Flight Behavior Essay Questions

Flight Behavior has been described as a work of "climate fiction." What is "climate fiction," and how does the novel fit this sub-genre?

Climate fiction is fiction that tackles the topic of climate change. Flight Behavior represents tensions between communities and different classes as they attempt to understand the effects that climate change will have on our environment. The novel explores both climate change advocates and climate change deniers, two groups who come face-to-face when they are brought together by the monarch butterflies. Ovid's speeches and explanations of scientific phenomena also highlight climate change from a more technical perspective, which allows the novel to also include more factual information about global warming alongside its fictional characters. Unlike other well-known pieces of climate fiction, Flight Behavior is unique in that it only represents contemporary events and weather-related events; it does not delve into speculative or dystopian elements in order to explore climate change, instead choosing to focus on the immediate present.

At one point, Dellarobia wonders why the "one rare, spectacular thing in her life" has to be a "sickness of nature." How does this quote exemplify the paradoxical value that the butterflies hold for Dellarobia?

Dellarobia first sees the butterflies as she is leaving her home in order to begin an affair. However, when she sees the butterflies, she is so amazed by their beauty that she takes it as a sign to return home. The butterflies, which resemble a burning flame, are a stunning symbol of her desire to remain faithful and good. When she learns that they are actually a symptom of climate change—the "sickness of nature"—she is upset because she starts to understand how their appearance on the mountain is a sign of something more sinister. They aren't the positive symbol that they originally were for her; instead, they're a representation of the drastic changes and disruptions that climate change will bring.

Why does Ovid grow angry with Tina during their interview? What are his larger claims about the media's role and responsibility to society?

Ovid grows frustrated as Tina attempts to deny climate change in order to preserve the ratings of her show, which she says will plummet if she airs Ovid's interview because it is too negative. Ovid accuses Tina of pandering to "public relations firms," implying that the news network is being paid to cover up climate change and put money into the pockets of corporate executives and the fossil fuel industry. Tina is concerned with optics—the way the issue is perceived by the public. In doing so, she risks putting the lives of the people at risk by obscuring true information from them. Ovid, as a scientist, sees the effects of climate change firsthand, and believes that people need to know the truth about the dangerous fate of the future, given the damage that's already been done by carbon emissions.

How does Juliet and Ovid's marriage help Dellarobia realize that she needs to leave Cub?

When Juliet arrives at the Turnbow family's farm, she and Ovid demonstrate a type of relationship that greatly differs from Dellarobia and Cub's. Juliet and Ovid complement each other's professional interests; Ovid researches the monarch butterflies and Juliet studies how folk art and culture has represented the monarch butterfly throughout history. They can interact with each other on an intellectual level, pushing each other to consider new ideas and even engaging in stimulating debates. Dellarobia, on the other hand, does not feel that she and Cub can connect on any intellectual level. Seeing Juliet and Ovid makes Dellarobia realize that she and Cub don't share similar values, and that their marriage was a product of hasty decision-making—not true love, compatibility, or respect.

One of the novel's central themes is religion. How does religion impact the reception of climate change or the butterflies?

At first, the people in the surrounding town become fascinated with the butterflies because they believe that the phenomenon is a sign from God. Soon, however, the religious aspect of the people's fixation on the butterflies turns into a fact that lets them ignore the reality behind the butterflies' arrival: climate change and environmental shifts that may have unprecedented, disastrous consequences. By believing that the butterflies are just a sign from God, people like Hester can ignore the uncomfortable truth—that the butterflies aren't a good thing, and are a marker of global warming. This denial also points towards a larger irony that the novel tackles. As people like Cub declare that they won't believe in climate change because there's no "real proof," they overlook the fact that the proof is right there in front of them, in the form of the butterflies that they interpret as a religious sign rather than a scientific, "real" one.