefore, racism is a very touchy subject.

Throughout ‘Fly Away Peter’ Malouf utilises a variety of literary techniques such as contrast, Imagery, Symbolism and foreshadowing to portray ideas and themes. The title ‘Fly Away Peter’ makes reference to the traditional English nursery rhyme ‘Two Little Dickie Birds’. Moulaf utilises this nursery rhyme to make the connection between themes within ‘Fly Away Peter’ and everyday life.

In the folktale “The People Could Fly,” by Virginia Hamilton, the intended audience are the slaves that are being whipped by the cruel rulers of the plantations that were, of the 1800s.

When someone looks up at a bird they see something soaring through the sky free from the world’s troubles. Through out man’s history they have been trying to find a way to be as free as birds and learn to fly. Unfortunately it has been an unsuccessful feat for man to accomplish. Although man has never really been able to fly on their own, they are able to fly with the help from a little machinery and ingenuity. Macon Dead Jr, or milkman, the nickname he adopted because he nursed from his mother, the protagonist of Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison, had been trying to fly all of his life. But until he discovers his family’s history and his self-identity he unable to discover the secret that has

At the bird’s appearance and apparent vocal articulation, he is at first impressed, then saddened. He compares this evening visitor as only another friend which will soon depart, just as “other friends have flown before” (58). But the raven again echoes quite aptly his one-word vocabulary, thus leading the man on to think more deeply about the possibilities that exist at this juncture. Somewhere deep inside him, he has realized that it doesn’t matter what question he poses, the bird will respond the same.

Mystery and reality “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez weaves the natural with the supernatural in an unexpected yet stimulating way. By creating such incredible details and aspects of the old man and the spider woman, Garcia Marquez actually turns his story to magicals like a fairy tail. This is one of the most well-known examples of the magical realist style. The story also inspires the readers to take another look at the not-quite-ordinary and regular events that implement a deeper meaning: if we see the mundane and miraculous with the right perspective, it could change our lifes.