Essay Questions

Explain the title of Flights.

The choice of the title for the novel is deeply rooted to the old sect whose members are of the notion that true salvation for the soul can only be achieved through the particular isolation from both private, public as well as state institutions—in what can be termed as a state of everlasting itinerant. The same concept is embodied by characters in the book who are presented as escaping from the normality presented by a settled life, even though their drive is different. For instance, Annushka, after leaving home to get medicine, decides not to return as she keeps roaming the streets of Moscow.

Show how the theme of travel is explored in Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights.

Flights is essentially a story that focuses on travel and, as such, presents the same as a pivotal topic within its pages. The writer uses characters in her work who embody the theme and bring it into life, including Annushka, Vershynin’s wife, and the narrator herself. For instance, Annushka, the invalid’s mother, decides to not return home after leaving to get medications. She spends some time in Moscow going around and around on the train. The mystery of whether she ever returns home is apparent. On the other hand, Vershynin’s wife disappears with her three-year-old son using a car and shows up three days later as a different person. Neither her husband nor the reader is aware of where she had gone or the events that happened following her sudden disappearance and appearance.

Explore the meaning of the metaphor that states river Odra as a ‘revengeful river.’

River Odra’s revengeful nature is hidden in the fact that the river causes a lot of damage every year. In some way it seems as if the river is seeking revenge for the actions that humans do against it like moving barges along its ridge as it sweeps and causes the death of people ranging from summer bathers to drunks. In this way, the metaphor refers to the monstrous nature of the river Odra.