How much do you really love something? In the story "Flight," by Doris Lessing, we see how much Grandad loves his granddaughter, and how he doesn't want to give her up to someone else. The grandfather has to learn to let his granddaughter go. Alice, the granddaughter, has fallen in love with Steven, the postmaster's boy. The grandfather gets angry because she is very special to him and he does not want to loose the love that she gives him. This bitterness growing inside of him must be overcome in order for his granddaughter to be happy. Love is one of the most powerful emotions that will usually exist when everything else has gone.
             Grandfather is fearful of loosing his last granddaughter and tries to get in the way of her love with Steven. This is shown at the very beginning when he says, "This you are old enough to go courting, hey?" In this quote, the grandad is trying to make Alice think that she is to young to be so serious about dating a guy. Another time we see the grandfather try to get in the way of Alice's relationship is when he shoutes angrily, "I'll tell you mother!" This tells us that he is trying to get her to stop having feelings about Steven for fear of getting into trouble. Lastly, is a quote showing the grandad's attempt to stop the relationship is, "She's in the garden with Steven...She'll marry him, I'm telling you, she'll be marrying him next!" He is trying to get Alice's mother, which is his daughter, to see things his way. She doesn't really pay any attention and tells him to get over it.
             Grandad seems to be irritated by Alice's courting with Steven. This is shown by his first conversation with Alice when he begins to "curl his fingers like claws." With this action we see his physical strain that is caused by the thought of loosing Alice. A different time we see this is when he "...