Planting of Sunflowers
Sunflowers symbolize the effect of colonization on African culture. Beatrice Beit-Beauford's father is the first person to plant sunflowers in Zimbabwe. The father plants the sunflowers after realizing his daughter loves them. After Independence, Beatrice and her father leave Africa. Young children adore the sunflowers planted for Beatrice for their beauty and smell. The sunflowers are one of the cash crops after independence, representing Africa's adoption of the British's agricultural spirit. Marcus and Genie also observe that sunflowers die and resurface in different seasons, representing human lifecycles and life continuity.
Birds’ Wings
The bird's wings in The Theory of Flight symbolize the characters' ambitions. In the prologue, Genie is seen flying with a giant bird's wings after she dies. Genie's flying motivates other characters to believe she is going to heaven. Consequently, flying invokes cultural and spiritual beliefs that heaven exists. The bird's wings also signify Baine's aspiration to fly because he is obsessed with airplanes. Similarly, Elizabeth Nyoni aspires to fly to actualize her ambition of becoming the world's best singer.
Albinism
Albinism is a symbol of rejection. Livingstone is an albino boy, and when he goes to visit his father in South Africa, he returns him to Zimbabwe because of his albinism. Livingstone's mother is upset by her husband's decision to return them because of their son's albinism. Livingstone knows that his father does not love him. After living in Zimbabwe for several years, Livingstone joins freedom fighters and gets an opportunity to travel to Russia to study aeronautics.
