Summary Theory of Flight Notes

The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Character List

Character Personality
 Determined, independent, vivacious, optimistic
 Likes colour and the absurd
 Suffers from HIV (due to blood transfusion or rape is
unclear)
 Grew up on Beauford Farm and Estate (hatched from a
‘Golden Egg’)
 Best friends with Marcus
 Later a lover of Vida de Villiers who she lived with from
18 to her death
 Friends with Beatrice Beit-Beauford, takes out for girls
Imogen Zula Nyoni
day 2X a month
‘Genie’
 Carries around a suitcase with childhood clothes and 2
stuffed toys, Penelope (ragdoll made by Elizabeth) and
Specks (bespeckled bear from Golide)
 Loves the TV show Button Moon
 Left Masuku household at 18 years old to join Vida on
the street
 Said to have lived in iterations, changing personality for
everyone
 Later “reincarnated” as a colourful bird
 “I am precious”
 Genie’s Mother
 Unknown state of existence (not clarified
alive/deceased)
 Country and Western singer styled after Dolly Parton,
wears a golden wig
Elizabeth Nyoni  Dreams of going to Nashville, Tennessee. Golide is
building plane to take her there
 Confident, determined, driven, self-confident
 Loved Genie a lot and raised Genie to be her own
person
 “Marched to the beat of her own drum”
Golide Gumede  Genie’s Father
‘Livingstone Stanley Tikiti’  Tall, self-confident, charismatic, natural leader
 Albino and gap toothed (inherited by Genie)
 Obsession with aeroplanes (studied aeronautical
engineering) and the ‘Theory of Flight’
 Created the idea of the ‘Theory of Flight’ when
witnessing elephants crossing over Victoria Falls
 Prompts to shoot down a Vickers Viscount flying over
Victoria Falls, so that he can build his own aeroplane and
spread the idea of flight
 Unknown state of existence (not clarified
alive/deceased)
 Freedom Fighter

,  “He possessed that certain something… charisma”
 Genie’s grandfather
 Loves to travel, wanderlust
 Enterprising and charming
Baines Tikiti  Had a love for planes that he passed onto his son
‘Bafana Ndlelaphi’  Worked for His Masters Gramophone as a travelling
salesman
 Married Prudence Ngoma
 Drowned himself in the ocean (cause of death)
 Genie’s grandmother
 Raised children alone due to Baines travels
 Believes in having character
Prudence Ngoma
 Independent, strong willed, stubborn
 Left Baines when she realised he would never accept
Golide for who he is (due to his albinism)
 Genie’s aunt and Golide’s sister
 Tortured for information on her brother by C10
(Mordechai), leads her to being crippled
Minenhle Tikiti  C10 later becomes her partner (not aware that he is the
one who tortured her)
 Used to teach Domestic Science at Beauford
 Reported Genie dead following the attack on Beauford
 Genie’s best friend
 Well groomed, pretty, cautious
 In love with Genie (not reciprocated) his whole life
 Later marries Esme Masuku and has 3 children
 Grew up on Beauford Farm and Estate as parents left
Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku
him there to work in America
 Struggles to feel rooted or connected
 Moves to America to become a businessman (very
wealthy)
 Owner of Vida’s artwork ‘The Firebird’
 Marcus’s sister
 Shared a room with Genie as a child
 Has a PhD in America and unwritten dissertation
 Believes she is the reason for Genies HIV, carries guilt
for rest of life
Krystle Masuku
 Feels different from her family, odd one out
 Selfish, materialistic, likes feeling superior, victim
complex
 Very sceptical and critical of her family, only one who
sees them for who they truly are
Dingani Masuku  Marcus’s father
 Genie’s adoptive father
 Got a scholarship to study medicine in America where
he made his money
 Doctor with own practice he runs in Zimbabwe
 Feels guilt for providing information to the government
about Golide Gumede and believes he is responsible for
the Beauford attack
 Used to be in a band, met Thandi when he was playing

