Flight

Steinbeck’s short story “Flight” is a coming-of-age narrative in which he reveals what coming of age is not. Pepé embodies The Difficulty of Growing Up as he desires manhood, but it is not a goal that he is willing to work toward. One of the ways Steinbeck reveals the protagonist’s desire to be a man is through the symbol of his father’s knife. Pepé views his dexterity with the blade as a sign of his own maturity. However, he does not use it for its intended purpose—making repairs, helping harvest the family’s corn, or other tasks to help support his family. Instead, he uses the knife in a child’s game to impress his younger siblings. Pepé’s perception of the knife as a marker of manhood underlines the theme of Masculinity, Violence, and Personhood. It symbolizes taking on the role of his father and also the potential to do harm to others. The emphasis on how Pepé carries the knife everywhere and takes great care of it foreshadows later events. Pepé instinctively reaches for the weapon when he gets into a fight, killing a man. The later loss of his knife on his journey signals his vulnerability and his abandonment of the trappings of manhood.

Pepé initially views manhood as a costume he can put on when he pleases—a point that is illustrated when Mama Torres asks him to go to Monterey for supplies. Mama talks to him like a child, calling him “Peanut” and scolding him for plotting to buy candy when he is in town. However, inspired by the thought of performing a man’s task, he asks to wear his father’s hat band and green handkerchief as a sign of his maturity. Pepé is not yet a man, but dressed in his father’s clothes, he behaves the way he believes a man should. Consequently, when another man insults him, he responds with violence. Taking another human life leads to Pepé’s loss of innocence as he must live with the knowledge of his actions and the potential consequences. This inner transformation is reflected in his physical appearance as “[t]he fragile quality seemed to have gone from his chin,” and his eyes become “sharp and bright and purposeful” (33).

When Mama Torres prepares her son for his flight, the process mirrors his earlier preparation for the trip to town. He is given more items from his father, but this time the layers of manhood—a coat, hat, and rifle—have a practical rather than superficial purpose. In this scene, Mama Torres’s characteristics of strength and wisdom are emphasized as she tries to impart the knowledge Pepé requires to survive his journey. Readers are reminded that she has been performing a traditionally masculine rule, having “ruled the farm for ten years” since her husband’s death (28).

During Pepé’s journey, the inhospitable nature of the landscape represents The Superiority of Nature Over Man. Steinbeck established this theme at the beginning of the narrative in the description of the farm as “grey-bitten with sea salt, beaten by the damp wind until [it] had taken on the color of the granite hills” (28). The Torres family just about survives in this harsh landscape thanks to Mama’s efforts. However, once Pepé takes flight, he faces the challenges of the natural world alone. The landscape serves as a microcosm of the larger world, representing the harsh realities that adult life entails.

Pepé’s inability to deal with the harsh terrain is revealed as he loses his “costume” of manhood piece by piece. As he does so, his unsettling encounters with wild animals remind him that he is the potential prey not only of his unseen pursuer but also of the natural world. Both seem equally likely to kill him. In response to this vulnerability, Pepé abandons the habits of his childhood, becoming increasingly animalistic. He “move[s] with the instinctive care of an animal” and “worm[s] his way” toward cover (42). By the time Pepé loses the last of his father’s possessions, Steinbeck describes him as moving “[w]ith the effort of a hurt beast” (47). Little is left of the man Pepé thought he was. The harshness of the landscape and the relentlessness of his pursuer have stripped him, leaving an animal following its instincts to escape.

While this story begins with a loss of innocence typical of a coming-of-age story, Steinbeck uses the second half of the story to transition to something more closely related to a cautionary tale. No longer is the story about Pepé becoming a man, but rather outlines what happens when one tries to grow up too fast and without any preparation. The result is a stripping away, first, of the façade of manhood Pepé has put on and, ultimately, of his humanity. At the end of the story, Pepé’s decision to allow himself to be shot is a recognition that both the natural world and his pursuer have defeated him. Ironically, in this acceptance of fate and responsibility for his actions, he finally becomes a man.