Flight in Song of Solomon, Native Son, A Worn Path, Sad Sweet Story of Sugar Lips Shinehot, and Por

    A main idea in the first chapter is about the history of slavery and freedom in the U.S. Firstly slavery had existed during the American Revolution. Despite the fact that the founding fathers wanted freedom as a right to all men, then African Americans should also rightfully be allowed freedom. Foner quotes Lemuel Haynes, “ If liberty were truly ‘an innate principle” for all mankind’ Haynes wrote, ‘ even an African [had] as equally good a right to his liberty in common with Englishmen.’(Foner 9). Slavery was a problem in the United States history from the beginning.

Krak! We see flight as a metaphor for freedom in several of the different chapters. A prime example of this is in Wall of Fire Rising when Guy dreams of flying in the balloon that led him to his death. Another Chapter where Danticat talks about flight is in her Chapter Nineteen Thirty Seven. This story is about a young girl named Josephine whose mother is imprisoned as a witch. Josephine's Mother is caught flying by the river and is arrested by soldiers. She finds freedom in her flight, but because of it she is brought to a terrible prison. They starve her and beat her, and Josephine has to watch the whole thing. Her mother is killed in the prison, but manages to leave her daughter with the lasting impression that all women can fly, and that all women are able to obtain freedom from Haiti. That act of sacrifice truly affected Josephine’s life. We can see that change when Josephine says, “One day, I may just see my mother up there. “Let her flight be joyful,” I said to Jacqueline, “And mine and ours too.”( Pg. 42, Nineteen Thirty-Seven) Even After all the horrors Josephine had seen, she was willing to experience it all again just to obtain her freedom

Flight can be associated with birds and the ability to spread the wings and fly. This can often be seen in the novel. In this quote Alcee Arobin tells Edna;

Each time the bird is unable to break free it injures itself, adding to injuries left over from past escape attempts. Dunbar depicts the bird 's hopeless and unsuccessful struggle for freedom. Around this time, the late 18th century, African Americans were released from slavery but they still had limited rights. Restrictions such as The Grandfather Clause and Jim Crow Laws prevented African Americans from reaching their full potential even after the abolishment of slavery. Since there was really nothing that those who were enslaved could do to help their situation, they had to stay strong mentally and physically in order to survive under their harsh conditions.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus receives a bag of winds on his way back home. Believing the bag contains gold, he opens it, and the winds send his ship far away. In the same way Odysseus’s magic bag throws his ship off course, Pilate’s green bag in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon hinders Milkman’s journey to flight. In Song of Solomon, Morrison refers to flight as physical and psychological freedom from bondage. In Morrison’s novel, this bondage takes the form of slavery, oppression, prejudice, and self-absorption.

Throughout the novel, Morrison uses a peacock to symbolize the inability to fly or the burden of being weighed down by materialistic desires. Morrison gives many examples of literal flight, such as Mr. Smith's jump off the roof in the begging of the novel and Milkman's flight at the end of the novel. Morrison specifically mentions the myth of the flying Africans when Susan Byrd tells Milkman of Solomon, his great-grandfather, who is “the Flying African”. Byrd calls Solomon a flying African and explains why to Milkman, "Oh, that’s just some old folks’ lie they tell around here. Some of those Africans they brought over here as slaves could fly. A lot of them flew back to Africa. The one around here who did was this same Solomon, or Shalimar—I never knew which was right. He had a slew of children, all over the place" (Morrison 322). Morrison uses both the literal meaning of flight with Solomon's travel to Africa, and also the symbolism with his escape from slavery and its

This folktale is about the slaves being taken from Africa and loosing their wings, or freedom because they left their homeland. The message or theme of this excerpt is, never disrespect the human rights of other beings.

“My belief was that man had copied the bird under the erroneous impression that the most obvious way to fly is to copy the bird’s flight,” he said. “To me, it was as impractical to make a plane like a bird as it would be to make an automobile look like a horse or a motorcycle like a man.”

Later the reader finds out that just like the rest of the people in history, the African American people broke free from the chains, literally and metaphorically, to be able to be educated. However, a problem that people face is being segregated by race, the black men and women only want an equal opportunity to show their abilities--both economically and culturally.

Then the eagle added – “ you should come with me today little bird, fly is not difficult you just have to open your wings, feel the wind, hold your breath and jump three times. After that, just get out from your nest and move your wings up and down. You will be fine. I mean, I'm sure a majestic bird like you is able to fly really easy. You look like an smart bird and I think, you will learn quickly.”

By reading The Invention of Wings, this has changed my understanding of slavery. I have come to realize that the slaves were not only physically enslaved, but mentally as well. I learned that in rare cases, the enslaved may build a bond with their owners. For example, Handful, also known as Hetty, built a bond with Sarah, referring to each other as “sisters.” This novel can definitely help us see life in different aspects. It helps us understand that everyone has a voice of their own and have a right to voice their opinion and or thoughts whenever they please. It also helps us see that life is a beautiful thing and we don’t necessarily need wings in order to rise above.

Both of the novels ‘The Flight to Canada’ by Ishamael Reed and ‘The Different Drummer’ by Melvin Kelley were powerful and uplifting. The main subject of these two novels are slavery and freedom allowing the characters to search for their identity either spiritually or physically. ‘The Different Drummer’ is the novel that encourages us to strive and push oneself to make a real difference in life, and stop taking our lives and existence for granted. Both novels detailed the story of the main characters, that were striving to leave their homes for a better life. All in all, both novels clearly illustrates the history of the complicated relationships between the two races: whites and blacks.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

Being an African back during the fifteenth through nineteenth century wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. Waking up every day, living in tribes, and doing daily duties were the most common day for Africans. Until, the middle passage emerged, also known as the Slave Trade. Africans were taken through a devastating ride through history in the making. Africans were kidnapped out of nowhere by the “white men”. The British, the Europeans, the Caucasian all took part of this “middle passage era”.

unnatural in a way – birds can be viewed as more ‘free’ because their ability to fly