Essay/Term paper: A review of lessing's "flight"

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Essays

A Review of Lessing's "Flight"

The short story Flight is written by Doris Lessing about a old man learning of
letting go of his grandaughter as she grows into an adult and is about to get
married.

The story is told in an omniscient third person point of view and this enables
us to see into the minds of all characters, which inturn help us to understand
their feelings and attitudes. When story are told in an omniscient way, the
readers will have a better understanding of what is going on in the story. This
story not only described what the old man is feeling, but also other characters.
The old man feels that his youngest grandaughter is still much too young to be
married and is not willing to let go of her. He 's attitude seems grumpy but
deep down inside it hurt him very much to see his grandaughter growing up and
with her boyfriend Steve. From the describtion we had for this old man, we can
understand much better what he feels. Then, this story have focused a bit closer
to the grandaughter's mother and her point of view on her daughter's marrige,
which she is happy with. The omniscient positions readers to a god-like position
which will let us have a better understanding of what the character feels, and
also all the `conflict' the character is experiencing and feeling.

The characters's point of view are important in revealing the main theme of this
story which is learning to let go. By understanding the characters's point of
view, we are able to decide what main theme is about.

Firstly, the story have taken us a `tour' in the old man's position which
enabled us to understands what he is feeling. Even seeing that his grand-
daughter is no longer the cute little girl anymore, he still couldn't accpet the
fact that she has grown up and is starting a family of her own. He feels alone,
and hopeless. He believe that after she gets married, nothing will ever be the
same again. She won't keep him as company anymore and he will only have his
pigeons. But the young girl's mother have a totally different point of view as
she believes that her daughter have found a good home and she is old enough to
get married. As for the young girl herself, she feels nothing will ever change
even if she got married. She will always love her grand father. As all of the
character's point of view are revealed, we have a more clarified view of the
theme of this story.

In this story, the author has used the old man's pigeons as a symbolism of his
grand daughter.

In the story, the old man treats his favourite pigeon like his grand daughter.
He would pretend to let loose of the pigeon and when it is about to fly, he
would grabbed it back quickly and put it back into the cage and saying`now u
stay there'. This sort of symbolises the old man is not letting go of his grand
daughter and as his grand daughter is trying to `fly away' from her home. At the
end of the story, when the old man fanily agrees to let go of his grand daughter,
he took out his favourite pigeon from the cage and let it fly away. This
symbolised that he had learned to let go of his beloved grand daughter and is
letting the young to take its first flight into the real world.