Doris Lessing's "Flight" - Summary & Analysis of the Short Story

INTRODUCTION
Love is one of the most intense feelings that typically persists after all other emotions have
faded. As a result, it is really difficult to let go of someone you care about. In Doris Lessing's
short story "Flight," we witness how much the grandfather adores his granddaughter and how he
is adamant about not giving her up to someone else. This love creates difficulty for the
grandfather; on the one hand, he desires to keep his granddaughter, but on the other, he must
learn and accept the necessity of letting her go as a circle of life. In this paper, we analyze the
characters in the story and how the storytelling techniques contribute to the beauty and meaning of the story. BODY 1. Author’s biography
Doris Lessing (Doris May Lessing) was born in 1919 in Persia to a British couple and died in
2013, London. Her childhood was described as some pleasure with a lot of bitter and painful
experiences, which was claimed by herself as an element creating fiction author. She left home at
fifteen and worked as a nursemaid. During that time, she had chance to read politics and
sociology and started writing stories. Lessing’s career is filled with novels and collections of
short stories that are significantly involved 20th century social and political upheavals (Luebering,
2022). Her first novel, “The grass is singing”, was published in 1949, marking the beginning of
the British writer’s professional career. In 1962, the novel “The golden notebook” broke a new
ground and helped to raise her career to the top with the Prix Medicis Etranger Award and she is
the first British author receiving this prestigious award. Lessing was rewarded Nobel Prize for
Literature in 2007 and listed in “50 greatest British writers since 1945” (Hanford,
2022). By the time of her death, she had issued more than 50 novels and received 17 awards for her work and contribution. 2. Plot summary
Flight is a short story that was first published in 1957 in the collection “The habit of loving”. The
short story revolves around an old man who lives in South Africa with his family. Pigeons hold a
special place in his heart. In addition to being his granddaughter, Alice is a cherished family
member who will marry Steven, the postmaster's son in the near future. Angry and reluctant to
the marriage, he claimed that no one would gossip with him anymore because Alice had tied the
knot with the man of his dreams. Despite the fact that Alice is no longer a child, he simply
wanted to keep her by his side forever. Then, as a token of reconciliation, Steven presented him
with a pigeon. Following an exhausting period of contemplation, he liberated the bird and then approved to Alice. 3. Setting
The story does not mention about the place but from the details of the story, it is likely to happen
in African as it has the dark red soil and frangipani tree, the kind of tree that often plant and grow
best in the hot and dry climate of African. Besides, Flight is one of the stories in the book
“African stories” of Doris Lessing that was published in 1967. From the beginning to the end,
this story is set in a summer evening as it opens in a late afternoon in an end-of summer day and
ends in the evening when the grandfather frees the pigeon. 4. Character line
There is only one character in the short story who does not have a proper name: the grandfather,
who is the protagonist. From the beginning to the finish, his identity remains a mystery. Doris
Lessing chooses to remain anonymous with her primary character in order to convey the idea
that anything that happens to this character may happen to anyone else as well. As a result, the
old granddad appears to be a symbol of the old generation's desire to maintain their children in their sphere of influence.
The protagonist of the story is the grandfather. The detail that the old man preserves his pigeons,
gripped the bird down, feeling his fingers around the cold coral claws and complemented on the
beauty of the bird demonstrates his gentle and caring character. He views birds as his sole source
of joy in life and regards his granddaughter as one of his birds, requesting permission to keep her
a little longer. He is always attempting to keep his granddaughter by his side, exert control over
her, and prevent her from leaving which demonstrates that he is very possessive and self-
centered. When he saw Alice at the gates waiting for her boyfriend, he feels uneasy as the gate
appears to be a boundary between home and the outside world, between childhood and the
adulthood. Alice will be whisk away from home and his grasp forever. He tried to convince her
but in an aggressive way that she was not old enough to get married or not ready to leave home.
He appears to want to hurt those he cares about as he refers to Alice in a variety of derogatory
terms like rubbish and impudent which makes him shows up as a spiteful person. However, all of
that is because of the fear of having to live without his granddaughter.
From the story, the old man has numerous grandchildren but they all abandoned him and never
returned. He thinks about the other three granddaughters who had transformed themselves in a
matter of months from adorable petulant pampered children to serious young ladies. Now that
the grandfather only has one granddaughter, he is concerned that she will marry Steven and that
he will take her away from him. He adores his granddaughter so much but is at a loss for words
to express his feelings. Therefore, he does not express himself verbally, instead by action but in a
hostile manner. He wants to be taken care of and comprehend his thoughts and feelings, however
unable to express himself in a friendly way. At the end, he relinquishes his selfish desire and
liberates his most favorite pigeon, indicating that he accepted that his granddaughter has grown
up so she cannot be with him forever and approved her marriage with Steven. In order for his
cherished granddaughter to be content with her new life, he accepts letting his beloved Alice go.
The old man granddaughter, Alice, is a young girl who is selfish but also loving and considerate.
An eighteen-girl, carefree and falling in love so she found her grandfather old-fashioned and
overprotective when he opposed her marriage. She shouted and provoked him when he threated
to tell his mom that she was waiting for her boyfriend. She was rude and ignored the granddad
reprimands but she is, nonetheless, also very kind and considerate. This is implied when she is
the granddad’s favorite and often spend time and gossip with him, accompany with him in his
lonely life. She also gave the old man a pigeon as a present which indicates that she does care
and love her grandfather. At the end, she cries because she is delighted that her relationship is
accepted and approved by her beloved family, and also because she misses the childhood and
that she will have to leave home. It can be seen that both characters genuinely care for each
other, yet they conceal their feelings. Alice’s childish is understandable as she is still very young
that she may not completely comprehend her grandfather’s emotions. Regarding the old man,
although he seems to be rude and selfish at first but they are rooted from the love he has for his
granddaughter and the clumsiness in showing his feelings, so readers can be more sympathize with him than criticize.
