Comparing Icarus In 'A Boy And His Kite'

“A Boy and His Kite” “Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight. For the greatest tragedy of them all, is never to feel the burning light.” This is a quote from Oscar Wilde, talking about the Greek myth of Icarus. “A Boy and his Kite” parallels the Greek myth of Icarus, revealing the characters lack of healthy-mindedness and child-like desires, while showing their need for an escape and accomplishing their goals by “flying to the sun.”
“A Boy and His Kite” is a short story that travels through the life of an unnamed child who believes that he is a kite. When he is eleven years old he has a sudden realization that he is not human, and he relates more to the kites and birds in the sky he was gazing at. Feeling lost and out of place in the world and society around him, he takes on …show more content…
When Icarus and his father are trapped inside the labyrinth they are forced to find an escape, or they know they will die in there. It is said in the myth that “seeking to escape exile from the island of Crete, Daedalus looked to the heavens as the only route open to him and Icarus” (Sampath np). They were in a bad situation, and getting out of that labyrinth was the only way they would be able to move on with their lives and be happy. “A Boy and His Kite” also shows the same symbolism. The boy was in a sense, trapped on earth and he looked to the kites and birds as his way out, his escape from reality. The man doesn’t feel connected to people on earth, but he feels a strong connection to the kites. We don’t know what kind of childhood this boy had, but the reader can assume that something happened to make him lose trust in people. He sees himself flying to the sun as his escape route from the labyrinth of life that he is stuck in (Aquileana np). He doesn’t know what’s up in the sky, but his curiosity for it is the only thing that sparks his