Steinbeck

John Steinbeck’s “Flight” was a very colorful and altogether very dark story. It was incredibly descriptive, and it painted a picture that is hard to get out of the mind. I can easily see Pepe, fighting nature and man for his life in those hills. I thought it was interesting how his mother thought him lazy, and that she worried that his knife would get him into trouble. The line, “A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed” really stood out. Pepe grew up in one evening, due to an argument that turned into what we can only assume was murder. His youth and laziness disappeared in a flash, his immaturity displayed in the bad decision to use a weapon.
As he “grew” into his “manhood”, or what he and his mother assumed it to be, he took on the tools of his new role- his father’s rifle, coat, and of course, his father’s knife. Riding off on the family horse, he leaves forever, running off before being caught for his crime. Unfortunately for him, his new “manhood” has not adequately prepared him for the rigors of the outdoors, and one by one, he loses the objects that he took with him, the horse, the coat, the gun and the knife. He becomes more primitive, with no food, no water, living like an animal in the wild, being hunted by an unseen foe. With his enemy near, his injuries seriously infected and his body suffering from thirst, he realizes that the end is near- Pepe says his prayers and stands atop the ridge, placing himself in the clear view of the enemy. Pepe was shot, fell down the mountain, and was covered up by a mountainslide. I think in his own way, he accepted his fate “as a man”.