Things That Fly by Douglas Coupland
Study Guide
1)The first paragraph speaks of a “magic revelation”. Does the narrator get the magic revelation by the end of the story? What is the magic revelation?
I don’t think so. After thinking about birds and why we like them and what they represent in our lives he reaches a low point where he wishes God would make him a bird but instead he writes “But instead God gave me these words, and I speak them here.” Earlier when he talked about the ducks and birds at the zoo, he said that they weren’t aware that they were swimming through wreckage. Birds are neither good nor bad. They just are. The narrator is ashamed of all the bad he’s done but if he were a bird, it would free him from doing bad, but also good because he would have no conscious thought of either. In spite of that, he still wishes that he could save Superman, who represents that goodness and freedom to him, but he can’t find him, because that perfection doesn’t exist. The story comes full circle though because it actually begins at the end. He isn’t free yet. So ifhe has gotten the magic revelation, he hasn’t learned it yet.
2)Speculate on why the narrator couldn’t be “alone one more moment”.
If he says he couldn’t be alone for one more moment, you can infer that he has been alone for a while now, or at least it feels like a long time. He says “So much has happened in my life recently” which leads me to believe that he probably got divorced or broke up with someone (which is why he’s so conscious of being alone) and the fact that he is looking for something to do leads me to believe he’s also gotten fired or quit his job.
3)What is flying symbolic of? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
I think for the narrator, flight represents an escape from the pain and loneliness of the human condition. Since flight is not something humans can do naturally, flight represents an escape from human nature. He says “It was peaceful to see so many birds flying—to see all these things in our world that can fly.” Something he can’t do, yet it represents a possibility, because Superman can fly, and he isn’t a bird, but Superman is also a very lonely figure, which seems to contradict what the narrator is looking for. He also says “birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.” Birds live in a simple state though because they don’t have the cognitive abilities to understand consequences of their actions or feel shame. The freedom that flight represents is almost more like the escape offered by drugs or alcohol.
4)What is the significance of Minneapolis being a “new crystal city, all shiny like quartz rising over the Midwest corn fields”?
The juxtaposition between the natural cornfields reminds me of this illustration from The Wizard of Oz
Here we see something beautiful and man-made contrasted with the natural world, but it doesn’t seem to have a negative connotation. It seems rather glorified. It represents the beauty that we are capable of creating. Like Superman, it seems pure and good. It’s the exact opposite of what his house had become. Moreover, it’s a place he visited on a business trip, and it doesn’t seem like he’s still employed so perhaps he sees it in this glorified way because it represents a time in his life where he was confident and self-assured. If he thinks that Superman is going to die here, than this city could represent the death of the dreams of his old life.
5)Does the paralysis of the jay reflect human behaviour as “mom” said? How? Be specific with reference to the text.
His mother says that people are interested in birds only inasmuch as they exhibit human behaviour—greed and stupidity and anger—and by doing so they free us from the unique sorrow of being human.” By unique sorrow, she is saying that we feel lonely as human beings. It gives us comfort to see our human weaknesses in other creatures. We feel connected. We project the bad qualities we see in ourselves on to the world around us and by doing so feel less lonely. The jay only reflects the human behaviour that the narrator recognizes within himself. He felt greedy and projected that greed onto the jay so that he’d feel better.
6)Do you believe that animals contribute to the badness of the world? How?
No. I believe that judgments about what is good and what is bad are a human construct. If we see bad in animals we only do so because it is something we recognize in ourselves.
7)Why does the narrator use the word “may” in “a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain”? Why is the narrator not definitive, and omit the word or use “will” instead?
By using may, he suggests that not all people strive to attain a simpler state of being. There is choice involved.
8)Do you ever reflect on the “bad” in your life? Do you ever feel ashamed? Explain. Does this feeling ever outweigh your good deeds?
Yes. I think about that bad done to me and the bad I do to others and wish that I could be kinder and wiser and more compassionate. I feel ashamed when I allow my insecurities and weaknesses to influence my decisions rather than my strengths. I feel ashamed when I know I have caused another person pain in some misguided attempt to make myself feel better. When I weigh the good things I’ve done against the bad, I feel the effect of the bad more than the good.
9)Why is there an image of a bird with a key in its beak? What does it mean?
Literally, the narrator talks about the parakeet who learned to recognize car keys among other “human things”. Symbolically however, this is the point in the story where the narrator is beginning to reach a “magic realization.” The birds are the key that unlock this realization for him.
10)What commentary is the narrator making on learning with the line “The parakeet made me realize how hard it is to learn anything in life, and even then, there’s no guarantee you might need it.”?
You can be taught something, but that’s no guarantee that you have learned it. The bird can recognize human things but it doesn’t understand it. That is what is implied by the “efficient faraway female voice”. The bird can say key, but it can’t really understand what a key is or what it represents. I think the narrator is probably referring to the things he has put time and energy into learning in the past only to discover that they not may be the important lessons he needs to learn.
11)How is the image of the aftermath of the hurricane connected to the theme of the story?
The “wreckage” echoes the wreckage in his house and his life in general. The birds swim around in the wreckage without awareness and the narrator wishes he could do that too.
12)How do flying and doing bad things connect?
From the narrator’s point of view, things that fly are good and pure and beautiful. The birds are described as “lovely creatures” “a miracle” and they exist in a “finer, simpler state of being”. Superman can fly. The narrator says “I have always liked the idea of Superman because I have always liked the idea that there is one person in the world who doesn’t do bad things. And there is one person in the world who is able to fly.” It’s as though doing bad things roots us to the earth. If we could be truly good then we could fly. Or perhaps if we could fly, we wouldn’t do bad things. The narrator dreams that he can fly. What he is really dreaming of is being free from the badness in himself and in the world.
13)Is dreaming like flying? Explain.
In the sense that dreaming is a kind of escape where you do not have to answer for the conscious decisions you make, dreaming is like flying.
14)How do the “big sheets of glass” function as a symbol in the story? What are they symbolic of?
The big sheets of glass are the barrier between the narrator and Superman. They’re also green glass which again reminds me of the EmeraldCity, but green is often symbolic of greed or jealousy. When the narrator looks through those sheets of glass for Superman, he doesn’t see him, but one can imagine that he would see himself reflected back at him. Perhaps the glass functions as a kind of mirror. As we look outwards to find perfection (Superman) we see ourselves reflected back, suggesting that we should look inwards rather than outwards for enlightenment. Kind of like the lesson Dorothy learns at the end of Wizard of Oz. “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I’ll never go looking any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”