A Kind of Flying is comprised of compilation of selected short stories by Ron Carlson. The stories are mostly written in first person. Carlson writes the story in an extraordinary and sensitive way with bizarre surface happenings. The stories are filled with imaginative humorous tales with epigrammatic dialogue. In the selected four stories titled, “Bigfoot Stole My Wife,” “I Am Bigfoot,” “The Tablecloth of Turin,” and “The Chromium Hook,” describes the concept and the difference between truth and reality, and what we choose to believe and not to believe. Credibility is one of the major themes addressed in the stories. It is also emphasized that determining between what reality is and what is not is a very difficult decision. Carlson …show more content…

Moreover, he uses the idea of what people will believe as a theme by using credible historical lines, to make it seem believable, such as: “Jacquelin Onassis,” and using real places for instance, "Rockefeller center." In fact, it states on the story regarding Jacquelin Onassis, “Hey, I'm not dead, and I only saw Jacquelin Onassis once, at about four hundred yards. She was on a horse” (84). Furthermore, Carlson is trying to use Bigfoot as a metaphor by using him as a well traveled man, and use to talk about the women, and how they flock to him; thus, it is not him that attracts them. In fact, according to the story he states, "I know my powers I use my powers and when I call a woman she comes" (85). Also, the author almost makes the reader believe that they are "Bigfoot." Hence, the idea of what people will believe is the revolving main theme of the story.
The theme of the “Tablecloth of Turin,” has to deal with faith, and it can relate in many concepts in religion to what is seen is unseen, and what is unseen is seen. Basically, faith means believing in something without truth. Nonetheless, it is not necessarily without truth, but without "proof." The tablecloth is used as an example of how people are willing to trust people, even without proof. There are a few thousand religions in the world, and they all believe different things. Now, while each has its core beliefs, there is not necessarily scientific