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Short Story Analysis: The Flight of Icarus

Title                 : The Flight of Icarus
Author             : Sally Benson
Illustrator        : Len Ebert

The characters
1. Icarus          : the main character. Daedalus’ son
2. Daedalus     : Icarus’ father
3. Theseus       : a man who tried saving a princess from King Minos’ labyrinth
4. King Minos : a buffalo-shaped king who kidnap a princess



Plot
-Exposition
Daedalus and his son, Icarus, were imprisoned by King Minos in Crete Island because Theseus could escape from the labyrinth made by Daedalus.
·       -  Rising action
Daedalus made two pairs of wings for him and his son to escape from the island through air because it was impossible for them to escape through the sea since King Minos kept an eye on it.
·       -  Climax
Daedalus and Icarus flied away from the island together. Daedalus had told Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus kept on flying higher towards the sun. Icarus wanted to fly as high as he could.
·       - Falling action
The wax that stuck the feathers on Icarus’ wings melted. Because of it, the feathers fell from his wings. Icarus fell into the sea because there was no more feathers on his wings.
·       -  Resolution
Daedalus could not save his son although he was able to escape from Crete Island to Sicily. In Sicily, he built a temple for Apollo and hung up his wings as an offering. He spent his life mourning on his son’s death.




Review
The author provides the ways on how to pronounce the characters’ names and I find them very helpful since the characters’ names are in Greek. The words chosen by the author are beautiful. When I read the short story, I feel as if I am reading a poem because of the author’s word choice.
The story about the flight of Icarus is originally a Greek myth. It is actually a quite long story, but the author could retell the story in shorter version without missing the details.

Moral values
Know your capability. Everyone has their own capabilies and it is the best to know your own capability. Knowing your own capability will make you be more careful on the steps you make in your life.

Do not be greedy. Icarus himself is the icon of greediness because he wanted to achieve more than what he could. If only he was not greedy, he would not fall into the sea and would escape safely together with his father, Daedalus.

Chandraswari S. Respati
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