essay

Flight Essay

        The theme of the novel “Flight” by Sherman Alexie is that learning from others experiences and mistakes in the past can change ones future. Michael but he calls himself Zits, has no parents and no home; he goes to many foster families but it doesn’t work out for him so he runs away. His father left him when he was a boy and his mother died from breast cancer when he was young.  Zits is a troubled teen who doesn't care what he does and so he goes to a bank with guns and plans to shoot everyone down to get revenge for his mother's death. Zits time travels back in time and “transforms” into other people in the past which he learns from their experiences. As he goes through series of events, he learns how to respect others, make the right choices and accept who he is.

         One of his transformation he becomes an Indian boy just before Clusters attack begins back in 1860s.The boy is loved very much by his father but for Zits this is his first time felt loved by a father or anyone else for a long time. When Cluster attacked them, all the men went out and fight to defend the children and the elders. After the battle was done, his father wanted his son to get revenge by cutting the head off of a soldier. Zits realized that he didn’t want to get revenged but wanted to be loved by another person especially a dad. He tried to resist but he couldn't control the boy's body.

     Zits transforms to an old man named Gus who was an Indian tracker and part of the army. He leads the cavalry to an Indian camp to get revenge of what they have done to his village. While the army was wiping out the Indians, Zits sees a soldier helping a little boy escape the massacre but instead killing both of them, he helped them escape. Zit realizes that getting revenge on innocents doesn’t gets him anywhere but causes unnecessary damage to the people who haven’t done anything and also doesn’t feel good for himself either. So he helps out the young soldier and the Indian boy escape and sacrifices himself to save them.

      Lastly, Zits transforms to a homeless person which ends up to be his father. He gets beaten up and is treated disrespectfully by other people on the street. He recollects Zits birth. Zits finds out how his father was scared that he would turn out a worse father than his own. He runs out of Zits life only minutes after his birth. Zit realizes even though he feels like no one loves him, there will always be someone out there care for him even if they aren't able to be there for him.

      With all the events Zits went through and what he learned from the experiences, Zits has changed his path to a brighter future. He learns that he doesn't want revenge but wants to be loved by someone he trusts. He also learns that helping out others rather than getting revenge makes him feel better about himself. Zit realizes that there will ways be someone out there to love and care for him even though they aren't physically there for him. He figured out who he is as a person and making the right choices to have a happier life.