From Boy to Man in Flight, by John Steinbeck and The Bear by William Faulkner Flight, by John Steinbeck and The Bear by William Faulkner were both stories that took on the journey from childhood to adulthood. They were similar in many ways, one particularly interesting aspect was that in both stories, the journey to becoming a man was assisted by others, but ultimately fell on the lonely boy becoming a man alone. The two boys in the story have become men, but in two very different ways. In Flight Pepe is forced to transition into adulthood following the killing of a man. He has to face the consequences of his actions and becomes a man by dealing with his actions. In The Bear, Faulkner describes the journey to adulthood as a less traumatic experience. The boy in the story learns of the legend of the great Bear and becomes consumed by a boyish desire to become a "man" by killing the Bear. His journeys through the woods and his skill as a lumberjack are metaphors that Faulkner presents as an allegorical representation of a person's journey through life, experimenting and mastering different skills within the "journey". When the boy has finally become wise enough to face the Bear, he realizes that what the Bear represents is far more important than his killing the Bear could ever be. He realizes that anyone could attack the Bear and kill him, but by curbing the infantile impulse for glory and respect he discovers that he has preserved these virtues in himself and also in the Bear. Steinbeck and Faulkner both describe the defining point of manhood as the point at which a boy must decide between restraining the impulse to grasp the respect associated with manhood or grasping that respect at any cost. Pepe gained respect when his manhood was tested, he killed a man and had to admit he was wrong before he could become a man. The boy in The Bear, however, chose not to aspire to the respect and glory of manhood when he decided not to shoot the bear, and became a man as a result of that decision..