The theme of stars in “Emperor of the Air” is poignant. Again and again, the narrator returns to the stars, both in his work as a teacher and in his personal life. He knows the name of every constellation, and can track them all through the sky. While the title of the piece refers to a fake constellation Mr. Pike tells Kurt about, one could argue that the narrator himself is the emperor of the air through his understanding of the heavens and his wisdom of the earth. It could be argued that he has fixated on the stars for so long that he’s neglected the world around him, not fulfilling his life the way he seems to want to at the very end.
Compared to Mr. Pike, Kurt and the paperboy, he’s the only one with the wisdom to understand the world they live in. Where Mr. Pike would do away with tradition and steady reliability for temporary comforts or paychecks, the narrator is adamant that history must be respected. He’s spent so many years watching over and teaching this town that the idea of destroying any piece of its history– like the infested tree– is a heinous crime to him. It drives him to try and level the playing field with Mr. Pike with the insect infestation. If he loses his tree, his history, then Pike has to lose his.
His fear of destruction and change seems to stem from the fire in his youth that nearly swallowed the neighborhood. Seeing his mother refuse to leave their home, even in the face of death, affected him deeply. While he might fear death, resolutely making sure he doesn’t exert himself throughout the story to prevent a second heart attack, it doesn’t stop him from crawling through his neighbor’s yard to infest his trees. The drive to protect history and tradition is strong enough to overpower this instinct.
He can’t imagine losing so much as an old man, whether it be via death or– worse, in his mind– the destruction of an ancient tree. Therefore, in the end, he comes to realize the only way to carry on his knowledge is to teach it to children like he has for so many years, possibly even his own children. His fear of death may not be eradicated, but he is perhaps able to make some peace with it.
I like how you referred to the narrator as the “emperor of the air” based on his understanding of the stars and the heavens above. I had struggled with figuring out how the title connected to the story, but I can see now how it connects. By passing on his knowledge to the next generation, they too can become “emperors of the air.”