Flight | Patterns of Animal Imagery in Steinbeck's 'Flight'
In the following essay, Edward J. Piacentino "demonstrate[s] [that] there are a significant number of animal references which seem to function either to define features of Pepe's character or to accent some of the physical challenges he experiences."
Published initially in The Long Valley (1938), "Flight," a work that one of Steinbeck's most discerning critics [Warren French, in John Steinbeck, 1975] has called a tale of "frustrated young manhood," a "depressing account of an unprepared youth's failure to achieve maturity," has often been regarded as one of John Steinbeck's best stories. Peter Lisca, in his analysis of the story [in The Wide World of John Steinbeck, 1958], sees Pepe Torres' flight as reflecting two levels of meaning. "On the physical level," Lisca observes, "Pepe's penetration into the desert...
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