Chapter 15

"It's really pretty straightforward: flight is freedom. It doesn't always work out that way, but the basic principle is pretty sound. Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus offers a comparative rarity, a fictional character who actually possesses wings. Carter's heroine, Fevvers, is a woman whose flying act has made her the toast of circuses a music halls across Europe. It also set her apart. She is not like other people, cannot comfortably fit into normal human life." (Page 128)



In this chapter Foster makes to major assertions. The first is that the ability to fly is the ability to be free. Then he goes on to say how Fevvers is indeed not free because society has trapped her to abuse her abilities for entertainment. I think there may be a deeper message in all of these. It's that she has the ability to be free, but society reigns her in and makes her do what they want. I think you could relate this to individual citizens and their government. Each individual has an opportunity to be free, but they must follow the rules of the government or suffer the consequences such as jail. It's an irony that Foster mentions, flight means freedom, but this freedom is usually limited. A perfect example of this is Peter Pan. He is an orphan that feels trapped in the orphanage but gains the ability to fly and thus gains freedom. This freedom is also abused sometimes like mentioned with Icarus. This represents the freedom people want, but abuse it or those that do not appreciate it. Why people are like that is unable to be answered. But for literary uses, flight or the ability to fly work very effectively in displaying the freedom that is involved with flight and the restrictions as well.