Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing was born in 1919, in what is now Iran. When she was five years old, she moved with her British parents to what is now Zimbabwe.

She was brought up in the African countryside and had a generally unhappy childhood. Her mother was very strict and her father very bitter - his farm was not a success and he had been badly injured in World War One.

Lessing was also unhappy away from home. The nuns at her convent school terrified her, and she dropped out school entirely when she was 13. Although she did not go back, Lessing continued to read widely.

She left home when she was just 15 and worked as a nursemaid, in addition to writing stories for magazines in South Africa. She married when she was 19 and had two children. She later left her family, married again and had a third child.

After World War Two, she left her second husband, moved to London with her third child, and became a full-time writer.

Much of Doris Lessing's earlier work is based on her experiences in Africa. The main aspects of Flight could take place almost anywhere - because the story concentrates on relationships within a family - but the story is clearly set in Africa. There is also a lot of detail that seems to reflect Lessing's English roots, such as cups of tea and sewing. NATURE : CAI CAY

The story may echo what happened in Lessing's own life: the young girl is desperate to leave home (just like Lessing was) and argues with her grandfather (perhaps like Lessing did with her parents). Even the grandfather's bitterness (he dislikes Steven and feels abandoned by his family) might reflect the views of Lessing's father.

The old man

The central character in the story has no name. Why might this be? Does it make him seem less of an individual, or perhaps make him seem more universal, like someone we might know? Or can you think of any other reason for his not being named?

We know that he is Alice's grandfather, and that he feels possessive towards her. We know also that he keeps pigeons. The story is told largely from his viewpoint and whatever it means, it is certainly in some way about his learning or accepting things about Alice.

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Alice

Alice is the old man's granddaughter. She is a young woman but he still sees her as a child - or would like to do so. She looks young and sometimes acts in a carefree way, but mostly she has a serious and grown up wish to marry her boyfriend, and settle into a domestic routine.

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Lucy

Lucy is the old man's daughter and Alice's mother. She is depicted as a grown up in her appearance ("square-fronted"), her actions (she looks after her father) and the way in which her father thinks of her (“that woman”). Her husband is absent (perhaps she is a widow or divorcee, but there is no evidence to tell the reader more, save that it is Lucy who gives Alice permission to marry). But we know that Lucy married at seventeen “and never regretted it”. She tries to reassure the old man about Alice. She has already agreed to her marrying Steven, and tells her father this in the story.

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Steven

Steven is Alice's boyfriend. In the story we see him through the old man's eyes. The old man finds things wrong with him (his red complexion, his physical appearance and his father's job). The reader is not likely to share this disapproval. Lucy expects him to be as good a husband as her other three girls have. And he is thoughtful enough to give the old man a present of a pigeon.

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The setting - time and place

Doris Lessing grew up in Zimbabwe, in southern Africa. Yet the setting of this story could almost be anywhere, except for a few clues. One is the wooden veranda at the front of the whitewashed house. Another, which is repeatedly mentioned, is the frangipani tree. (This species of tree takes its name from an Italian perfumier; the scent of the blossom supposedly resembles one of his perfumes.) But many details make the story seem almost English in its setting. Some of these are listed below. Can you think of others?

the valley, the earth, the trees; the dovecote; Lucy's sewing; plates and cups of tea; Steven's father's job - he is a “postmaster”

Perhaps more important is the time in which this story is set. Although the narrative seems quite modern in showing a young woman about to leave home, the attitudes of the grandfather are more traditional. He wants to keep his grandchild at home, and spoil her as his favourite. Although Alice will not give in to the old man's wishes, she still shows respect for him.

Throughout the story, all of the characters have their proper names -  Alice, Lucy, Steven - except for one person, the main character: the old man. He is anonymous from the beginning to the end. Doris Lessing lets the main character go nameless in order to show that what happens to this character could happen to anyone. Moreover, the old man seems to be a symbol of the old generation who always wants to keep their children in their way.

At the beginning of the story, we see the old man loves pigeons. He calls them homing pigeons because of their excellent natural instinct, they are always able to find their way home back even far away from home hundreds of miles. One of them is his favorite pigeon which he depicts as “a young plump-bodied bird” and often plays with by calling “Pretty, pretty, pretty”. It is without doubt to say that his favorite pigeon is an embodiment of his granddaughter – Alice. From this image, the old man seems to say how beautiful his Alice is, how much he loves her, and how hopeful his daughter can be like the homing pigeons -  always knows the way home back to him, always be with him, and never leaves him alone.

. Seeing Alice near the gate brings him a chilly feeling because the gate seems a transition between home and the outside world, childhood and maturity. It will take Alice out of his home, out of his control, enter a new world and never return.

? Because Doris Lessing would like to tell that he is the symbol of the old generation, who always wants to keep their children in their way, isn’t it?

At the beginning of the story, we can see the old man loves pigeons so much. He puts them in the dovecote on a tall wire-netted shelf, this image seems he does not want to let his granddaughters go; the name “homing pigeons” he calls pigeons expresses his hope, he hopes pigeons always come back with him as their excellent natural instinct of finding the way home.

There is “a young plump-bodied bird”, an embodiment of Alice , which the old man often plays with by calling “Pretty, pretty, pretty.” He keeps and rests it lightly on his chest, tends to hold Alice in his arms and embraces with his love. But the pigeon seems to have not understood and realized his love yet, and replies to him with the “cold coral claws tighten around his finger”, so does Alice . That is why when the old man shouts at her “Think you’re old enough to go courting, hey?”, “Think you want to leave home, hey? Think you can go running around the fields at night?” she replies him with such a rule and mischievous answer: “Any objection?”, “Telling away!” Love, thing that the old man gives Alice , seems cannot be recognized at the moment of giving, but it needs time to be understood for receiving.

Lessing uses specific words to illustrate the scenery that helps develop the setting throughout the story. In the first page she starts by using “cold, coral claws” to show what the birds were like.The repeated c’s in the phrase helps increase the sense of coldness and you actually get chills after reading the expression. All through the story Lessing goes into detail to describe the habitat and environment that surrounded the house. Again in the first page she uses words like “dark red soil”, “great dusty clods”, and “rich green grass” so that the readers can imagine for themselves what it looked like. By adding more colorful or descriptive words it becomes more effective because now the reader can visualize it more clearly.

The image of the doves is a powerful one – soft and compliant one minute, yet cold and distant the next. Their soft, warm pillow-like plumage contrasts with the thin, chilling grip of their claws. The grand-father feels …..

“the cold coral claws tighten around his finger”