THE THEORY OF FLIGHT
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
2024 NOTES: TASMIA JARDINE
[Definition]
[Events mentioned twice in the PDF]
[Symbolism]
[NB]
Magical Realism
Blends magical elements with everyday life seamlessly, in literature. It is treated as normal
and not extraordinary like traditional fantasy. Ndlovu uses magical realism as a tool to
capture life’s limitless potential through grounding the unreal in the real.
FLIGHT (self belief):
The novel is centred around one's ability to gain ‘flight’. Although it is a theory with no
physical proof, it is a realisation of a certain knowledge. One that seems to liberate the
hearts and minds of the characters within the novel. ‘Flight’ is through a choice to believe in
the knowledge of flight, characters are able to see the beauty in the ugly.
● When Golide experiences the elephants crossing the Zambezi river, he gains the
“kind of knowledge that finally quiets you. It is the kind of knowledge that allows you
to fly.”
● He comes to understand what happens when you possess a true belief in yourself,
you are capable of anything.
● Therefore, if people saw him build a “giant pair of silver wings”, then they too would
believe that they could ‘fly’.
, The Sunflowers (liberation):
The sunflowers’ death and rebirth allow Genie and Marcus to acquire a certain
philosophical knowledge, “ the possibility of the seemingly possible”, that has the ability to
liberate our minds and allow us to ‘fly’. The season cycles.
● People may live and die, and a country may be named and renamed but a land’s
history is continuous across those changes.
● AKA Life does not end with us - it will continue moving forward
● Representing Genie's internal transformation as she has a deep connection with the
sunflowers, she “strongly suspected that she had once upon a time been a
sunflower.” - Learning to nourish her own soul and find the strength to redefine her
own destiny
● Genie chooses to die in the sunflower fields, with her toes buried in the red soil.
They become aware of their place in the world early on within the novel - an awareness of
the knowledge that after every “death there is another beginning”.
Golden Egg (liberation):
Genie’s birth is one of extraordinary, ethereal in a sense.
● Golide’s vision of Elizabeth hatching their daughter, Genie, from a “golden egg”
implies that Golide has birthed a new era of possibilities for everyone in the
community, from shooting down the plane.
● Genie, herself represents the idea of a liberation of one’s mind and thinking, with
her flying away at the end of the novel on her own pair of “silver wings”.
Genie’s name (Imogen Zula Nyoni)
- In a literal sense, her name only adds to the magical element that is her life
- ‘Genie’ conveys her as a form of magical spirit, representing her as ephemeral
[lasting for only a short time; transitory; short-lived] - unable to be pinned down.
These are qualities which come as a result of the liberation in her mind and the gaining of
the knowledge that allowed her to finally fly.
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
2024 NOTES: TASMIA JARDINE
[Definition]
[Events mentioned twice in the PDF]
[Symbolism]
[NB]
Magical Realism
Blends magical elements with everyday life seamlessly, in literature. It is treated as normal
and not extraordinary like traditional fantasy. Ndlovu uses magical realism as a tool to
capture life’s limitless potential through grounding the unreal in the real.
FLIGHT (self belief):
The novel is centred around one's ability to gain ‘flight’. Although it is a theory with no
physical proof, it is a realisation of a certain knowledge. One that seems to liberate the
hearts and minds of the characters within the novel. ‘Flight’ is through a choice to believe in
the knowledge of flight, characters are able to see the beauty in the ugly.
● When Golide experiences the elephants crossing the Zambezi river, he gains the
“kind of knowledge that finally quiets you. It is the kind of knowledge that allows you
to fly.”
● He comes to understand what happens when you possess a true belief in yourself,
you are capable of anything.
● Therefore, if people saw him build a “giant pair of silver wings”, then they too would
believe that they could ‘fly’.
, The Sunflowers (liberation):
The sunflowers’ death and rebirth allow Genie and Marcus to acquire a certain
philosophical knowledge, “ the possibility of the seemingly possible”, that has the ability to
liberate our minds and allow us to ‘fly’. The season cycles.
● People may live and die, and a country may be named and renamed but a land’s
history is continuous across those changes.
● AKA Life does not end with us - it will continue moving forward
● Representing Genie's internal transformation as she has a deep connection with the
sunflowers, she “strongly suspected that she had once upon a time been a
sunflower.” - Learning to nourish her own soul and find the strength to redefine her
own destiny
● Genie chooses to die in the sunflower fields, with her toes buried in the red soil.
They become aware of their place in the world early on within the novel - an awareness of
the knowledge that after every “death there is another beginning”.
Golden Egg (liberation):
Genie’s birth is one of extraordinary, ethereal in a sense.
● Golide’s vision of Elizabeth hatching their daughter, Genie, from a “golden egg”
implies that Golide has birthed a new era of possibilities for everyone in the
community, from shooting down the plane.
● Genie, herself represents the idea of a liberation of one’s mind and thinking, with
her flying away at the end of the novel on her own pair of “silver wings”.
Genie’s name (Imogen Zula Nyoni)
- In a literal sense, her name only adds to the magical element that is her life
- ‘Genie’ conveys her as a form of magical spirit, representing her as ephemeral
[lasting for only a short time; transitory; short-lived] - unable to be pinned down.
These are qualities which come as a result of the liberation in her mind and the gaining of
the knowledge that allowed her to finally fly.
