Flight Behavior

The arrival of the butterflies in Feathertown, Tennessee, presages the arrival of a similarly out-of-place group: the scientists researching the monarchs, as well as others interested in issues of species preservation, environmentalism, and climate change. These outsiders tend to hold different opinions than the locals, but they also tend to be wealthier, with more access to education and other opportunities. Through the ensuing culture clash, the novel reveals the starkly different worlds that exist within the same country.

A motif throughout the novel involves the scars that poverty has left upon Appalachian Tennessee and other rural communities. Local families rarely go out to dinner, they purchase secondhand clothes from the town’s discount store, and they buy Christmas gifts from Dollar General. Keeping her household afloat is a constant challenge to Dellarobia, and the other people living in her town struggle similarly. By contrast, the many visitors who come to see the butterflies tend to be reasonably well off. Ovid’s young assistants particularly rankle Dellarobia, as when she considers their casual attitude toward using something and then throwing it away—a wastefulness that speaks to their financial resources.

The novel suggests that these socioeconomic differences between Dellarobia’s rural community and the visitors lie at the heart of a wedge between the groups, although the resentment often manifests in ways that are not overtly class-based. In explaining to Ovid why the rural townsfolk stubbornly resist scientific truths, Dellarobia touches upon the concept of tribalism. For a group that does not have much, sticking together and preserving what they have is important, but this poses significant difficulty when it comes to learning from other points of view, ideas, or beliefs. To change one’s mind—to go against the group’s determined set of beliefs—means that one is a traitor, castigated by and estranged from their peers. It is this fear that Dellarobia thinks keeps people from opening up to learning about and from others not of their ilk. This attitude particularly marked in the context of climate change. Dellarobia, while not profoundly religious herself, can understand why the rural farmers hold tight to their religious belief that God alone controls the climate. The demands for action to address climate change seem to threaten the farmers’ way of life, which is already embattled. Moreover, they sense the contempt that many wealthier and better-educated Americans have for them, so the entire topic makes them feel inadequate or unintelligent, and they respond by digging in their heels.

That said, the novel is not simply an indictment of elite America. Throughout the book, Dellarobia becomes increasingly frustrated with her community’s rejection of the ideas of outsiders and habit of sticking solely to what they know. Moreover, she learns that her preconceptions about the educated and well-off are not entirely true; Ovid, for example, did not grow up with access to unlimited opportunities but rather in an impoverished US territory. This understanding places Dellarobia at the heart of the struggle between the scientists and the townspeople. Eventually, she realizes that there are commonalities among all people if one works hard enough to find them, and in deciding to pursue further education, she becomes a bridge between the two worlds.