Resurfacing in Sherman Alexie's Flight Megan L. Gianforte College

2007 American literature novel, Flight, is the story of a foster kid with zero hope, however Sherman Alexie’s (Spokane/Coeur d’Alene) unique approach makes it anything but an ordinary bildungsroman. Unlike in a conventional coming of age novel where readers witness the protagonist gaining maturity with difficulty, time traveling forces readers to question their own prejudices and fundamentals to realize what is important. First person protagonist narrator Zits was birthed as a half-breed Native American, yet believes he has no race, no home, no family, which he considers are the main components of someone’s identity. Zits is sent time traveling to learn of Indian settlements in contemporary America, historically reliable thanks to Alexie’s understanding of life on a reservation due to being raised on one (Spokane/ Coeur d’Alene). Zits fails to realize in the moment that his travel education will shape him into a new person, or for a matter of fact, the person who he was inside all along. Zits transforms not only externally by getting rid of his acne that gave him his name, but he also emerges from the time travels independent of who he was on page one. His time-treks bring Zits into contact with violence from people of...