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Pepé
Mama Torres has been in charge of the Torres farm ever since her husband was killed by a rattlesnake. She continues to raise her three children—Pepé and his younger siblings, Emilio and Rosy—on her own. Mama Torres has a stern, snarky, and no-nonsense personality, shaped by the struggles and losses of many long and difficult years. But while she has a harsh and cold exterior, she harbors genuine love and pride for her children, especially Pepé, even as she scolds him for his laziness and is skeptical of his maturity at the beginning of the story. Her love for Pepé is heartbreakingly evident when she sends him into the mountains quickly and without showing much emotion but then breaks down into tears shortly after he leaves, mourning her son and calling him the family’s “protector.” The intensity of her feelings combined with her reluctance to show her true emotions to her son gives depth and humanity to Mama Torres’s character, illustrating that she’s a person who forces herself to be tough and stoic when the situation demands it. Her stern way of showing love and her mourning highlight the unnecessary tragedy of the story. She fears Pepé meeting the same fate as her husband, and this makes her reluctant to show affection directly or become too attached. And, just as she expected, her son’s sudden rise to manhood is what ultimately takes him away from her forever. Mama Torres’s grief demonstrates that men aren’t the only people who are hurt by the traditional masculine obsession with violence and heroism.
Mama Torres Quotes in Flight
The Flight quotes below are all either spoken by Mama Torres or refer to Mama Torres. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Flight
Quotes
And there was Pepé, the tall smiling son of nineteen, a gentle, affectionate boy, but very lazy. Pepé had a tall head, pointed at the top, and from its peak, coarse black hair grew down like a thatch all around. Over his smiling little eyes Mama cut a straight bang so he could see. Pepé had sharp Indian cheek bones and an eagle nose, but his mouth was as sweet and shapely as a girl’s mouth, and his chin was fragile and chiseled. He was loose and gangling, all legs and feet and wrists, and he was very lazy. Mama thought him fine and brave, but she never told him so.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Emilio said, “Some day I too will ride to Monterey for medicine. Did Pepé come to be a man today?”
Mama said wisely, “A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed. Remember this thing. I have known boys forty years old because there was no need for a man.”
When the grey shape of Pepé melted into the hillside and disappeared, Mama relaxed. She began the high, whining keen of the death wail. “Our beautiful —our brave,” she cried. “Our protector, our son is gone.” Emilio and Rosy moaned beside her. “Our beautiful—our brave, he is gone.”
Get the entire Flight LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mama Torres Quotes in Flight
The Flight quotes below are all either spoken by Mama Torres or refer to Mama Torres. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Flight
Quotes
And there was Pepé, the tall smiling son of nineteen, a gentle, affectionate boy, but very lazy. Pepé had a tall head, pointed at the top, and from its peak, coarse black hair grew down like a thatch all around. Over his smiling little eyes Mama cut a straight bang so he could see. Pepé had sharp Indian cheek bones and an eagle nose, but his mouth was as sweet and shapely as a girl’s mouth, and his chin was fragile and chiseled. He was loose and gangling, all legs and feet and wrists, and he was very lazy. Mama thought him fine and brave, but she never told him so.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Emilio said, “Some day I too will ride to Monterey for medicine. Did Pepé come to be a man today?”
Mama said wisely, “A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed. Remember this thing. I have known boys forty years old because there was no need for a man.”
When the grey shape of Pepé melted into the hillside and disappeared, Mama relaxed. She began the high, whining keen of the death wail. “Our beautiful —our brave,” she cried. “Our protector, our son is gone.” Emilio and Rosy moaned beside her. “Our beautiful—our brave, he is gone.”
