1. Essay must focus on the essay title.
2. Quotations must be contextualised.
3. Analyse language (words) used in some of your quotations.
4. Essay must be written in present tense.
5. Points must be made precisely, and clearly.
The short story Flight is a story full of symbolism written by Doris Lessing. This essay will explore the symbolism in this short story. The story opens with the old man tending to his doves and feeling happy. It then transits to him watching his granddaughter swinging near the fence, looking past the valley. This is very symbolic as it shows that his granddaughter is swaying on the edge between freedom and staying with her family. This can be seen in the second paragraph of the story,
“His eyes travelled homewards along this road until he saw his granddaughter swinging on the gate underneath a frangipani tree. Her hair fell down her back in a wave of sunlight, and her long bare legs repeated the angles of the frangipani stems, bare, shining brown stems among patterns of pale blossoms.” The message of freedom is extremely strong in this paragraph. The writer describes the girl’s hair as a wave of sunlight. Sunlight and light shining down is traditionally linked with freedom and hope. The writer uses this metaphor in order to get the sense of freedom across to the reader. The sunlight running down the granddaughter’s back was like the granddaughter was dreaming of freedom. The text also shows the girl is unsure of freedom or safety at home. The granddaughter swinging on the edge of the fence is showing her mood; she is swinging on the “edge” between freedom, outside the fence; or safety, inside the fence. This is a metaphor the author uses to convey the change of the granddaughter to the reader. The swing is very symbolic as it is representing her mood. The granddaughter slowly beckoning towards freedom away from home and swinging away from limitation at home is the change between childhood and adulthood. The daughter believes that she will be free when she is in love, married and away from home, however, the granddad believes the marriage will only limit her more and cause her harm when she is away from home which can be seen in the conversation between the grandfather and the mother. This shows the contrast of thought between two different generations. Another theme in this story is the change from containment to freedom. At the start of the story the grandfather is protective and suspicious of his granddaughter but towards the end, he becomes a man with a more open perspective. The writer uses the grandfather’s treatment of his doves as a metaphor; you can see this change at the beginning of the story,
“He felt the plump shape strive and strain under his fingers; and, in a sudden access of troubled spite, shut the bird into a small box and fastened the bolt.”
And at the end of the story,
“Then, clenched in the pain of loss, he lifted the bird on his wrist and watched it soar. A whirr and a spatter of wings, and cloud of birds rose into the evening from the dovecote.” This metaphor is very symbolic, as it is showing the transition of the grandfather’s personality. He changes from a grumpy and protective grandfather into a free and open minded grandfather. At the start of the story, the grandfather is very protective of his doves and traps them, though the doves want to be free; similar to how the grandfather is very protective of his granddaughter and won’t let her go out to be free by trying to trap her at home. At the end of the story, the grandfather is filled with pain and grief, yet still lets his beloved doves fly away to freedom; just like how he lets his granddaughter leave home and be free. The writer uses the doves to mirror to the grandfather’s mood. The choice of bird in this story is also very symbolic. Doves are birds that are traditionally loyal to their master, and always return after being let out. This is another metaphor that the writer uses to show that though the granddaughter has been let “free” by her grandfather, she will return one day. At the end of the story, the grandfather lets the doves out. Then it shows the granddaughter alone, watching him and crying. It seems as though the granddaughter is sad because of the grandfather letting the birds out, however there are other meanings behind it, shown in the last few paragraphs.
“They wheeled in a wide circle, tilting their wings so there was flash after flash of light, and one after another they dropped from the sunshine of the upper sky to shadow, one after another, returned to the shadowed earth over trees and grass and fields, returning to the valley and the shelter of the night……The old man turned, slowly, taking his time; he lifted his eyes to smile proudly at his granddaughter…… She was wide-eyed and pale in the cold shadow, and he saw the tears running down her face.” This is the writer using the doves and the grand-daughters reaction to foreshadow what will happen when he lets his granddaughter free. When he lets the doves free, just like how he lets his granddaughter to “fly” free. When he looks back at his granddaughter again, she is alone and looking back at him, crying her eyes out and she is very sad. The writer uses the grand-daughters reaction to foreshadow what will happen if she goes free and marries. Just like doves, she will return. There is also significant contrast here between the beginning of the story and the end; in the beginning the granddaughter is in sunlight, symbolising freedom, youth and happiness within the protection of her family and at the end she is shrouded in shadows, symbolising the sadness, pain and the pain of reality away from the protection of her family. This shows that change from protected and innocent to vulnerable and unhappy. Something else that is very symbolic in those paragraphs is the way the doves fly. The writer here uses the doves as a metaphor for the granddaughter; when the doves are let free they fly high with hope and speed however after flying high they fall back down into the shadows and the valley. The writer uses words like flashing lights and sunlight to first show the happiness and hope of the free granddaughter, it then changes into words like shadows showing the despair and sadness that the granddaughter feels after being free; the writer finally uses the word valley, which represents the protection and containment of the granddaughters family as a valley is like a series of walls keeping you in and away from the freedom outside. The wheeling of the doves thrlaough the air symbolises the granddaughters life after being let free, she flies high up into freedom and hope, however she experiences the pains of reality which sends her into sadness then she returns to the protection of her family.
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