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This essay will be analyzing and discussing the story &quot;Flight&quot; by Dorris Lessing and &quot;Your Shoes&quot; By Michele Roberts. In answering the question I will talk about some of the similarities and differences between the two stories.

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Comparing and contrasting two short stories. This essay will be analyzing and discussing the story "Flight" by Dorris Lessing and "Your Shoes" By Michele Roberts. In answering the question I will talk about some of the similarities and differences between the two stories. "Flight" is about the relationship between the grandfather and his granddaughter, and the love and passion he has for her, how he finds it hard to let her go and accept her as a woman. "Your Shoes" is about a mother whose daughter has run away from home and she is talking as if her daughter was there, explaining how she feels and how hurt she is. Both of the stories are focused on the actions of a younger person and how what they do affect the older persons feelings and actions. In "Flight" we have the granddaughter introducing the idea of her boyfriend Steven to her grandfather. He is not happy with the idea and resents the fact she is so happy. He doesn't understand why she is so in love and thinks he knows more about love and life then her. ...read more.


She wanders what her daughter is doing and how she is managing to survive. "I suppose it's my fault you've left home to sleep rough God knows where. Go on, blame your mother, everyone else does. I'm a failure as a mother." She thinks its all her fault that her daughter has gone. Which shows she's not a confident person when it comes to her daughter. She is insecure, you can tell she feels quite lonely. "I'm lying curled up in the middle of the bed..." She lays curled up, just as a little baby would sleep, in the foetal position. Suggesting she feels insecure, almost quite unsafe, and a lot smaller then she is. She feels helpless and because she is scared for her daughter she reassures herself by speaking to herself and stating some quite obvious things. "... You have to live in a house with a front door and a letterbox if the postman is to deliver mail, and I don't suppose you do." Even though she knows her daughter isn't living in a house and hasn't got an address for contact she still tells herself this, which is often what people do wen they are nervous or scared and anxious. ...read more.


"One shoe pointed in fact towards the bedroom window, the view of the front garden, and the other pointed towards the door." This shows cleverly how the daughter also wanted to get away, her shoes directed towards the window which is often associated with 'escaping' and another to the door which is used as and entry or exit. In this case an exit. The shoes were in an un-orderly position so the mother straightened them out. "I made them neat again.... Just in case. I locked the wardrobe door on those rebellious shoes... But they've got to learn, haven't they. Kids these days. Well." This quote represents what the mother would like to do with her daughter, lock her up in a cupboard where she can't get away. She calls the shoes 'rebellious' which is also a word, which could describe her daughter. She explains how she made them neat again, like she sorted them out, as she would like to 'sort' her daughter out. Both the stories include similar ideas. Both with problems caused to older loved ones by younger family members. The main characters act in a similar way aswel. The End Farah Muman 10L English Miss Butt ...read more.

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