Flight is one of the most miraculous, amazing things to be found in this world. The fact that airplanes can bring humans above the clouds from one place to another quicker than any other method is nothing short of amazing. And with that, flight can be a sort of escape, a freedom from the confines of the Earth’s crust. It certainly is, at least, in Tomás Alberto Urrea’s novel, The Hummingbird’s Daughter.
After Teresita learns that Don Tomás is her father, her world turns upside down. While she receives many good things from this, like a room to her own, regular access to food, and a newfound wealth, it also traps Teresita, keeping her away from the freedoms of the life she once lived. At night, though, Teresita leaves her new life, flying in her dreams with her friends Gaby and Fina. Teresita has
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With this, she escapes all the restrictions Tomás has imposed on her life. For example, Tomás draws up a “curriculum” for her to follow. One of her many new rules prohibits her from going barefoot, as a Lady “‘must never show her toes!’” according to Tomás (Urrea 245). Moreover, Teresita is now not allowed to be friends with her old friends of El Potrero, the village of the common folk, or even ride horses in the same manner she had done just days before. It is only natural that she would want an escape, an escape from the big house and fine society, an escape from Cabora, an escape from the ground. Through their dream flight, Teresita and her friends spend their night escaping the walls of Cabora, and head south to Mexico City: “They (fall) to earth ensnared in the scents of the city: perfume, cigars, charcoal, steam, garbage, water, horses, carne asada. Their feet (touch) wet cobbles” (Urrea 257).