Opening Lines
Almost every novel relies upon one specific literary device to drive the opening paragraph. In this case, hat device happens to be imagery. The imagery that dominates this opening scene does not just set the stage for the abundance of imagery to come, but situates specific imagery that will recur throughout the text:
“Ever since I can remember, I had wanted to know about the Land of the Golden Mountain, but my mother had never wanted to talk about it. All I knew was that a few months before I was born, my father had left our home in the Middle Kingdom, or China, as the white demons call it, and traveled over the sea to work in the demon land.”
Birth of the Blimp
The title might not fully indicate it—although certainly suggestively hint—that this is a novel intensely connected with the historical facts of the birth of aviation. The Wright Brothers play a major role in the story, albeit as secondary characters without much actual “screen time.” But it is not just the miracle at Kitty Hawk that gets coverage. This imagery of what sounds like something strange and bizarre turns out to be a description of a very common flying machine for anyone who has attended a televised outdoor football game: “
"Over tea he told us about some crazy demon, Baldwin, who put air into a big canvas bag and then floated up into the sky, where he was under the control of the winds. He had a special, sausage-shaped canvas bag built for him, maybe about thirty feet long. It was covered with a giant net which went down to its belly, from which a wooden frame was suspended. There were propellers and a motor in the frame, and they sent the bag lumbering through the air, so he could guide his own flight.”
The Dragons
The title of the novel could easily enough confuse one into assuming this is another Eragon-type story about actual dragons interacting with human characters. Thankfully, that is not the case. After all, those types of stories have been a constant of fantasy fiction for millennia and none seem to be particular distinguishable from the others. On the other hand, the appearance of dragons interacting with people in this story is worked into realistic story through the myths-within-a-story:
“Of course, not all dragons are evil, as I later discovered the demons think they are, for they can be good to you as well as bad. In fact, most dragons are good creatures who bring rain to the farmers when they soar up from the water and fly through the sky. Dragons can be kindly and wise, and quite unlike the fire-breathing, malicious, greedy creatures the white demons seem to think dragons are.”
The Big One
Another historical element finding its way into the narrative is the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The big one that devastated most of the city and from which it seemed full recovery would be impossible and that a drunken John Barrymore infamous slept through and a hysterical Enrico Caruso cried through:
“Wood and stone and brick and the very earth became fluidlike. The pail beneath the pump jumped and rattled like a spider dancing on a hot stove. The ground deliberately seemed to slide right out from under me. I landed on my back hard enough to drive the wind from my lungs. The whole world had become unglued. Our stable and Miss Whitlaw’s house and the tenements to either side heaved and bobbed up and down, riding the ground like ships on a heavy sea.”
