Crash

"They bad luck all right.  Teddy's got a name for 'em, calls 'em jimcrows," the old man laughed. (212-213)

Usually, I do not like blatant, obvious, in-your-face symbolism in stories.  I think it's a sign of laziness on the part of the writer, who does not feel like working to get his message across.  But the way in which this one line of symbolism is worked in, and how it fits in with the rest of the events that have happened, is really striking.

Throughout this story, Todd is a negative person.  He does not feel compassion towards anyone, neither white nor black.  He looks upon white people as oppressive, and African Americans as ignorant.  He views himself as above them, intellectually and spiritually.  That is why I believe that he so desperately wished to fly: so that he could "soar" above all of these people whom he looked down upon.  However, he is woken up out of his fantasy by a buzzard, referred to as a "jimcrow."

Now, although he was ssimply scared by a buzzard, it is what the buzzard symbolizes that really matters: white oppression.  In his desperation to escape from solid ground, he forgot who his brethren really were.  His elitist attitude towards the black community blinded his eyes toward what was really going on, but in the end, he is brought down by a "jimcrow," a.k.a. Jim Crow.  This leads to the moment in his life where his eyes are opened, and he realizes that Jefferson and Teddy, two people who were worthless to him, are actually his brothers.  From this moment onward in his life, he will be a different person.  Part of a community, something to which he has never belonged to before.

Discussion question: How would Todd have gone through life had he not been in this plane crash?  What do you think led him to have such contempt for African Americans, even though he is one?