Icarus is a symbol of youthful rebellion what, then, is he doing living a monotonous, mundane adult life under the pseudonym of вЂњMr. In his adaptation, the archetypal Icarus-the exuberant and daring youth known so well-is replaced with a morose, defeated, and reserved adult after his fall. Field uses this fall as a turning point in the story. His fall is a direct result of his recklessness and his youthful overestimation of his abilities, as he attempts to become a great hero by flying higher than anybody before him (Graf). Icarus, however, is so overcome with the feeling of flight that he ignores his father and flies high into the air, where the wax melts and he plummets into the sea. Daedalus warns his son not to fly too close to the sun, or else the wax will melt. Traditionally, Icarus and Daedalus escape from prison using artificial wings made from wax and feathers. The defining moment in both the original myth of Icarus and in FieldвЂ™s adaptation is IcarusвЂ™s fall. It was not so strange, then, that Field had succeeded in adapting the myth of Icarus to fit present day society. More specifically, the character of Icarus and the symbolism of his fall is inherently tied with human nature. Of course Icarus did not survive the fall, and even if he had, why would he have ended up in modern times? How is the classical period of the ancient Greeks even somewhat compatible with present day? However, as I thought more about it, I began to realize that many of the motifs expressed in the original myth continued to be expressed in FieldвЂ™s adaptation, yet with a twist that fits the character of the modern age.

Icarus myth