Flight By Sherman Alexie Reading Response

Flight by Sherman Alexie is a contemporary novel with magic realism about a teenage boy named Zits who is cast out by society. Zits is angry at the world for being so cruel to him because his father abandoned him at birth and his mother died when he was six. He goes on a shooting spree at a bank because he wants to get revenge on the world and gets shot himself. He then goes on this magical adventure where he is transferred to five different bodies in different places at different times that all have to do with tragedy. On this journey he feels empathy towards people and learns perspective on his problems.

            In the beginning of the book Zits comes off as very angry and won’t give anyone a chance. he shuts people out. On page thirteen the foster mother states, “ ‘Excuse me,’ the foster mother says to me. ‘I said good morning.’ I don’t say anything.” This quote shows how Zits wont give any foster family a chance by being very rude to them. On page seventeen Zits thinks, “I read once that if a kid has enough bad things happen to him before he turns five, he’s screwed for the rest of his life. So that’s me, a screwed half-breed who can’t do anything but spit and kick and bite and punch.” This quote shows how Zits doesn’t think he can turn his life around for the better because for the rest of his life he’ll be like this so he doesn’t give himself any hope and ruins all of his chances being in foster families.

            Zits then meets this kid in jail named Justice, and Justice says that if Zits is angry at the world he should get revenge and kill people. Zits then goes to a bank and goes on a killing spree and gets shot by a guard. Zits wakes up in a different body than his and finds out that he’s on this journey in which he switches bodies to learn how the people who are victims of tragedy or who could be feel. Zits wakes up in the body of an FBI agent in 1975 and him and his partner Art kill a young Indian man named Junior who knows something but he won’t tell the FBI agents. On page fifty it states, “I wish I knew what Art wanted to know. Maybe I could save Junior if I knew.” This quote shows that all of a sudden Zits has sympathy for a stranger because the stranger is about to die. I think Zits has sympathy for this guy who is about to die because it’s more personal in a one on one killing than a killing spree. On page 76 to 77 Zits questions himself, “Did I want revenge? Did I blame those strangers for my loneliness? Did they deserve to die because of my loneliness?” This shows that Zits had learned his lesson about how horrible killing is.

            In the end Zits is put right back at the entrance of the bank as if he hadn’t killed anybody yet, this time Zits walks away from the bank and hands his guns over to his police friend, officer Dave. Zit’s hands over the gun instead of giving it back to Justice because he doesn’t want anyone else getting hurt. Zits’ police friends brother and the brothers wife had always wanted a kid and Zits gets taken in as a foster child by them. His new foster parents were so nice that Zits had to give them a chance unlike in the beginning. On page 175 it states, “The firefighter looks at me. He’s not reading a newspaper. He’s not ignoring me. He looks right at me.” I think by his new foster father doing this Zits starts to respect him. I think that Zits’ zits are a symbol for how hard and tough he is and when his new foster mother comes in and gives him zit cream to get rid of something that gave him his name he breaks down. On page 180 it states, “That just gets me in the soul. Right there, I start to cry. Really. I just weep and wail.” Then he says his name is Michael and I think at that moment the book is introducing someone new who isn’t angry at the world anymore.

            In conclusion I think that the author is trying to say that anger and revenge is not the answer. He also is saying that it’s never too late to turn your life around for the better. And no matter what you shouldn’t blame your problems on the world.