FREE ESSAY ON THE FLIGHT

THE FLIGHT

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 Pepe'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, Pepe's black hair and the black
jerky. Another example may be found when Pepe puts on his fathers black coat, which
represents death. When Pepe puts on the coat he is literally covering himself with death.
Another fine example is the trail in which Pepe 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 Pepe's appearance also helps foreshadow the ending. Steinbeck describes him
as having a black hat that covers his black thatched hair. Pepe is also described as
being dark, lean and tall. Another example is Pepe'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, Pepe, 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 Pepe is returning home.
Pepe 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 Pepe turns to he will fall into evil. Another fine example is
when Pepe 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 Pepe'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 Pepe 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 Pepe's water bag that he hung over his horse's shoulder. The water
leaked onto the horse's shoulder. This meant Pepe'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 Pepe 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 Pepe 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 Pepe's
inevitable death. Direction is used frequently in the story to symbolize the direction
that Pepe 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 Pepe
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 Pepe was destined to die
right from the beginning of the story.