The minor characters in this story are Lucy, Alice’s mom and old man’s daughter, and Steven,
Alice’s boyfriend. Lucy appears to be a kind person who respects her daughter decision. Lucy
has no regret on her marriage and as an understanding person, she gives Alice permission to
marry the person she loves and attempts to reassure the main character about Alice. About
Steven, despite the old man aggressive and annoying attitude, he is still kind and thoughtful. He
brings a pigeon as a present for the old man as he knows Alice’s grandfather like the bird and
comforts him that they would always be with him. His tone and words show his respect and
kindness towards Alice and her family through tender warmth and feelings. Besides, he truly
loves Alice so he is expected to be a good match with her and a good husband.
5. Analysis of Doris Lessing’s techniques in story tel ing
In the story, the title can be interpreted in a variety of ways: it can refer to the actual flight of one
of the old man's 'pigeons; it can refer to the symbolic image of flight denoting liberty; it can refer
to his granddaughter's flight from childhood to adulthood; and it can refer to his flight from
reality — refusing to acknowledge the fact that his granddaughter is growing up.
The author utilizes the third person limited point of view to tell the story. The storyteller tells the
story from outside the world of characters and describes the readers about the events, thoughts
and feelings of the characters in the story. In this story, the storyteller is anonymous and not a
character in the story, playing an importance role of telling how the emotions of the characters
grow and express. Most importantly is the old man thoughts and feelings are told, how the events
in the story affect him and how he perceives the surroundings. The advantages of this point of
view are that readers can read through the eyes of specific characters and the author is enable to
share the thoughts and feeling of the main character. However, readers are not able to know
about the thoughts and feelings of other characters, leading to an ambiguous ending when tears
stream down on Alice’s face when she saw her grandfather liberate the pigeon. This may also an
intention of Doris Lessing to let the reader feels and thinks about the ending on their own feelings and experiences.
The body language of the characters is shown as the attitudes often appear in actions in the story.
For instance, when her grandfather exclaims "Hey!" Alice takes a leap. She feels concerned, but
quickly withdraws, as evidenced when her eyes veiled themselves. She speaks in a neutral tone
and tosses her head, as if shrugging off his hostile posture. When he thinks of Steven, the elderly
man's hands curl into his palms like claws, demonstrating his confrontational stance towards
Alice’s boyfriend. The word choice also contributes to the greatness of the story. At the
beginning of the story, the author uses positive diction to describe the birds and the tranquility
and beauty of the garden with words like rainbow, bright, young, blossoms, rich, etc. It reflects
the mood, happy and content, of the main character at the beginning. Another example for the
good word choice is the old-fashioned phrase “courting” which demonstrates the generation gap
between Alice and the grandfather.
Not only words, the story also has metaphors and symbolism to describe the emotions and
thoughts of the characters. The flight of the bird at the end of the story when the old man lets it
free is implied for the freedom of the granddaughter as she grows up and will move away from
the family. It also indicates the attitude of the main character to Alice and her marriage, that he
realizes he has to let his granddaughter go and live her own life where she belongs to. The
pigeon in the story is also used as a symbolize to the granddaughter. At the beginning of the
story, although the old man’s bird is a homing pigeon, he stretched out his wrist so that the bird
can take flight but caught it again when it spread its wings. This action implies the old man’s
adamant determination to keep the bird for himself. Additionally, he does not believe that the
pigeon will return once he releases it, which is precisely how he reacted to the marriage of Alice.
The old man in this story is kept anonymous, readers hardly know about him, his biography or
physical appearance. Therefore, this character symbolizes for the old generation who are
struggling with the loneliness as their children and grandchildren are gradually leaving.
6. Reflections on the real world
The story raises some issues of society that are happening in many families not only at the time
that this story was written but also in the modern day. The first issue is that inadequate verbal
communication among family members might result in unanticipated misunderstandings and
confrontations. Verbal interaction is crucial in daily life activities because only words enable a
person to fully communicate the thoughts, desires and wishes. Therefore, other people can
comprehend precisely and specifically what ones want. If the old man in the story told his
daughter that he wished she could spend time or stay with him, things would have been easier for
them. The second issue is that people nowadays spend less time with their family. It is necessary
to spend time with your beloved ones and learn how to love and take care of each other. It would
be the greatest way to make other family members feel that they are loved and cherished,
especially the elderly as sometimes the lack of thoughtfulness would make them feel like a
burden for the family and cause in negative thoughts. CONCLUSION
Flight by Doris Lessing is a meaningful story about family, freedom and acceptance showing
through the growth in mindset of the protagonist. The story uses different techniques like word
choices, metaphor and symbolism to describes and help readers have thorough understandings
about the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Through the story, readers can experience each
emotional stage of the characters, like of the old man who was in a good mood at the beginning,
then furious and insecure when he knows his granddaughter is about to get married, then accept
the fact that she has grown up and will go out to the world to have her own life. The story ends,
letting things for readers to think and contemplate about the value of family, the generation gap
and the vulnerable people in a family, the elderly. Word count: 2409 References
Hanford, J. (2022, 3 16). Doris Lessing Biography. Retrieved from Doris Lessing:
http://www.dorislessing.org/biography.html
Luebering, J. E. (2022, 3 16). Doris Lessing: British writer. Retrieved from Britannica:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Doris-Lessing
Document Outline

• INTRODUCTION
• BODY
  • 1.Author’s biography
  • 2.Plot summary
  • 3.Setting
  • 4.Character line
  • 5.Analysis of Doris Lessing’s techniques in story te
  • 6.Reflections on the real world
• CONCLUSION