The Flight Essay, Research Paper

In his classic short story, “Flight,” John Steinbeck uses many examples of

symbolism to foreshadow the conclusion. Symbolism can be anything, a

person, place or thing, used to portray something beyond itself. It is used to

represent or foreshadow the ending of the story. Steinbeck uses colors,

direction, and nature symbolism to help presage Pep?’s tragic death. Let us

now more closely examine the ways that Steinbeck uses colors to

foreshadow the ending of his short story. Perhaps the most repeatedly used

symbol in “Flight,” is the color black. In literature many authors use black to

represent death. There are numerous examples in this short story. Some of

these include the black handle on the long blade, Pep?’s black hair and the

black jerky. Another example may be found when Pep? puts on his fathers

black coat, which represents death. When Pep? puts on the coat he is literally

covering himself with death. Another fine example is the trail in which Pep?

travels. Steinbeck describes the path as a well-worn black path. By traveling

on this path he is in fact taking the road of death. Furthermore Pep?’s

appearance also helps foreshadow the ending. Steinbeck describes him as

having a black hat that covers his black thatched hair. Pep? is also described

as being dark, lean and tall. Another example is Pep?’s shack. The shack is

described as weathered and very old. It casts a rather large shadow to the

North east. The darkness of the shadow symbolizes death in the home. As

we can readily see, the authors use of black symbolism in the story tells us

that the main character, Pep?, is impending death. Another commonly used

symbol in the story “Flight,” is direction. Direction is used to represent

positive or negative effects. North and East are generally “good” directions.

Many people feel this came about when the early man saw the sun rise in the

East. On the contrary, the directions South and West are generally “bad”

directions. Basically this is because the sun sets in the West. Besides

compass directions, height is also a very popular way of foreshadowing the

conclusion of the story. The direction up, which is also the way to heaven is

generally “good,” while down, the direction of hell, is considered to be “bad.”

An example of this form of symbolism can be found when Pep? is returning

home. Pep? looks at his “weathered little shack” and notices the shadow. The

shadow is heading in the direction North East. Even though the directions

North and East are “good,” the fact that the shadow is there turns them “bad.”

This means that evil is winning over goodness. So, whichever direction Pep?

turns to he will fall into evil. Another fine example is when Pep? watches the

sun set in the West. The sun, which is the bringer of all life is moving towards

evil. That means it will be dark out and Pep?’s death is soon to come.

Steinbeck further uses this symbolism while describing the tops of the trees

on the mountain. The tops of the trees were wind-bitten and dead. This

symbolizes that the further Pep? travels up the mountain the closer he is to his

inevitable death. As shown above, direction is another very important aspect

of symbolism. Direction is just another of the many ways John Steinbeck

accomplishes his foreshadowing of the ending of his story. Let us now look

further into symbolism by discovering yet another form of symbolism.

Throughout the story Steinbeck emphasizes nature symbolism. Nature

symbolism includes a variety of things. One very popular symbol is water.

Because of the fact that we, as humans, require water in order to live, water

represents life. An example of this in the story “Flight,” would be Pep?’s

water bag that he hung over his horse’s shoulder. The water leaked onto the

horse’s shoulder. This meant Pep?’s life was actually leaking away. It just so

happened that when the horse was shot it was in the same shoulder. The

most obvious example of nature symbolism would be when Pep? is traveling

up the mountain. When he first starts out he is traveling very close to the river.

As he continues with his journey, the path in which he travels has the

tendency to turn more and more away from the river. In reality this means

Pep? is moving further away from life and closer to his inevitable death.

These are just a couple of situations in the story “Flight” that help the reader

catch a glimpse of the ending of the story. As we can clearly see, John

Steinbeck has used many techniques and examples of symbolism to help

portray the ending of the short story, “Flight.” Some of these examples

include colors, direction, and nature. The color black, which is the universal

symbol of death, is used to help foreshadow Pep?’s inevitable death.

Direction is used frequently in the story to symbolize the direction that Pep? is

heading; if he is heading towards good or evil. Nature, especially water, is

another form of symbolism that Steinbeck utilizes. Water equals life.

Therefore when Pep? moves further and further away from the river, he is

actually moving closer to his death. Thus, it is intuitively obvious to the most

casual observer that Pep? was destined to die right from the beginning of the

story.