The story’s multiple references to “things that fly” create a philosophical discussion based on the symbolism of flight. Explain how Coupland has managed to parallel the likes of “Calvin and Hobbes” or K’naan, the Dusty Foot Philosopher, by manipulating tone, structure, symbolism, and diction.
Douglas Coupland employs the tools of postmodernism to create a story that is both insightful and engaging. Through the use of structure, tone, symbolism, diction, and many more tools Coupland has achieved a postmodern opus.
By definition, postmodernism is untraditional, it is revolutionary in many cases, and it is rebellious. Postmodernism is a departure from modernism, one in which an author is able to use anarchic construction and casual tone to convey a story or message. This literary school of criticism often seems to be found confusing, and uncomfortable but with a little analysis one can often find a little sense in a story like “Things That Fly.”
Throughout this short story, Coupland continually refers to birds, and Superman; put more simply, there is a recurring theme of “things that fly” throughout the story. Upon investigation, these references are symbols which function as allusions to the story’s meaning. When the narrator asks God to “just make me a bird – that’s all I ever wanted – a white graceful bird free of shame and taint and fear of loneliness” (Imprints, 147) he is illustrating that birds, or anything else that flies, are truly free; they “are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain” (145). The symbolism goes so far as to imply that perhaps humans have devolved, as opposed to evolved, from animals. That humans have become creatures that are inferior to those of the skies. Perhaps when we look to heaven, to God, we are really looking to the birds, and “things that fly,” and that is what we strive to become. That is why humans have “always liked the idea of Superman” (146) because he is the “one person in the world who is able to fly” (146). We idolize Superman because he has achieved this state of being that is devoid of arbitrary possessions and humanly worries. Superman is free.
This freedom is in particular what the narrator seeks because he seems to have gone through something that has damaged his psyche: “My brains felt overheated. So much has happened in my life recently” (144). The narrator could be hurt for countless reasons, but what seems to fit the best is that he has been divorced. Although this is never stated, or even implied, one can clearly tell the narrator has been emotionally destroyed.
The tendency for a postmodernist to ignore the barriers of “high” and “low” classes and to blend them as one can be clearly seen in the comic “Calvin and Hobbes.” The linkage of philosophy and cartoons is an obvious facet of postmodernism because it is able to ignore class barriers. This is not only true for comics though. K’naan is a hip-hop artist known for philosophizing and intellectual lyrical content. He calls himself the Dusty Foot Philosopher because he feels that although he grew up impoverished and without an education, in Somalia no less, he is still able to engage in profound discussions and maintain an understanding of concepts generally regarded as solely for the “high” class. This “dusty foot philosophizing” also seems to be evident in Coupland’s story. Coupland writes in an extremely informal tone while still alluding to exceptionally complex matters. In a sense, “Things That Fly” is an extension of a “Calvin and Hobbes” comic because it has portrayed a subject that was previously reserved for a well-read “higher” class.
The line drawings and casual diction contributes to both a conversational tone as well as a classic example of the postmodern school. Coupland’s diction is displayed in the opening paragraph when he writes “having just woken up from a deep deep sleep on a couch shared with pizza boxes and crushed plastic cherry yogurt containers” (143). This relaxed diction is a clear aspect of postmodernism in the sense that it creates a deconstructive story. Instead of explaining his message in some sort of academic slang, the author chooses to use a tone that is more often found in a children’s story. Thus, Coupland creates a story that is far from the modernist’s method of structured formality. Additionally, cohesion between paragraphs has clearly been ignored, this anarchic structure, instead of creating chaos, actually entices the reader. Conformity is boring, and Coupland’s rebellious attitude towards structure creates a story that is interesting to read solely because it is different. For example, the first and second paragraph flow like a boat does through ice: “let me describe what happened today” (143), ends the foremost paragraph, followed by “today went like this: I was up at noon; instant coffee” (143). Although there is a connection in themes, the first paragraph could have easily been erased and no one would have known better; this is because the cohesion was so distant that it was completely useless. However, this sense of mayhem helps create a short story that is readable, and one that is able to question society through the imagination.
In closing, “Things That Fly” has embodied the ideals of postmodernism by conveying a message in an unconventional way. The lack of structure, casual diction and tone, as well as symbolism have all contributed to making a work of art out of a children’s story.
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