Flight By Sherman Alexie Analysis

I wonder: if I didn't turn in my assignment on time does that make me a bad student? No it does not. A single action about one homework assignment does not define me as a bad student. In the novel Flight, by Sherman Alexie, he uses the characters Zits, Jimmy, and Zits’ father to convey the message that actions do not define people.
Alexie uses Zits to convey the message that actions don't define people. When Zits is put in jail for pushing his foster mom and later shoots up a bank, Alexie is not making us conclude that Zits is a bad person. These actions do not define Zits. “They keep laughing as they drive me to the kids jail in Seattle's Central District” (19). As Zits states in the book, he's gone to jail too many time to count and experienced who knows what, he still comes out. Going to jail over and over again does not make Zits: he isn't a thug who belongs in jail, he's a good kid seeking attention and affection, just in bad ways. It is clear that the only reason he messes up is because he seeks affection and attention which he hasn't been given since his mom died.
Another example of how the theme actions don't define people applies to Zits is when he …show more content…
After being “Whipped and bloodied by his memory he stops pacing in the hospital hallway… [He] cannot be a participant. He cannot be a witness. He cannot be a father.” (156). It states in the quote that he thinks he can't be a father. He was emotionally and psychologically abused by his father which turned him turned him to drinking and what eventually made him think he was not fit to be a father. He ditched his wife and child because he thought he would be a bad dad and hurt them like his father hurt him. Yes he could have tried to be a father instead of running away but, him running doesn't make him a horrible person just a horrible