Symbolisim in john steinbecks flight Essay Example

death. Later In the tale, Peep runs away In the mountains to escape the men chasing him. The path that he travels on Is described as a "well-worn black pig. 8).

By taking this road, he is figuratively taking the road of death. Steinbeck uses direction cleverly in the short story to, literally, point the reader in the direction of the conclusion.

It begins with the notion that north and east are 'good' or positive directions, often associated with good luck or fair tidings, while west and south directions are seen as bad or misfortune. An example of this Is when Peep Is seen watching the sunset in the west. This symbolizes his bleak future to come, or the setting of his life. Height, or the direction up and down, is also seen throughout he short story.

For example, Steinbeck describes the tops of the trees in the mountains where Peep is running as "wind bitten and dead". This symbolizes that the higher up Peep climbs, the closer to death he becomes.

In the story, there are "dark watchers" who wonder through the mountains. They are mysterious creatures believed to be "angels of death" and are seen in the mountains with Peep. "Peep looked up to the top of the next dry withered ridge. He saw a dark form against the sky, a man's figure standing on top of a rock, and he glanced away quickly not to appear curious.

When a moment later he looked up again, the figure was gone"(Steinbeck pig. 9) Steinbeck uses the dark watchers not to advance the plot, but rather as symbols of everyone's eventual death, and Pep's approaching.

He places the watchers on the top of the hill, as height is associated with death in this story. Peep spends a majority of the story in the mountains and nature plays a huge role in the plot. In Flight, Steinbeck uses water as a symbol for life.

This is seen by Pep's water bag, which hung over his horses shoulder during the trip.

While the water leaked away, so did his life. As proof of this theory, later in the story his horse is shot in the same shoulder that the bag previously rested on. Another example of this is seen as Peep travels further into the mountains. In the beginning, Peep stays near the river.

But, as time goes on he starts to drift farther and farther away from it. This is symbolism for the life being drained away from him and is seen on page nine as Steinbeck writes, "His throat was almost closed with thirst. At first he tried to run, but immediately he fell and rolled. " (Steinbeck pig.

) As he moves up the mountain, he is boning closer to his foreseeable death and becoming weaker as well. At one point, after being shot and can no longer stand, he begins to crawl up the mountain face. Here, Steinbeck compares Peep to a snake. While connecting Peep to a creature of nature, he is also subtlety continuing with the pattern of past influences as the snake is what also what killed his father. In order to prepare the reader for the tragic yet thought provoking end to the tale, Steinbeck includes a number of symbols in Flight.

His symbols

can be obvious or hardly noticeable, both are seen in the story.

The more common symbols seen were of color, direction, and nature. He uses color; specifically black, to convey to the reader how near Pep's death is and how the escape of his fate is inevitable. Direction is used frequently also to symbolize the direction that Peep is heading, towards good or evil.

Steinbeck uses nature, especially water, in Flight to not only symbolize Pep's death approaching but also to represent Peep himself and the struggles that he was facing. As Peep becomes weaker and begins to deteriorate, the landscape does as well, mirroring him.