The Right Time to Fly

The Right Time to Fly

In the following essay, I am going to analyse the short story “The Right Time to Fly” by Shirley Golden. I will focus on the setting, a characterisation of Marcus, and the relationship between Marcus and Suzy. Lastly, I will interpret the title.

The story is set in a junkyard. The heaps of scrap metal and trash are described in great detail.

 “The sharp sweetness of metal filings mingles with oil, beneath an odour of brackish water. The scrap heap rears over the cranes and cabins, like the shell of a lifeless monster. Twisted steering wheels jut from fridge doors. Phone pads balance along railway sleepers, numbers missing, and their screens cracked. Rusted palisades surround the compound like wartime fences, yet to be dismantled.” (p. 2, l. 39-43)

There is a polluted river to one side of the yard, with a fence surrounding it all. The men’s jobs are to move the junk to the right places with cranes, which are described as “Giant birds, petrified in mid-flight.” (p. 2, l. 32-33).

On the river floats an abandoned barge, and a buoy, with a cormorant with outstretched wings perched on top. The vivid description of this barren, decaying, depressing landscape sets the tone for the rest of the text. It inspires feelings of despair and bleakness inside the reader, and helps emphasize the contrast between Suzy’s brightness, and Marcus’ darkness. The only life present is a fox, the workers, Suzy, and the many symbolic birds.

Marcus is a worker at the junkyard. He is twenty-nine years old, and has worked there for nine years. He has a dark mind, and is pained by the death of his son, Ben, seven years ago. He was responsible for watching over him, when the boy fell out of an open window. He has a flashback to the incident when Suzy asks if he has any children. Marcus is not unhappy with his job, just burnt out, as he thinks to himself when Suzy is chocked at the fact that he has worked at the junkyard since he was her age. “It’s not so bad, he thinks.” (p. 3, l. 83) 

He doesn’t care much for anything. He is very observant, often mentally commenting on his surroundings.

Marcus is already familiar with Suzy before their conversation on the barge. She is known by the workers for sneaking into the yard to take photographs. She later reveals that she studies art and photography at college. At their first encounter in the text, Suzy has again snuck into the yard, and the workers have to make her leave. Later, Marcus sees her inside the barge, and decides to enter. She almost attacks him with a pan. Suzy tries to engage Marcus in a conversation, but he is very hesitant. She offers him a burger, and questions him about his life. Because of the events in his past, Marcus has an old soul. Suzy picks up on this immediately and asks him why he acts this way. She is very direct and blunt in her manner of questioning him, full of youth and fire. Marcus is intrigued by the energy she exhibits – something he has not felt for a long time. Suzy’s interest in Marcus stems from the same complex, that she sees something in him she recognizes; pain. One has to have felt pain to be able to see it in another’s eyes. She is curious about how this young man could have descended into this state of simply going through the motions of his life, only living in the memories of his past. They attract each other, not necessarily in a sexual way, but more in a psychological manner, as they are opposites – and opposites attract each other.