The Eccentric Old Man in Flight
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Transcript of The Eccentric Old Man in Flight
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The eccentric old man in Flight (Doris Lessing): Ananalysis
Doris Lessings "Flight" is a short story revolving around an old man and his learning of
accepting in life. The author, however, does not let her readers know much about the oldman, especially in the sphere of physical appearance. Even his name is not known to the
readers. Doris Lessing, alternatively, aims to steer her readers to centre on the old mansinner feelings, i.e. his weird mood and his consequent eccentric behaviors. A close and
careful analysis is essential for us to somehow get a reasonable explanation about his
eccentricities.
The old man keeps pigeons and considers the dovecote his refuge. These little birds are
seemingly his only pleasure in life, for all of his three grand daughters have gone with
their husbands, leaving him with his daughter Lucy and the young Alice. Because Aliceis the last grand daughter to stay with him, and because she is going to get married, he
feels possessive towards her. Never does he want her to leave as do her sisters. He alwayswants to keep her, to have control on her, and to never let her leave, for fear that she willnever come back to him, like the way he prevents his favorite pigeon from flying back to
the sky. He keeps on considering Alice as still a child and on objecting her courtship with
Steven the postmasters son. This possessive and somewhat selfish attitude has led to hisunconventional behaviors. Miserably and angrily he shouts at her, asking her old-
fashioned phrases stating his objection to her future marriage, and eventually threatening
to tell her mother when she disobeys him. How childish it is for such an old man, not to
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mention his being her grandfather, to behave like this! Moreover, how can a grandfather
be jealous of his grand daughters boyfriend? Jealousy, possessiveness and selfishness
have blinded him!
The old man seems to isolate himself from everyone with his own way of thinking, which
is considerably different from that of his daughter Lucy and of course, that of the youngAlice. He expects Lucy, his daughter, to be on the same side with him, yet to his grief,
the mother shows no objection to her daughters forthcoming marriage. He feels lost, and
weeps eventually. Those are tears of anger, sadness and even of the fear of loneliness, forLucy is his only hope to stand to his side. Tears shed on him again, though implicitly
depicted, when he watches the young couple tumbling like puppies on the grass, after
Steven has given him a bird as a gift. These, however, are tears of tolerance and
acceptance, as he realizes the fact that Alice needs to fly and have her own life. Hecannot keep her beside him forever. Then he comes to a tough decision: releasing his
favorite. Though having clenched in the pain of loss, he manages to let the bird soar.
Flight is written in third person, but most of the time it is told through the old mans pointof view. Doris makes it this way deliberately for the readers to get the clearest view of the
old mans mood, which keeps shifting from the beginning to the very end of the story. Itmakes us know how his mood has changed from being very happy with his favorite when
the story begins to being extremely angry and resentful when seeing his granddaughter
waiting for her husband-to-be. It also helps us know how he feels hurt and how his prideis wounded when everyone is against him. With this skillful technique and her great
talent in utilizing symbolism, Doris Lessing has made the story a successful one, which
leads readers to explore the world of inside heart feelings.