Swille as a symbolic character
As a character, Swille represents the bygone era of powerful Southern farmers whose power was rooted in their property. Swille's backstory becomes clear when he starts being haunted by ghosts of his familymen. In one ghost story, we learn that Swille was a murderer, and in another, we learn of his well-developed incest with his sister. He represents power without integrity.
Abraham Lincoln's double life
One unlikely character in this novel is Abraham Lincoln himself. Lincoln's appearance is dubious at best. He has come to ask Swille for money, even though Swille belongs to the wrong side of the Civil War. Lincoln extorts Swille by lying to him and telling him that Swille will be able to keep his slaves at the end of the war. This doesn't happen, obviously, because Lincoln frees the slaves. This alternate story depicts Lincoln not as the moral victor of the Civil War, but rather as a politician serving only his own power and interests. He represents the corruption of the government due to greed.
Yankee Jack
In a Civil War novel, any character named 'Yankee' Jack should be viewed metaphorically. Because his name has "Yankee" in it, it makes sense to let him represent the Northern interests. Notice that he runs a yacht, meaning he is also very wealthy, but instead of domestic trade, Jack focuses on big business. Raven is forced to wrestle with him, showing that Yankee Jack represents a difficult, disappointing reality: The North is broken just like the South, but in different ways. In the future, Raven decides Yankee Jack will be the bigger threat to the social order.
The pilgrimage to nowhere
There is an implicit allegory in the novel, since Raven's story follows the archetypal hero's journey. The titular "Flight" is a reference to Raven's escape from slavery by way of airplane (even though they literally hadn't even been invented yet). This represents Raven's crossing the threshold to begin his hero's journey. The purpose of his journey is to realize that even though he's running from certain hell, he isn't running toward paradise. There is no paradise for Raven, not in the South, not in the North, not in Canada, not in Princess Quaw Quaw and the natives—no one is immune from corruption. In this way, Raven is like the Messiah who "has no place to lay his head." In other words, Raven's pilgrimage is simply to bear witness to the social disorder all around him.
The vices of American life
The most dominant motif in the novel is the recurrence of vice. This is very common in satire, but in this novel, it's especially obvious. Among the vices in the novel are political corruption, insider trading, economic monopoly, murder, theft, terrorism (assassination), incest, nepotism, and, finally, Uncle Robin changing Swille's Last Will and Testament to inherit all Swille's property. The point is fairly obvious, but basically, this constant vicious behavior demonstrates social corruption.
