Constant Change, Instability And Violence In Sherman Alexie's Flight
Officer or Angel
A theme of Sherman Alexie’s Flight is constant change, instability, and violence. The protagonist, Zits, has been shuffled from foster home to foster home since his mother passed and father abandoned him. The homes and people that Zits has been forced into are all unfamiliar. The only place that gives Zits stability and comfort is, oddly, jail. With that, the only person constantly in his life is Officer Dave, a city police officer who has arrested Zits multiple times. Officer Dave’s is the juxtaposition to the capricious and magical events of Zits’ life.
Zits has very little in his life. Almost nothing in his life is consistent, “I’ve lived in twenty different foster homes and attended twenty-two different schools. I own only two pairs of pants and three shirts and four pairs of underwear and one baseball hat and three pairs of socks and three paperback novels and the photographs of my mother and father” (Alexie, 7). Being tossed from place to place, Zits cannot even recognize where he wakes up in the morning and does not care. He is used to the feeling of …show more content…
It, again, changed Zits time period, setting, and person, in order to show Zits his history and the different perspectives of violence. After the exhausting and enlightening experience, Zits goes to Officer Dave to confess and repent, “I respect you… I’m raising my hands up because I have two guns inside my coat” (Alexie, 163). The fact that Zits nonchalantly goes to Officer Dave after a life changing experience shows how comfortable Zits is with someone who is always present in his life. Officer Dave presents the realistic and practical extremity to the magical elements of the novel. He is the “normal”, complacent, civil role model that Zits needs. Officer Dave is the voice of reason in the mess that is Zits life. He is the rock that Zits clings to. Officer Dave provides the stability that Zits never had and Zits has recognized
A theme of Sherman Alexie’s Flight is constant change, instability, and violence. The protagonist, Zits, has been shuffled from foster home to foster home since his mother passed and father abandoned him. The homes and people that Zits has been forced into are all unfamiliar. The only place that gives Zits stability and comfort is, oddly, jail. With that, the only person constantly in his life is Officer Dave, a city police officer who has arrested Zits multiple times. Officer Dave’s is the juxtaposition to the capricious and magical events of Zits’ life.
Zits has very little in his life. Almost nothing in his life is consistent, “I’ve lived in twenty different foster homes and attended twenty-two different schools. I own only two pairs of pants and three shirts and four pairs of underwear and one baseball hat and three pairs of socks and three paperback novels and the photographs of my mother and father” (Alexie, 7). Being tossed from place to place, Zits cannot even recognize where he wakes up in the morning and does not care. He is used to the feeling of …show more content…
It, again, changed Zits time period, setting, and person, in order to show Zits his history and the different perspectives of violence. After the exhausting and enlightening experience, Zits goes to Officer Dave to confess and repent, “I respect you… I’m raising my hands up because I have two guns inside my coat” (Alexie, 163). The fact that Zits nonchalantly goes to Officer Dave after a life changing experience shows how comfortable Zits is with someone who is always present in his life. Officer Dave presents the realistic and practical extremity to the magical elements of the novel. He is the “normal”, complacent, civil role model that Zits needs. Officer Dave is the voice of reason in the mess that is Zits life. He is the rock that Zits clings to. Officer Dave provides the stability that Zits never had and Zits has recognized