Essay On Zits In Sherman Alexie's Flight

The main character Zits in the novel “Flight” by Sherman Alexie, struggles with where he belongs in the world. He is trapped in a system of greed and trapped within himself by confusion and anger. Zits, as he calls himself, begins to have several jumps into other characters, where he is a part of the body and mind of these characters at different times in history. Each character that Zits inhabits lead him through a journey of life lessons and to his expansion of perspective and ideology. The most significant jumps are into the bodies of the little Indian boy, Jimmy the pilot, and his father. These jumps force Zits to develop his present ideas about revenge, violence, and forgiveness. One of the first characters that Zits inhabits

He witnesses pure brutality and is disgusted by what he sees, saying “he feels sick in his stomach and brain…in his soul”(72). He reflects on the idea of revenge at this point and begins to attempt to justify it saying that it is war and is just self-defense. He is forced to think about it more in-depth though when his Indian father prompts him to slit the throat of a white boy to get revenge for his own. He reflects and realizes that taking revenge is not the optimal thing to do to replace his loneliness or hurt. At this point, Zits becomes a more sensitive and reflective

He is able to reflect on the ideas and values that he had prior to the jumps, as well as establish a new sense of morality and justice. He becomes a wiser person by expanding his mind and ideas on these subjects. Zits seemed to have been struggling with ideas about revenge, violence, and forgiveness throughout the novel. He was always being hurt by different people, and being that so, he always had a bittersweet outlook on life. The journeys he had and the information he gained from these jumps have made it easy for Zits to transition into