Summary Of Sherman Alexie's Flight

Throughout the first half of Sherman Alexie’s Flight, Alexie introduces us to how a young half-white, half-Indian boy perceives himself and the world around him. It is evident that Zits struggles with himself as a person. He does not feel confident in his heritage or in his actions. He constantly feels ashamed and the need to act out to attract attention. These cries for help support my theory that Zits, a lost unloved confused 15-year-old boy, does not have any sense of identity, or idea of who he is.
Initially, Zits sees the world in extreme categories. Such as white or Indian, asshole or not, rich or poor moreover, he correlates these characteristics to people’s identities. Zits, himself, does not consider himself to be anything because he has never been taught how. As Zits’ social worker put it, Zits has “never learned how to be a fully realized human being”. For instance, he does not consider himself a real Indian or a real white person because both his parents either abandoned him or passed away before they taught him how to properly be from his race. In other words, Zit believes that he should be either Indian or White and cannot comfortable identity as both and more often; he wishes he were White because he believes it to be better.
As Zits begins his journey, we see him beginning to identify the many vices of the world.
We witness Hank, come into fruition that his partner, Art, and the assistant Indians, Elk and Horse, actually only care about inflicting pain. What baffles Zits about this altercation is how people can do injustice to someone, such as beating them merciless and then still do them justice and ensuing that the victim is buried with dignity, this refers to how Zits thinks about how certain killing is different from other killing. This all affects Zits transforming identity because it sheds light on how Zits must come to terms with
himself.
When Zits becomes the young mute Indian boy, he witnesses a young Indian girl attempting to gouge out the eyes of a dead white soldier. The significance of Zits attempting to stop her indicates that Zits is becoming more compassionate and is identifying as both white and Indian. He realizes that the young girl wants revenge, but also knows that without his eyes, the young soldier will not be able to locate heaven. This is the first indication we have that Zits can indeed indentify as both white and Indian as he can weigh the injustices each side as committed.
As the storyline counties, we see Zits attempting to protect both Whites and Indians. We witness Zits experiencing the same fears, joys, and shame of multiple people which over all helps Zits de-categorize the world as he as grown accustomed to seeing it and guide him towards a new path which will ultimately lead Zits to an understanding of himself.