“Friendly Skies” Analysis
T. Coraghessan Boyle’s short story, “Friendly Skies,” is about a woman named Ellen who is trying to get to New York to visit her mom, but keeps getting delayed. The engine on her first plane catches on fire, and they are forced to turn around for an emergency landing. Once back at LAX, where she had started from, she is only able to get a non-direct flight that stops off in Chicago. While on this flight, Ellen keeps thinking of grim details of her past, and she takes prescription medicine with alcohol to try and numb her pain. Eventually, a man named Mr. Lercher goes crazy on the plane and threatens to kill everyone. With her built up frustration, Ellen picks up a fork and stabs the man repeatedly, which helps in restraining him long enough to land in Denver. Boyle shows that repressing one’s feelings might cause them to build up, resulting in an irrational outburst of emotion.
The protagonist of the story is Ellen. Ellen, who is a flat......
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Approximate Word Count: 745
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |