Through Black Spruce

Will becomes a pilot even though it requires taking lessons from the white man. He has always enjoyed flying: “I wanted to be a pilot. I wanted to leave this place, this ground, this earth, and just soar” (42). His airplane represents his desire to escape. He uses flight as a form of escapism all his life, always running from some fear or uncertainty. His three plane crashes all symbolize a lesson learned during life: don’t ignore the weather, don’t feel overconfident in your abilities to beat the weather, and don’t leave family. After his third crash, essentially a failed suicide attempt, he turns from one form of escapism to another: alcohol.

He doesn’t return to his plane as a means of escape until years later, after shooting Marius. Even then, he notes, “Flying was second nature, a part of me” (169). He uses his plane to escape town and hide in the bush over the winter. When he loses his food and shelter to a polar bear attack and then struggles to combat the elements, he flies away right before a blizzard, again escaping to the safety of Moosonee.