Literary Analysis Essay on Flight by Sherman Alexie

Introduction

"Flight" by Sherman Alexie is a novel written in first-person from the viewpoint of Native American fifteen-year-old, Zits, who is a time-traveling mass murderer. Zits is a foster child who spends most of his life bounced from one abusive family to another and foster homes. Justice, his friend, introduces him to the idea of committing violence randomly. The story brings out the feeling of vulnerability due to ethnicity and the plights of a misunderstood teenager.

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Role of Violence

As a kid, Zits experienced emotional violence as a result of his father's betrayal and physical violence of sexual molestation as he was moved from one abusive family to another. Zits, therefore, develops an affinity for fighting and violence, and he does not know how to control his anger, and he learns to close off his emotions. He responds to every challenging situation aggressively, and his attitude leads to a cycle of violence that Zits doesn't know how to control, "I get into arguments and fistfights with everybody. I get so angry that I go blind and deaf and mute" (Lee 8). Violence is first manifested in the bloodbath he committed in the bank. From viewing these atrocities from a detached perspective, Zits actually sees the ugliness of violence. When he transforms to agent Hank Storm, he vomits and even passes out after witnessing Junior being shot by his partner. He learns of how ugly violence is through Hank's personality and it insights the need for him to change.

Role of Identity

Zits was biracial, and he did not identify with both his Irish and Native American heritage. He did not feel a sense of belonging as he came from two marginalized ethnic communities. Zit's lack of identity was also due to being raised by too many different families; he has been in twenty foster homes and attended twenty-two schools. After escaping from his twenty-first foster him, he was arrested by Officer Dave and ended up in a cell with three other boys, all from different racial backgrounds whom he considered the "United Nations" of the juvenile department. Eventually. Zits is left with Junior, a white boy, with whom he becomes friends with.

Despite having an Indian origin, Zits realized that the only Indians he knew were the ones on the street from downtown Seattle. He would love to socialize and relate with the rich Indians, they did not pay attention to him, only the poor ones did, and he sometimes fled his foster homes to drink and beg for money on the streets with them. Zit's father never officially claimed him, so he is mostly placed with whites, although the Indian Child Welfare Act states he be placed with Native Americans. He at one time beat his foster father Edgar in an airplane race game, causing his father to destroy both planes and Edgar was no longer fond of the boy. Through this incident, he learns that being Indian does not give one privilege in life.

When Zits time travels and wakes up as agent Hank, he has acquired all the nice physical attributes. He is now clearly white, has blond hair and blue eyes, features often considered as attractive. He also has a larger penis. As a federal agent, he also has significant power, and Zits assumes that since he now possesses good attributes, he should "save the world." He, however, realizes that Hank is not a white knight, rather he is a vicious soldier. In spite of having a powerful position, a beautiful wife, and being white, Zits realizes that class does not automatically translate into being good-hearted. He is instead disgusted by the behavior that comes with his positive attributes; seeing life from this detached point makes him aware of the extent of the vice he committed at the downtown bank as Zits.

The Symbolism of the Gun

In his first transformation, Zits wakes up in a motel room as federal agent Hank Storm, with a man in the other bed brandishing a gun. The man hands him a .357 magnum; he, later on, learns that the man is his partner, Art. They head out as Art told him they were going for work, and zits assumed they were going to save the world. Outside they meet agents Elk and Horse who had a man, Junior, in the trunk of their car whom Elk reported to Art as not cooperative hence Art shot him in the head. The guns have been used as an allusion to the Ghost Dance and Zits' past crimes. Zits realizes his atrocities from a different perspective and also that his better physical attributes did not make him a better person as agent Hank was just an evil soldier. (Lee 43)

Use of Imagery

Zits describes himself as 'a blank sky, a human solar eclipse.' Zits is an orphan of a Native American father and an Irish mother living with a foster family in Seattle (Lee 5). The conflict between Native Americans and White Europeans makes Zit feel like an outsider. His unusual pairing of backgrounds, however, makes him feel like an outsider even outside his sidelined cultures. Zit, therefore, feels vulnerable due to ethnic profiling and that he belongs to no one just as nobody belongs to him.

After escaping from home, Zits is convinced by Justice to perform a modern duplication of the 'Ghost Dance,' a dance that will invoke the spirits of many dead Indians. However, Justice has a controversial mindset, and his idea involves shooting innocent people at a bank in Seattle with the hope that divine intervention will wipe out all the white people of the United States. After several nights of shooting practice, Zits now believes that he has acquired new power, and he wants to 'start a fire.' With a .38 pistol and a paintball gun, Zits enters a bank in downtown Seattle and starts shooting while dancing through the lobby as he killed people. This bloodbath is stopped when a man shouts at him 'You are not real,' Zits begins to wonder if they were all ghosts and is shot by a bank guard. (Lee 32)

Central Theme

The central theme in the novel is changing identity. Zits initially feels like he has a contorted identity since he is moved around negligent family members and foster homes. He describes himself as a blank sky, a human solar eclipse since he lacks a sense of belonging. The first transformation is Hank, who is a federal agent during the Indigenous Rights Now movement is an insider. The Indian Boy lives at the Little Big Horn camp and has a father who loves him; it is the first time he has a community and anyone showing him affection. Gus, the Indian tracker who leads the US army against the Native Americans, has talent and power, and Jimmy, who is a pilot and flight instructor, feels mostly betrayal. Jimmy is out of control of his emotions and eventually commits suicide. In the end, Zits realizes that one's identity is not defined by race or wealth rather by his behavior.

Tone of Narration

Zits uses first-person narration with a humorous tone to describe how he copes as a teenager with misplaced identity. Since he neither identifies with his Native American nor his Irish heritage, Zits explains his complications while often concealing his anger and criticism behind jokes and jibes. Despite being funny, his tone is also antagonistic, a contradiction that is usually depicted by most teenagers hence explaining the violence later on in the story. The humorous tone he uses is a defense mechanism against the emotional and physical threats brought about by his marginal status and lack of identity. Zits even refuses to give his real name since he considers it unimportant.

Although Zits has trouble with handling his ethnicity and tribal issues, he does not know how to present them and how to address his anger issues. Eventually, he is arrested by Officer Dave. After a touching story from the officer, he is moved and even promised to be adopted by Officer Dave's brother, Robert, and his wife, Mary. Zits is afraid of being betrayed by Mary as he was by his father but decides to believe her anyway. He no longer feels lonely and begins to warm up to Mary. He trusts her, and for the first time, he tells her his real name, Michael. Throughout the story, Sherman uses transformation to show how viewing life from a detached point makes Zits know the ugliness of violence and eventually is ready to change.

Work Cited

Lee, Tiffany S. "Flight." Tribal College 19.2 (2007): 53.