Analyse af Stephen Dixons novelle 'Flying'

As a child growing up you will always face new challenges that have never occurred before, which is a healthy and educational aspect of growing up. In the text “Flying” written by Stephen Dixon, a father and a daughter faces the challenge of extreme skydiving, followed by an accidental opening of a plane door. This challenge helps the daughter learning from past mistakes, but there is a slight problem, the father unfortunately decides to jump after her, trying to save or perhaps calm her down.

The father in the story is a perfect example of a loving, forgiving parent. The daughter made the mistake of accidently opening the plane’s door handle, and as a consequence of this, is sucked out into open sky. The father decides to jump after her while yelling, “Fly like a bird, my darling…” He flew closer to her, calming her down, assuring her everything would be fine, as they fell to an almost certain death. With only a slight hesitation, the father courageously jumps after her daughter, to make sure she is going to be all right. He obviously cares a lot and wants her to feel safe. The father doesn’t scold her because of a mistake she made, which shows true love and much forgiveness. The daughter’s mistake of opening a door is also a symbol of entering a new time of responsibility and jumping out of the nest.