Flight Behavior: Chapter one, A Summary

The chapter starts off in November on a cold and cloudy day, summer had just passed and Dellarobia Turnbow is reflecting on her ex-husband and his “hotdog” friends. She is walking down a path through a forest called the “High Road.” This chapter is where it explains some bits and pieces of her past. We get to learn that she used to be highly admired around her town for her steadfast life up until she became a new person who constantly smokes along with many other problems that are yet to be discovered.  The book is written in third person, and explains to extreme detail where the book mainly takes place. She had just dropped her kids off at her mother in law’s house, and begins to make her way through the forest. She soon arrives at a clearing valley in the forest where she spots a blazing swarm of yellow and orange things. Her first instinct was forest fire, but she had soon realized that it was a large cluster of creatures, butterflies. She was overwhelmed by them and soon began to make her way to pick up her kids. When she arrived at her mother in law’s house, she felt as though there was still hope, for her and her family. Even though it seemed everyone was not in favor of her. So far this book is able to get a great hold of its reader just by reading the first chapter.

Quote: “The flame now appeared to lift from individual treetops in showers of orange sparks.” -The narrator of the book. (Barbara Kingsolver.)

Prepared by Emily