, one night
 Adopted Genie due to guilt
 Marcus’s mother
 Genie’s adoptive mother
 Grew up on Beauford Farm and Estate
 Winner of pageants and almost a model until fell
pregnant with Marcus
 Obsession with cleanliness, both for herself and her
surroundings
Thandi Hadebe
 Thrown in a pit latrine during the first attack on
Later ‘Masuku’
Beauford
 Believes that appearances are everything
 Only blemish is where Marcus bit her when they tried to
take him for Beauford
 Cut down all the jacarandas and flamboyant in the yard
before leaving for Belgium and divorcing Dingani
 “Dangerous beauty”
 Marcus’s grandmother
 Abused by Mbongeni Masuku
 Provided information to Emil Coetzee about Mbongeni’s
treasonous meetings, led to his arrest and later death
 Critical of Genie from the start
Eunice Masuku  When Genie left, burnt all her things in the front yard
 Does not take kindly to people she views as
disappointments
 Said to have too much pride
 Suffers from a stroke and dementia in old age
 Worked as a housewife (maid) before becoming a nurse
 Marcus’s grandfather
 Deceased
 Abused Eunice and Dingani, physical, emotionally, and
Mbongeni Masuku
mentally
 Arrested for treason by Emil Coetzee where he received
a life sentence to jail and died there
 Fought in army
 Predominantly a street dweller
 Nicknamed ‘Jesus’ and has a Scania pushcart
 Coloured – Great grandfather had a child with a Khoisan
Woman
 Lost both parents in a car crash
 Creates weld art from scrap metal. Displayed in galleries
Vida de Villiers around the world and made him famous
 Lover of Everleigh Coetzee and later Genie
 Saved Genie in his pushcart when she got hit by a car
 Bullied for sexuality (bisexual) when a child
 Saved by Golide Gumede when he was 17 in the army
 Owns a house called ‘The House That Jack Built’ which
he lived in with Genie
 Likes marijuana and moringa
Bhekithemba Nyathi  Journalist for national newspaper
 Wanted to change the country for the better with his

, writing
 Journalism degree from a scholarship offered by The
Man Himself
 Does not believe in love
 Supporter of colonialism in youth until a Bob Marley
concert
 Bob Marley called him “a real revolutionary”
 Can only write what The Man Himself tells to (state
pawn)
 Feels guilty for causing the attack on Beauford Farm and
Estate after writing an article on it
 Crippled hunchback, often underestimated and
disregarded
 Astute, perceptive, good judge of character
 Married
 Employee at the Organisation of Domestic Affairs
Valentine Tanaka  Aids Genie in fulfilling her wish to die at Beauford
 Owner of the sunglasses Vida mysteriously found in his
house
 Told he has a heart of gold
 Works to be told he has done a ‘good job’
 “Certifiably ugly”
 Orphan
 Previously known as C10, a spy for Emil Coetzee
 Did not care for his own life or the lives of others
 Refused to learn any particular skills and become
Mordechai Gatiro educated
 Changed ways after meeting Minenhle, later his partner
 Worked at the National Archives restoring books and
manuscripts
 Loves birds
 Owner of Beauford Farm and Estate
 Grew up on the farm, mother died after birth
 Was a passenger on the Vickers Viscount with her 2
coloured sons (passed away in crash)
 Liberal minded, self-assured
 Was a hippie after studying at Oxford
 Got evicted from Beauford Farm due to her
Beatrice Beit-Beauford
“treasonous” beliefs (she was a nationalist)
 Gave the farm to The Survivors for $1
 Has Alzheimers and is in Princess Margaret Retirement
Home
 Friends with Genie, knows Golide shot down Vickers
Viscount, does not hold it against her
 Best friends with Kuki Carmichael
Kuki Sedgwick  Beatrice’s best friend
Later ‘Coetzee’ and ‘Carmichael’  Mother of Everleigh Coetzee
 Previously married to Emil Coetzee and Todd Carmichael
 Loyal to Beatrice, visits weekly in retirement home
 Vain, does not want to age
 Racist, but does not admit she is racist (“frustrated