The three women, Artie, Dorothea, and Echo, all have one thing in common, which is symbolized by the metaphor of flying and, for each in her own way, by the desire to fly. The idea of flying is expressed verbally throughout the play and represented by the image of wings and by the actual pair of wings that Dorothea makes Artie wear in a film she shoots to document her attempts to prove that man, or, in this case, woman, "can fly without the aid of any motor of any kind, using only the simple pair of wings you see my daughter . . . wearing." The idea of flying represents the freedom of the spirit when it overcomes the constraints and boundaries of convention and matter and soars despite obstacles.
Eleemosynary