The Flight

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, Pepé's black hair and the black jerky. Another example may be found when Pepé puts on his fathers black coat, which represents death. When Pepé puts on the coat he is literally covering himself with death. Another fine example is the trail in which Pepé 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 Pepé's appearance also helps foreshadow the ending. Steinbeck describes him as having a black hat that covers his black thatched hair.

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Let us now look further into symbolism by discovering yet another form of symbolism. The tops of the trees were wind-bitten and dead. Direction is used frequently in the story to symbolize the direction that Pepé is heading; if he is heading towards good or evil. Because of the fact that we, as humans, require water in order to live, water represents life. In reality this means Pepé is moving further away from life and closer to his inevitable death. Pepé looks at his "weathered little shack" and notices the shadow. It casts a rather large shadow to the North east. Nature, especially water, is another form of symbolism that Steinbeck utilizes. That means it will be dark out and Pepé's death is soon to come. Many people feel this came about when the early man saw the sun rise in the East. 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. It just so happened that when the horse was shot it was in the same shoulder. When he first starts out he is traveling very close to the river.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 891
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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