The Theory of Flight study guide is the only resource you need to get a distinction in Paper 2. Easy to read and study, all information is important and clearly explained.
The Theory of Flight study guide contains the summary of all important plot points organised by character, as well as all-i...
Golide Gumede
● Rejected by his father for his albinism
● Raised by his mother to be proud and humble
● Has his father love for flight
● Becomes a freedom fighter, and renames himself
‘Gollide Gomede’- meaning “fields of gold”. Which is
what he envisioned for his people
● He took drawings of aeroplanes to the war and
became a qualified aeronautical engineer.
● He wanted to inspire his people to fly- to rise out of
their circumstances and to uplift themselves to their
full potential.
● Instantly loved Elizabeth- upon meeting her his identity shifted completely. After
chasing a life of aeroplanes to get closer to his father, he knows is trying to help
Elizabeth. He stops looking backwards and starts looking forward for her, He
stops trying to prove himself to his dead father, and chooses to love and be loved
by E.
“He knew without a doubt that he was a man capable of impossible things”
● He knows what he has to offer, and as such can be loved and admired fully.
“He understood that in the grander scheme of things he was but a speck…a tiny
speck… and that was enough. It was the kind of knowledge that allowed you to fly.
● Those in power are insecure and corrupt, everything he is not and as such
becomes an enemy of the state they freed.
● “After watching the elephants, he understood that what was needed was merely
his own belief in flight. If people saw him build a giant pair of silver wings, then
they too would believe that they could fly.”
Elizabeth Nyoni
● Gollide is attracted to her goldenness.
● She dreams of going to Nashville to become a country singer like
Dolly Parton.
● “She marched to the beat of her own drum”
● Treats genie like a “Golden egg”
Imogen Zula Nyoni/ Genie
● The vision of her birth was paired with the Vickers Viscount being
shot down by her father. A firebird descending unto the world. Her
death was a firebird ascending.
, ● “Genie Fluttered. Marcus held her hand fast scared she would fly away”
● Genie is always being compared to a bird.
● Genie with Penelope “ genie never parts with her doll even at death.
● From the moment of her birth genie is a golden egg, she is treasured by her
mother and received so much love from her. She feels her value deeply and that
is partly what makes her special.
● “Ma, I know that I came from somewhere in your heart’
● “Their most valuable lesson about death- that after it there is life again, that
things that perish will rise again, that after every ending there is another
beginning”
● “Genie smiled down at him from where she sat, perched resplendently on her
father's shoulders. This was to be the happiest day of their lives.”
○ Genie is luxuriating in the presence of her father
● “They flew away” - genie can only imagine death as a comparison to flight.
● “This is not an ending of my choosing. From now on I will choose my own
endings”
○ After the horrors she endures, Genie makes the character-defining
decision to be in complete control of her life. She refuses to ever meet an
end she does not decide, and she fulfils this.
● “She needs to stop taking her medication without Vida noticing”
○ Genie decides to start dying. She prepares herself and makes provisions
for others after her death. She does not want Vida to know she is dying to
spare him the pain.
● “There was no real original Genie to be found”
● “On the day of her eighteenth birthday, without warning, she picked up all the
belongings with which Genie had entered the house and made her way to Jesus”
○ Genie did not want to appear ungrateful for having a home, but she had to
make her own decisions
○ She knows she has a terminal illness and lives like each day is her last
○ She wants to choose her ending, and like any 18-year-old leaves home.
○ She chooses Vida, his kind eyes and life without expectations appeal to
her.
● “You saved my life, I am here to save yours”
○ Genie is a force of nature, she is bold and determined to save Vida.
● “You want to love me, but wanting to love me is not the same as loving me”
○ Genie knows what kind of love she needs and will not accept less.
● “Remember how I used to burrow my feet in the soil of the sunflower fields”
○ Genie needs to be rooted in a place, and she won’t leave Vida easily
● “My letting you go is my way of loving you”
● “To not have to speak of love is such a freeing thing”
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