Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings

Travel is an important theme in the memoir as Engle indicates in the Author’s Note at the conclusion of the text. She explains that she was afraid to focus on the years of her life during the Cold War. Instead she chose “to focus on travel memories” (191), which she describes as a “magical experience” (191), alluding to the title of her memoir. Engle develops this theme through symbolism that highlights the author’s description of magical travel in the motif Enchanted Air, Wings, and Flight as well as a four-part journey that symbolizes the major events that shape her early development.

Part 2, “Magical Travels,” introduces the concept of Travel as an important symbol within the Enchanted Air, Wings, and Flight motif and a necessary component of the Pastoral Imagery and Magical Nature theme. The disappointment the narrator experiences when she is unable to visit Cuba increases the narrator’s romantic vision of the Cuban setting. This also leads to the development of horses as a symbol within the motifs Courage and Bravery as well as Enchanted Air, Wings, and Flight.