Different techniques can be used to tell the message of the story.

This could be
imagery, symbolism, personification, alliteration and more. Each author would want to
send a separate message through their story and the audience can interpret they way
they want. In the story "Flight", Doris Lessing wanted to send the message of letting
go.

She used symbolism communicate the message:

. The birds in the story represented Alice. The grandfather put his favourite bird in a
cage so that he take control over it. He was too scared to leave it out because he
doesn't want to bird to fly away and never go back to him, which leaves him alone. He
wanted to do the same thing to his granddaughter but he realizes that it's not possible.
Therefore, towards the end of the story, he releases the bird in to the sky, which
symbolizes that he is willing to let go of Alice.

. Furthermore, Lessing used italics to emphasize the message even more. "Now you
can go "This quote was said by the grandfather. This was also the moment when he
lets go of the bird and lets it fly away, which represents that he is willing to let go the
the bird and Alice. The fact that the word "now" is in italics makes the direct speech
more effective.

+Personification:

.Full of strutting, preening birds.

.The garden was all a fluster and flurry of returning birds.

+Imagery:

.The sunlight broke on their grey breasts into small rainbows

.In folds and hollows of sunlight and shade, the dark red soil, which was broken into
great dusty clods, stretched wide to a tall horizon.

.The cloud of shining silver birds flew up and up, with a shrill cleaving of wings, over
the dark ploughed land and the darker belts of trees and the bright folds of grass, until
they floated high in the sunlight, like a cloud of motes of dust.