Manhood In John Steinbeck's Leader Of The People

The concept of manhood and the journey that comes along with it is a frequent topic in John Steinbeck’s “Flight” and “Leader of the People”. Each story features a male figure, Pepe and Grandfather, who has, at some point in their life, been put in a situation where they are expected to go on an excursion that will make them a man. This journey becomes a test to see if they are adequately prepared to deal with the things that come with manhood. The characters share similar experiences along their journeys, but ultimately it comes down to the preparation they’ve had earlier in life and the characters are shown whether or not they were ready to become a man during this journey. “Flight” focusses on the Torres family which consists of Mama, Pepe, …show more content…
Grandfather comes for a visit to see his family. The visit is abrupt and unexpected as the letter that is supposed to announce Grandfather’s arrival comes late. Grandfather tells repeated war stories about his time leading his people to fight the Indians, and the different scenarios they found themselves in during war. The Grandfather’s son, Carl, seems to resent him throughout the story, because Carl chose a different, more traditional path in life. Jody, Carl’s son, spends most of the story looking forward to Grandfather’s stories, no matter how many time he’s already told them. Jody wants to be like his Grandfather, but is finally faced with the reality that this will not be possible. When Jody brings up the idea of leading his own people in a new war, the Grandfather is quick to shut the idea down. “The old man smiled. ‘there's no place to go. There's the ocean to stop you. there's a line of old men along the shore hating the ocean because it stopped them,’” (Steinbeck, 14). The generation that Grandfather grew up in is one that dealt frequently with wars, and now that Jody is in a different generation, there will inevitably be something else that will come along that will test his masculinity, and help him enter manhood. Grandfather now seems to be left with a sense of purposelessness as he has nothing else to do with his life, and this war has defined him and his …show more content…
Grandfather, although the reader is not told specifically, presumably has been given actual training before going off to war. The circumstances that led Pepe and Grandfather to the journey they went on were different, as was the outcome. Grandfather takes the more traditionally masculine path in his life by deciding to go to war. This is a glamorized event, and Jody looks up to him Grandfather as inspiration. Mrs. Tiflin explains this as grandfather’s destiny, making it seem as if there was nothing else that grandfather could have done in his life that would be fulfilling. “She continued, ‘It’s as though he was born to do that, and after he finished it, there wasn’t anything more for him to do but think about it and talk about it,” (Steinbeck, 3). This journey is such a significant event in a man’s life, that after it is over, if it comes to fruition, the man is left with this empty feeling where they are only able to relive it through their memories, when they were in their prime. Grandfather is significantly different than Pepe is in the description of him as well. “His white beard was cropped close and his white eyebrows overhung his eyes like moustaches. The blue eyes were sternly merry. About the whole face and figure there was a granite dignity, so that every motioned seemed an impossible thing,” (Steinbeck, 6). Grandfather gives off this image to