Flight Patterns Sherman Alexie

In the short story "Flight Patterns" by Sherman Alexie, William is the main character of the story. William is a wealthy Native American business man. The story is taking place a year after the World Trade Centers fell under attack. William scans the airports and airlines for little brown guys who reek of fundamentalism. William is no different than the White Americans who give him dirty looks at the airports or the security guards that search him 75 percent of the time. William always feels uncomfortable, so he enjoys other peoples discomfort. Sherman explains, " I am Native American and therefore have ten thousand reasons to terrorize the U.S. than any of those Taliban jerk-offs, but I have chosen instead to become a civic American citizen, so all of you white folks should be celebrating my kindness and moral decency and

In "Flight Patterns", William is judgmental of the people that surround him everywhere he goes. For example, the people in the airport to his taxi cab driver that drove him to the airport. In "Marks", the mother is constantly receiving judgment from all of her family. For example, "My son says I am average," (Pastan line 5) Both the short story by Sherman Alexie and the poem by Linda Pastan are narrative pieces of work. In the story, Sherman describes Williams life and how he places judment on people. He describes his story in great detail adding to the imagery of the people in his story. For example, "The driver , a short and thin black man, stepped out of the cab and waved." (Alexie 58) In the poem, Linda narrates the story of a mother who is constant judgment by her family on her day to day life at home. The imagery of grades are place upon her housewife chores. Both stories seem to have a melancholy tone but, end with a twist. William realizes he should look past the superficial appearences and discover the inner person in everybody. The mother in "Marks" is dropping out at the end of the