Flight: Innocence To Experience (John Steinbeck)

Innocence to Experience
Flight, written by John Steinbeck, is a carefully constructed short story of a nineteen-year-old boy’s flight into the wild. Pepé, the young boy, is sent by his mother on an errand to the city, and during his passage, he slays a man, and as a result, he finds refuge in the mountains. Steinbeck’s use of traditional literary elements aids in developing the foremost theme of boy to manhood as he faces new and daunting encounters.
Steinbeck’s description of the events of Pepé’s ‘little quarrel’ and the men seeking their reprisal appears to be lacking; however, Steinbeck uses this to his advantage in supporting his theme of boy to manhood or from innocence to experience. Steinbeck’s account of the quarrel is quite limited; it is incorporated in the few words: “He told her in a tired monotone, told her everything just as it happened” (550). The description entails nothing more and nothing less, but as Sarah Hughes explains:
…Steinbeck excludes...