Angela Carter's 'Nights At The Circus'

Fear holds back a person’s ability to commit to an event, a relationship, and contains one back from his or her dream. As a child, I dreaded boarding an airplane due to the altitude and the pressure closing one’s ears, a terrifying experience. In addition to my fear of airplanes, flights would absolutely bore me. Hence, my impatient reaction of shaking my leg in a fast paced, up-down motion, a nervous tick. Over the years, every time my parents announced a trip that required an airplane flight, the idea would horrify me. Nevertheless, the distinct moments I boarded airplanes, there were always hints of curiosity about the bird-shaped flying machine. How does this strange machinery work? How could an airplane be this frightening? That fear was the foundation of my commitment to aerospace engineering.

Since the beginning of time human beings have had a fascination with human flight. As one watches a bird soar through the air they cannot help but desire that same capability. Imagine the point of view of the world from the bird that flies amoung the mountains, high above the trees, over the ocean and far away from the clamor of everyday life on the ground. To have the freedom and power to release ones self from the tribulations experienced with two feet on the ground, and spring up and away into the peaceful, blue sky, is a common human desire. Since ancient times, flight has represented the opportunity to free ones self from the chains of oppression. This theme of flight is exemplified in the novel Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. In

The Novel The Invention of Wings, written by the American author, Sue Monk Kidd, contains numerous examples of imperative symbolism throughout the storyline, but what may be the most significant illustration is that of which is in the title. “There was a time in Africa when people could fly” (Kidd 1), “This all what left of your wings. They nothing but these flat bones now, but one day you gon get ’em back.” (Kidd 1) being among the first lines of the novel, foreshadows what is to come. The main characters and narrators, Sarah and Handful, who are from two extremely contrasting ends of society, both have the desire to soar past social normality of the time.

-Flight is freedom. When a character has the ability to fly they are free from the burdens of everyday life.

Since the beginning of time all human beings have had a fascination with human flight. Watching a bird soar through the air, one cannot help but desire the same capabilities. Imagine the point of view of the bird that flies high above the trees, among the mountains, over the ocean, and high in the air, far away from the clamor of everyday life on the ground. To have the freedom and power to release ones self from the tribulations experienced with two feet on the ground, and spring up and away into the peaceful, blue sky is a common human desire. Since ancient times, flight has represented the

Wow! Reading the point of view of a first-person narrative reveals so much about the author’s thoughts. While reading first-person narratives, it enables readers to understand more information throughout the story. Hearing the thoughts and ideas right from the character makes it easier to make connections. In the short story “George and the Jewels” by Jane Smiley, the main character Abby goes through a transition from disliking horses to understanding them. In “Black Beauty” by Anna Sewell, the story is narrated by a horse who is introduced into a new environment where he has to become used to being rode every day. By examining Black Beauty and The George and Jewels, it shows that both passages use first-person point of view to develop

    Flight is a major theme in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. “Flight echoes throughout the story as a reward, as a hoped-for skill, as an escape, and as proof of intrinsic worth; however, by the end this is not so clear a proposition”(Lubiano 96). Song of Solomon ends with ‘flight’ but in such a way that the act allows for multiple interpretations: suicide; "real" flight and then a wheeling attack on his "brother"; or "real" flight and then some kind of encounter with the (possibly) killing arms of his brother.

The motif of flight is first use in Nineteen Thirty-Seven when a woman saves both her daughter’s and her own life by crossing Massacre River into Haiti. The crisis in the Dominican Republic was forcing women to escape to Haiti, leaving their mothers behind in order give themselves and their daughters a better life. One daughter explains her and her mother's past by saying “We came from the bottom of that river where the blood never stops flowing, where my mother’s dive toward life-- her swim among all those bodies slaughtered in flight-- gave her those wings of flames”(35). Those flaming wings were more than a way to escape, they were a

A literature piece that best shows flight symbolizing escape/freedom is Peter Pan. When he flies, it represents him escaping from growing up and what his parents expect from him. He gets away from the world when he flies; he can just be young and avoid growing up. Thinking back to when Peter Pan guides John, Wendy, and Michael, all of the kids chose to fly away and be independent. They

These conventions, while relating to the time of World War I, define the central idea of developing the human identity and the necessity of celebrating life. David Malouf has used symbolism within the text through the serenity of the natural world, the war, and the characters to portray to the reader the idea of cherishing life as it is and the development of human identity. The title of the novel in itself is already an example of symbolism, relating to the well-known nursery rhyme of ‘Fly Away Peter, Fly Away Paul’. This is symbolic of the innocence of Jim, as he

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison focuses heavily on the theme of flight. It focuses so heavily on human flight, in fact, that the story moves into the genre of magical realism. Many characters go through varying definitions of flight all throughout the story. The story begins with the Flight of Robert Smith and ends with the flight of Milkman. Flight can refer to simply escaping, suicide, abandonment, or even literal human flight.

The airport is seen in the same light by the narrator as one day she hopes to visit it and partake in its rituals. Planes take flight at the airport and leave for their destination just as the narrator wants to take flight and escape into her fantasy.

Although there are many subgenres of horror fiction, including bizarro, fantasy, surrealism, and magic realism, there are certain aspects that a story must encompass to be considered, “weird.” Magic realism is a branch of fiction that is often mistaken to be a work of the, “weird.” What differentiates the two genres explicitly include the authors concentration on setting and overall atmosphere, and the embodiment of themes that disrupt the readers perception of time, space, and their natural world. “The Werewolf,” by Angela Carter exhibits strong characteristics of magic realism, while H.F. Arnold’s, “The Night Wire,” is a genuine work of, “weird,” fiction.

Carter has directed the narrative mostly, although not completely, from the older woman in the text, speaking back on the past (therefore past tense) as a first person narrative. There is interjections of dialogue throughout the text, although it is mostly constructed as a written text, as if the older women is writing in a diary, but has interjections of dialogue, possibly showing her memory traveling back and replaying moments. This is shown via the narrator speaking as if she remembers them, and then refers to them, such as: ‘And, ah! His castle’, ‘And surrounded by so many mirrors!’ These interjections break up the text, and give it more a feeling of an

The main idea of this chapter is freedom. Foster depicts freedom as flying. Similar to Icarus, there is a story of a young lad named Phaeton. Phaeton believes that he is the son of Apollo so he tracks him down. Apollo offered to grant Phaeton one wish since he traveled so far to get there and he wished to ride Apollo’s chariot. Apollo tries to warn Phaeton but being a naive little boy he doesn’t care about the risks. So Phaeton takes the chariot up but it turns out to be a disaster, so much so that Zeus had to stop it ultimately killing Phaeton. In both stories, the naive children end up dead.