Some meaning I happened upon very early in the book was the idea of birds, and flight. Kidd’s reference to African people having wings and being able to fly like blackbirds depicts blacks as once being free to soar however and wherever they choose, a stark contrast to the life of a slave (1). In addition, when Handful states, "We could fly alright, but it wasn't any magic to it," makes me think that later on Handful will discover her wings, not physically like described of the people in Africa, but the fact that there is freedom out there for her like the blacks had once possessed (1). This could also foreshadow an escape or further rebellion. While for Handful the wings are freedom, I think that for Sarah, our other narrator, her wings will be her power of speech. Sarah has a speech impediment and clearly shows an early disgust for slavery, and I believe that throughout the course of the book we will see her overcome this and find her wings to speak out. I found evidence of this when Sarah is thinking about how different she is and how "alien" her ideas are about slavery, while outside her window a bird had begun to sing (17). This bird could be persuading Sarah to speak up and share her ideas, because after all she does have the right to freedom of speech, even if she is a woman. Both Handful and Sarah though very different both feel trapped, whether it be by the binds of slavery or the confines of societal norms, in the end both have a right to what they are seeking, and in the case of The Invention Wings, birds I believe are what depict the freedoms they seek.
I, much like Barrett, happened upon meaning early in the book. In fact, even on the same page. On page one, the idea of Handful's ancestors having wings struck a higher meaning to me. However, unlike Barrett, I see the blackbirds as free and able to soar wherever they chose if (and only if) they are not in captivity. When Mauma talks about a time when the people of Africa could fly, she is metaphorically referring to a time of freedom, before Africans were captured and forced to the Americas. The reference to "grannymauma," who saw the African people flying, refers to the fact that Handful's grandmother most likely saw free Africans as a child in Africa.
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Barrett
Just sharing my ideas, in hopes of sparking new ideas in you.