Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

The character of Jerry Battle in the novel Aloft, by Chang –Rae Lee is one who desires to escape the fast-paced, changing world in order to be alone and to be in control of what happens around him. As he is getting older, it seems that he is in less and less control over what happens around him. Jerry’s story seems to be paralleled in the story of Sir Harold, a man traveling around the world in a hot air balloon. Both of these characters, men in the middle of their lives, take up a hobby that gets them out of the fast paced world for a while and into the air where they are alone, in order to gain control and escape, but they find out that this is an impossible task.

Jerry decides to buy a plane and take up flying. His main reason for doing this is because he has a strong desire to escape and disappear. The question is, however, what does Jerry want to escape from? Jerry states, “From up here, I can’t see the messy rest, none of the pedestrian, sea-level flotsam that surely blemishes our good scene” (3). Jerry wants to be in a world that’s his own, not one which has been tainted by humanity. From reading further into the novel, it is apparent that the world Jerry lives in is full of pain and conflict. With his daughter having Hodgkin’s disease while being pregnant, his friend attempting to commit suicide, and Rita leaving him for another man, Jerry wants to be in a place where he doesn’t have to be around these negative things. This escapism is paralleled within the story of Sir Harold. With Sir Harold being around the same age as Jerry and also taking up a similar hobby, it is no wonder why Jerry becomes slightly obsessed with his story. Jerry sees himself in Sir Harold. He sees a man who is stuck in the middle of his life with no where to go and simply wants to get away from everything and be in the air where nothing bothers him.

Another striking similarity between the stories of Sir Harold and Jerry Battle is that both of their lives are spinning out of control and they are left feeling helpless. In the novel, the placement of the story of Sir Harold comes around the time after Jerry finds out that his daughter has Hodgkin’s disease. The story is told while Jerry battles his ex girlfriend’s new boyfriend in a tennis match. Here, Jerry is seemingly overpowered by the elements of his age and lack of physical fitness. This is primarily where the story of Sir Harold is revealed. While Jerry battles Richard in a tennis match, Sir Harold battles the elements of the weather in his hot air balloon. Sir Harold, who thought that he had control over his hot air balloon quickly finds out that he is not match for the outside weather. This last part of the story seems to be symbolic of Jerry’s life. Jerry feels that he is losing the battle over his life and is losing the people in it. Jerry reads news on Sir Harold, which states, “… a grainy shot of Sir Harold’s deflated silver balloon afloat in the water. Another shot is of the damaged pod, one side of it crushed in like a half eaten whorl” (200). This balloon, which is symbolic of freedom and control, has been defeated by the elements. Much like Jerry’s life, which he feels he has lost control over, the balloon and Jerry (in the tennis match) have been defeated by stronger outside forces.

Jerry and Sir Harold, two middle aged white men, who both have the luxury to invest in the expensive hobby of flying, are strikingly similar in the lives they lead. While Sir Harold battles the weather and loses, Jerry battles Richard in a tennis match for his love, Rita. In the end, they both seem to lose what they were fighting for, and end up losing control over their lives, which is ironic, because all they really wanted to do was escape from the world and go to a place where they weren’t affected by the elements and the pain of losing people.

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