Flight by John Steinbeck

Summary: Flight is a story about Pepe'. Pepe' is a young man but he still has boyish qualities until he kills a man for calling him names. Pepe' flees to the mountains in an attempt to get away from his pursuers, but in the end he is shot.

Characters:

Mama Torres - widow taking care of three children

Pepe' - Oldest son of Mama Torres - nineteen

Emilio - Youngest child of Mama Torres

Rosy - Middle child of mama torres

Section One:

Mama Torres is a widow by herself taking care of the children
Pepe' is the lazy oldest child; he has a knife that was his dad's; he carries the knife everywhere
Pepe' is throwing the knife at a post when Mama Torres tells him he is to go to town to get supplies

Section Two:

Pepe' puts on a green silk handkerchief, and gets the money for the medicine, salt, and candy
Emilio and Rosy ask if Pepe' is a man now, Mama Torres replies a boy becomes a man when a man is needed

Section Three:

Pepe' comes home late at night with the medicine; Mama Torres ask why he is home and not at the friends house
Pepe' explains everything that happened; Pepe' has killed a man with his knife after the man called him names
Pepe' says he must go into the mountains, Mama Torres helps him by giving him jerky, a sleep roll, the gun with ten bullets, and the fresh horse
Pepe' is no longer a boy but now is a man; Even his physical features seemed changed " The fragile quality seemed to have gone from his chin. His mouth was less full than it had been, the lines of the lips were straighter" , " there was no luaghter in them( his eyes) any more"
Mama Torres does the death wail for Pepe' after he is out of sight, he is dead to her now
Rosy tells Emilio Pepe' became a man last night, now he must go on a journey and they will never see him again

Section Four:

Pepe' is on the trail into the mountains;
Pepe' sees one of the "dark watchers" ; all that is known about them is that it is better to show interest in them
Pepe' see a dark watcher for a second time, he decides to look away quickly but when he rest he watches the trail closely;
Pepe' sees a wildcat creeping, he reaches for his knife but it is gone; He scares the birds and it leaves; Pepe' goes to sleep

Section Five:

Pepe' is relaxing when his horse is shot and dies; While hiding from the gunman a bullet misses him barely but a piece of granite goes through his hand. (he was hiding next to a large rock)
Pepe' manages to creep away for the night, but he realizes he forogot his gun, he can't find it so he falls asleep;
Pepe' awakes with his armpit hurting and his arm swollen; he hears horses with dogs coming his way; hides away for a another night
Pepe' awakes again, his arm is worse; Pepe' usesw a sharp stone to break the flesh and squeeze out the infected area
Pepe' makes a prayer, he hears the bay of hounds; then he his shot and topples off of the cliff dead

Other Notes:

Mama Torres is not wealthy, she sends the children to get food from the ocean everyday; and the money seems very important to her when she says it is for the medicine