Previous
Water
Like the symbol of water, planes and flying represent the ways in which capitalism controls nearly every element of human society. Whereas Brecht uses the symbol of water to point out how humans engage in the commodification of everything material, even natural resources, for personal gain, he uses the symbol of planes and flying to demonstrate how capitalism often makes the dreams of the working class impossible for the individuals who belong to it to ever achieve. Yang Sun dreams of being a pilot and he’s willing to do nearly anything to achieve his goals—even if it means he has to bribe and cheat his way into a flying gig or betray his kind and devoted lover, Shen Te, to get to the nearest airfield. Shen Te, too, begins paying closer attention to the planes that fly overhead over the course of her involvement with Yang Sun. While Yang Sun longs for flight, Shen Te longs for Yang Sun’s love—but love, too, is a commodity few can afford under the restrictive and prohibitive chains of capitalism. When planes are heard overhead or when dreams of flight are mentioned throughout the play, Brecht is signaling the physical awe felt by his characters—and indeed the dread as well—at how far away they are, physically and ideologically, from their greatest dreams.
Planes and Flying Quotes in The Good Woman of Setzuan
The The Good Woman of Setzuan quotes below all refer to the symbol of Planes and Flying. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Scene 3
Quotes
SHEN TE: I want your water, Wong
The water that has tired you so
The water that you carried all this way
The water that is hard to sell because it's been raining.
I need it for the young man over there—he's a flyer!
A flyer is a bold man:
Braving the storms
In company with the clouds
He crosses the heavens
And brings to friends in faraway lands
The friendly mail!
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Good Woman of Setzuan LitChart as a printable PDF.
Planes and Flying Symbol Timeline in The Good Woman of Setzuan
The timeline below shows where the symbol Planes and Flying appears in The Good Woman of Setzuan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 3
...in the local park. Yang Sun, a young man dressed in rags, watches as a plane flies overhead. He removes a rope from his pocket and he moves toward a tall...
(full context)
...Sun why he was trying to die. He tells her that he is a “mail pilot with no mail”—the government has enough “flyers” and he is not needed.
(full context)
...wants to help him out. She tells him about Yang Sun, the “bold” and generous flyer who can’t find work. After buying a cup of water, Shen Te runs over to...
(full context)
Scene 4
...square. She declares that Yang Sun has just gotten an offer to work as a pilot—but the director of the airfield wants 500 silver dollars. Shen Te gives Mrs. Yang the...
(full context)
Scene 5
...airfield job, Yang Sun reveals that he is bribing the airfield master into firing a pilot so that Yang Sun himself can take the job. Shui Ta asks if Yang Sun...
(full context)
Scene 5a
...declares that Yang Sun plans to work in a cement factory rather than “owe his flying to a crime.” She is on her way to her wedding, she says, and she...
(full context)
Scene 6
...tells them that she believes she has made the right choice—Yang Sun has given up flying for her. She calls for Yang Sun to drink a toast “to the future” with...
(full context)
...Sun, and Shen Te are moving to Peking so that Yang Sun can be a pilot. Shen Te is taken aback by the fact that Yang Sun hasn’t told his mother...
(full context)
...“men will be good without batting an eye,” the day he himself will “be a flyer.” As the song concludes, Mrs. Yang declares that Shui Ta is not coming.
(full context)
Scene 7
...to bring a blessed son into the world who will conquer mountains and become a flyer on his own one day. She takes the imaginary hand of a small boy and...
(full context)
Scene 9
...asks what’s going on. Shui Ta says that he’s listening for the sound of a plane—he asks if Yang Sun has forgotten his dreams of flying. Yang Sun retorts that he...
(full context)
