Flight

Steinbeck’s short story “Flight” is a coming-of-age narrative in which he reveals what coming of age is not. Pepé embodies The Difficulty of Growing Up as he desires manhood, but it is not a goal that he is willing to work toward. One of the ways Steinbeck reveals the protagonist’s desire to be a man is through the symbol of his father’s knife. Pepé views his dexterity with the blade as a sign of his own maturity. However, he does not use it for its intended purpose—making repairs, helping harvest the family’s corn, or other tasks to help support his family. Instead, he uses the knife in a child’s game to impress his younger siblings. Pepé’s perception of the knife as a marker of manhood underlines the theme of Masculinity, Violence, and Personhood. It symbolizes taking on the role of his father and also the potential to do harm to others. The emphasis on how Pepé carries the knife everywhere and takes great care of it foreshadows later events. Pepé instinctively reaches for the weapon when he gets into a fight, killing a man. The later loss of his knife on his journey signals his vulnerability and his abandonment of the trappings of manhood.