My Insight on “Flight” by Sherman Alexie

Flight by Sherman Alexie was an empowering novel about a boy, named Zit, who in my opinion never experienced true love. He learned how to shut down and not feel any type of emotion. He learned that if you don’t love anybody then they wouldn’t be able to hurt you, if you don’t give your trust to people they wouldn’t be able to deceive you. Zit is fifteen and for the past nine years he has from careless family member house to thoughtless foster homes. His mother who was Irish American died when he was only six years old from cancer and Zits father who was Native American, left when he was born. At the beginning of the novel he describes himself as “a blank sky, a human solar eclipse,” he felt he didn’t belong to anyone and nobody belonged to him. He had stayed with his aunt and her abusive boyfriend after his mom passed away but ran away from there and got involved in risky behavior such as drinking heavily, smoking, stealing cars, and often finding himself in a juvenile detention centers.

While living with his twentieth foster home Zit is arrested for shoving his foster mother. While in jail he meets a white kid named Justice. Justice is seventeen and very smart for his age. Since this is Zits first friend, he forms a very trusting bond with him. Justice is very influential and Zit and he discusses different topics and start to hangout. Justice gives Zit a paintball gun and a real gun, and persuades Zit to shoot a bank up. After he starts shooting in the lobby of the bank, Zit think he has been shot, which make him go back in time. As he time travel Zit alters into varies historical characters. As he time travels Zit learns a valuable lesson from each event.

One of the Journals that really made me think was the one where we had to write about the theme of the novel. I think the theme of the book is adolescence, violence, and morality. In the book Zit is a troubled teen constantly getting into trouble. Zit progresses through changes throughout the book. By the end of the book he is ready to accept who he really is, he is no longer that misfit boy named Zit. He is now Michael and he finally has a real family. “But I’m beginning to think I’ve been given a chance. I’m beginning to think I might get unlonely. I’m beginning to think I might have a real family…Michael. My real name is Michael. Please call me Michael.” (Pages 180-181) Zit starts off at the begging of the book as an angry and violent child. He is violent because he has always been bounced from home to home and he takes his anger out on anyone he can. “I get into arguments and fistfights with everybody. I get so angry that I go blind and deaf and mute.”(Pages 8). He begun expericing events to which he had no control over.

The violence he witness in these events shows him that they have severe consequences and that they not only affect him but also the people around him. He now knows that he has to change his violent ways. Zit learns how important the choices he make are and how they affect him and others around him. His brief experiences through different men in history allow him to experience the effects of violence, hate, and anger. “I like to start fire. And I’m ashamed that I’m a fire starter. I’m ashamed of everything, and I’m ashamed of being ashamed” (page 8). This shame revealed that Zit changed from his lifestyle of destruction, mischief, and hatred is possible. Through these experiences, he learns empathy as he gains the perspectives of others. After returning from his “flights” he stands in a bank with the choice to pull out his gun and begin firing or walk away from the consequences and guilt he would forever face. While processing his unexpected and bizarre adventures, he decisively ponders, “I used to hate the rain. But now I want it to pour. I want it to storm. I want to be clean” (159). He begins to make changes in his life that dramatically change his morality for the good.