D EREK R AJAN F LIGHTS OF F ANCY C HP.15 Period: 4 th 09/28/11

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY “For almost all human history, humans have been earth bound” (125). Many stories and cultures fascinate the idea of human flying. Culturally and literally we have toyed with the idea of flight since earliest times.

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY Flying indicates an act of freedom, return home, or an act of escaping. “Just because we cant fly doesn't mean we don’t dream if it” (Foster 126).

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY In Greek mythology two people were mentioned, they were Daedalus and Icarus. They were imprisoned to King Minos. So Daedalus created wings out of bird feathers and waxed wings for him and his son. “the ingenious father’s attempt to save his son from a tyrant as well as his own invention ( the labyrinth )” (Foster 126).

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY Flying was one of the temptations of Christ, in the bible it was when Satan tried to convince Christ to throw himself of a cliff, and his angels would catch him. “Satan asks him to demonstrate his divinity by launching himself from the promontory” (Foster 127). Christian popular belief often sees new arivals in heaven decked out with wings and a harp, emblems of flight. For Christians angels symbolize flying.

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY “All of Carter’s irony here naturally enough, build on foundations of expectations having to do with flying and wings” (Foster 129) The irony behind Carter’s character as using flying as an imprisonment, when really flying indicates freedom.

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY Symbolically flying is an act of freedom, escape, where there are no limitations to your imagination. It gives you a mental escape from your present trouble “In general, flying is freedom, we might say, freedom not only from specific circumstances but from those more general burdens that tie us down” (Foster 127)

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY “ ‘ I think I know flights of freedom’” I answered, “ ‘ Ah, but you don’t know it equal to me. You must have been through lock and key, dear boy, to know it equal to me; but I a’n’t a going to be low’” (Dickens 268)

F LIGHTS OF F ANCY A comparison of freedom would be like a solider being rescued from a battlefield and brought back home, flying is compared to an escape from our problems because we find relief when we are free. “In general, flying is freedom, we might say, freedom not only from specific circumstances but from those more general burdens that tie us down” (Foster 127)

W ORK C ITED Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Bantam Dell, Print. Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, Inc., Print.