John Steinbeck's "Flight"

John Steinbeck’s Flight was taxing for me to read. I can detect his use of locale and storytelling ability within it; however, I believe the length and drama it took to tell the story made it tiring for me. I am not a fan of western movies or dramas and that is the sense of the story I obtained from its reading. There was not much action and the end seemed inevitable.

The family is described as disadvantaged, but the mother a strong figure. To have raised three boys on her own for the past ten years and maintain the small farm would necessitate a tough female; however, I would wonder what caused the laziness and immaturity described in Pepe. The boys must have had different fathers in the way in which Steinbeck described them: the two small ones as blacks but no race given for Pepe. I would have liked to have understood a little more about the family or if any of this information had any significance on the story. The story’s direction leads the reader through the necessary maturation of Pepe: as demanded by an unfortunate incident.

Other than the need for medicine, I did not feel the story revealed to the reader the mother’s reason for sending Pepe alone to Monterey, evidently something he had never done before. He quickly gains confidence in his newfound responsibility stating “You may send me often alone. I am a man.” Mama seemed to have her concerns but sent him on his errand with thorough instructions. She felt sure he would be safe at the home of Mrs. Rodriguez even though there must have been expectation of drinking wine as this was the first thing she asked when she realized there was a problem with his being home unexpected. Maybe she thought whatever experience he would have encountered at that home would have led him into his manhood.

I understand his need to run but I never understood what he was running towards. I didn’t understand what haven he was trying to find; if he was running from the law or someone connected to the man he knifed. The escape was very prolonged, but descriptive. I found it ironic he suffered as he did when if he had not run, if death had come upon him in another manner, it might have been quicker, but maybe not as courageous. It seemed inevitable he was not going to survive.

It was a sad story from a parental point of view. I cannot imagine sending my child off knowing she was being hunted and never to return, possibly not ever knowing of her plight. Again, ironic the item the father left for Pepe, possibly to protect him through life, caused his demise leading to his untimely death.