In the short story known as “Flight” which is written by the American author John

Steinbeck, The main character of the story is given a once in a lifetime chance to become

a man just like his father once was. He abruptly accepts this chance from his mother after

being told what he needed. Why does this young individual accept this task knowing the

dangerousness of it? The answers could very well lie within his own personal battles.

After a chance encounter with a random group of guys, this young individual soon

realizes the importance of not growing up too quick… a lesson that may have been taught

a little too late.

The story begins with an introduction of the characters which includes Mama

Torres, the antagonist, Pepe, the protagonist along with several other family members.

Other people who are introduced include Mrs. Rodriguez who happens to live in

Monterrey and is a good friend of the Torres family. She also does not appear in the story.

It is at her place that Pepe becomes drunk and stabs a drunken stranger.

Since the beginning of the story, Pepe is constantly berated by his mother about

being too lazy and not being near a man like his father. Evidence of this includes mama

Torres saying “Some lazy cow must have got into thy father’s family, else how could I

have a son like thee.” His laziness comes as a result of spending all day practicing

with a knife that his father gave him shortly before he died. The scene is set fifteen miles

away from Monterrey, Mexico, at the Torres family farm which is owned by Mama

Torres. It happens to be a little shack standing next to another rotting barn. Pepe is

introduced in the story as a cocky, and impetuous individual as proof by Harold Bloom’s

analysis “Pepe is a cocky and impetuous but mentally limited young man who is

destroyed when a social situation places him responsibilities that he is unequipped to

assume.” One thing that Pepe continuously struggles with is being a man like his

father once was. It’s an internal struggle that later on, causes his demise. It is a problem

that stems from his Mother who repeatedly tells her son that he is too lazy to be a man.

The plot summary of this short story starts off with a complication with being a

man. With Pepe’s size and laziness, his mama continues to literally berate him by calling

him names. At one point in the beginning she insults Pepe by say “Thou a man? Thou is a

peanut.”

At the same time, he struggles with an external complication when he is

sent to buy medicine for the family, which is considered to be a man’s job. While on his

trip, he ends up stabbing a guy and is later pursued by the man’s friends. The climax of

the story takes place when his horse is shot and he looses his tools, resulting in an even

bigger disadvantage for him in the wilderness. The end comes when Pepe finally gets up

to his feet and realizes at that point, that his journey towards manhood has concluded with

him reaching his goal. Unable to speak or walk, his pursuers finally get a lock on him and

shoots him, resulting in an avalanche which eventually causes his death.