Setting

Physical setting

The short story “Champagne Flight” by Jill Norris takes place on a Capital Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Chicago, which are both cities in the US. 

The experience of air travel is new for the narrator. She seems very excited about the “double seats and what seemed a whole flock of stewardesses, all smiling!” (p. 15, ll. 8-9). She confesses she likes flying “very much” (p. 15, l. 39). Serena, on the other hand, hates flying (p. 15, l. 38). This reflects the characters' different perspectives on life in general.

The flight becomes an occasion for Serena and the narrator to pretend they are ideal versions of themselves. The narrator pretends she is older (p. 16, ll. 22-23), while Serena allows the narrator to think she is a singer (p. 17, l. 7) and that she enjoys what she is doing. When they step of...