If Only We Could Fly

Ashton Garcia 

August 23rd, 2015 

AP Lit: Third Blog Post 

The author proves that flight is a sense and common symbol of freedom. I agree: overtime a bird or flight is used or mentioned, it shares a sense of freedom, or hope for freedom. Sometimes it is used as a symbol for escape, entering into a world of new beginnings, shaking off the previous restraints once that once held on. 

Take Maleficent, for example. She was a free little girl with her wings. She felt like a queen (and she somewhat was one), and her palace loved her. She was able to go where she pleased and visit the creatures of the palace whenever she wanted, wherever they were. However, she was stripped from that. her freedom and escape was taken away, causing her to act mean and feel hateful to anyone who got in her way. Although she survived a long period of time without her wings, when she came close to death, they found her again and she escaped, becoming free. She went back to her sense of freedom, feeling happy and treated everyone around her the way she used to. 

Flight has tried to be accomplished for thousands of years by humans, just for this feeling of freedom or escape, whether it used literally or symbolically. It cannot be accomplished physically, unless we are on a plane, but literature allows us to understand that feeling of freedom by using the transportation we'll never quite be able to have, unless angels do have wings. Even that shows ultimate freedom: angels with wings. After being freed from the world into a perfect paradise, we gain wings to show that unending freedom. Whether wings are being used literally or figuratively in science fiction or some sort of story, it will most likely be something we associate with freedom, escape, and entrance into a new world. I never write realized this, I usually just thought having wings would be really awesome and a lot could be done and seen that needed to be in the story. But I never realized this almost obvious symbol that lead to a greater feeling, and a much greater character development.