The People Could Fly

Reader response approach:

Coming into the reading for this week, I didn’t know what to expect. I had a reasonable amount of exposure to folklore through a survey course during my undergrad years, and during my teaching practicum I taught a lesson on folklore and oral tradition. Now, at my high school, we have a well-known story teller come once a year and perform for tenth graders. All of these experiences have been positive, but none of them (in my mind) fell into the category of adolescent lit. For this reason, I was curious to see what I would find.

The folklore that I have been previously familiar with generally followed archetypal patterns and contained a central theme or “lesson” that the hero needed to learn. There was usually a trickster (especially in the anansi folklore - often times a rabbit), and a mentor in addition to the hero. The lesson that needed to be learned by the hero was the lesson that the audience needed to learn - in order to pass down cultural values and beliefs. In my experience, this kind of oral folklore’s main purpose was to instruct and educate a younger generation. This tale broke that mold, however. The People Could Fly does not morally instruct, and there is no specific lesson for either of the main protagonists to learn. The traditional archetypal roles are not fulfilled, nor is the story structure the same. Rather than teach, this text offers hope to the hopeless, and reinforces a drive to “fly away” to those audiences that need it.

In pondering this difference, it occurs to me that what all of folklore tales have in common is that they offer their audiences what is needed. The Arthurian legends teach about the importance of virtue and honor, while teaching a valuable lesson to young generations about trust and self-control. Many other tales teach about creation, and instill values for how to live according to a specific culture. Many of the anansi tales I am familiar with teach that behaving poorly will eventually catch up with an individual, and there will be consequences to taking advantage of others (“what comes around goes around,” Karma, etc). 1001 nights taught the value of intelligence, wit, and perseverance. The cultures that created and sustained these stories had a need for them. They were told and retold for hundreds of years, not only for their entertainment value, but for their cultural value as well. The culture of African American slaves in the ante bellum South had many distinct needs from cultures that were not facing such cruelty and despair. While it is impossible for me - in my experience - to fully understand and appreciate the experience of slaves in America, I am not blind to what struggles were had, or what feelings and needs those struggles would have brought about. Hope is something that was needed by many. Something to dream about must have been needed for others. Power over the whites on the plantation for others. Regardless of what the specific need was, there was reason enough for this tale to be retold tens of thousands of times and preserved over hundreds of years. Those themes of hope, escape, power, and survival are what I recognize from my experience. Reading this text was very valuable in my understanding folklore as a genre, and I’m glad that it made our reading list.

Critical approach:

The People Could Fly, as told by Virginia Hamilton, takes few liberties from the traditionally told tale other than assigning names to the male and female protagonists, according to the forward and other information contained in the book jacket. I find it fascinating that the traditional telling of this tale does not include names for the slaves, though there were often names for white owners and overseers in African American folklore, according to the notes in the text. The inclusion of the names Sarah and Toby is interests me; I understand that these were traditional names in slave culture, and the inclusion of them takes away a sense of anonymity, and give the characters more of a human identity. However, I had the understanding that the names Sarah and Toby were common due to their biblical significance (Toby being a shortening of Tobias, and Sarah being the wife of Abraham). The notes in the preface mention that Toby carried meaning of a certain day of the week in a native African language. I learn something new every day. I like that the author chose to include these names; I feel that details such as these are ones that are changed from author to author for each teller’s individual purpose. In my opinion, the variety of such details from various tellings is one of the variable that makes oral tradition so rich. I really enjoyed the illustrations in the text as well. The illustrations in the beginning of the wings being stripped, and of people being crowded into the ships are very powerful. There is an incredible amount of emotion in the expressions of the individuals throughout the tale, and they seem to tell the story on their own at times. Without a doubt, the illustrations in this book are reason to give it a read by themselves.