Flight by John Steinbeck

In his classic short story, "Flight," John Steinbeck uses many examples of symbolism to foreshadow the conclusion. Symbolism can be anything, a person, place or thing, used to portray something beyond itself. It is used to represent or foreshadow the ending of the story. Steinbeck uses colors, direction, and nature symbolism to help presage Pepé's tragic death. Let us now more closely examine the ways that Steinbeck uses colors to foreshadow the ending of his short story.

Perhaps the most repeatedly used symbol in "Flight," is the color black. In literature many authors use black to represent death. There are numerous examples in this short story. Some of these include the black handle on the long blade, Pepé's black hair and the black jerky. Another example may be found when Pepé puts on his fathers black coat, which represents death. When Pepé puts on the coat he is literally covering himself with death. Another fine example is the trail in which Pepé travels. Steinbeck describes the path as a well-worn black path. By traveling on this path he is in fact taking the road of death. Furthermore Pepé's appearance also helps foreshadow the ending. Steinbeck describes him as having a black hat that covers his black thatched hair. Pepé is also described as being dark, lean and tall. Another example is Pepé's shack. The shack is described as weathered and very old. It casts a rather large shadow to the North east. The darkness of the shadow symbolizes death in the home. As we can readily see, the authors use of black symbolism in the story tells us that the main character, Pepé, is impending death.

Another commonly used symbol in the story "Flight," is direction. Direction is used to represent positive or negative effects. North and East are generally "good" directions. Many people feel this came about when the early man saw the sun rise in the East. On the contrary, the directions South and West are generally "bad" directions. Basically this is because the sun sets in