Flight: A Novel

Flight

• Genre: Fiction; contemporary Native American literature
• Originally Published: 2007
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 550L; Grades 9 and up
• Structure/Length: 20 chapters; approximately 181 pages; approximately 4 hours, 41 minutes on audiobook
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The novel follows Zits, a troubled and mixed-race teenage boy who has experienced a life filled with abandonment and abuse. After a violent incident, he finds himself transported through time, inhabiting the bodies of various individuals at critical points in history, including Native Americans and those involved in acts of violence. The central conflict revolves around Zits’s exploration of identity, the impact of historical trauma on contemporary life, and his quest for self-understanding and redemption.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; mature themes; racial and historical trauma; intense and violent language. While Native people self-identify in a variety of ways, non-Native students should use the terms Native or Indigenous. Additionally, it is worth noting that Sherman Alexie was accused of sexual harassment in 2018 and later issued an apology, which is described in this article from NPR. Teachers may consider addressing this with students prior to reading his work and possibly facilitate a discussion about the tensions that sometimes exist between an artist, their work, and their actions and behaviors.

Sherman Alexie, Author

• Bio: Born 1966; Spokane-Coeur d'Alene author, poet, and filmmaker; known for exploring the Native American experience and addressing issues of identity, culture, and discrimination in his writing; writes novels, short stories, poetry, screenplays, and essays; advocates for Native American rights and education
• Other Works: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993); Reservation Blues (1995); Ten Little Indians (2003); The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007); Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories (2012); You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (2017)
• Awards: National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (2007); PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (2010)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Violence, Revenge, and Justice
• Family: The Desire for Love and Stability
• Ancestry and Identity

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Develop a working understanding of the history of white settler colonialism and policies regarding Native Americans and Sherman Alexie’s intentions for Flight.
• Study paired texts and other resources to make connections to the text’s three themes of Violence, Revenge, and Justice; Family: The Desire for Love and Stability; and Ancestry and Identity.
• Create a character analysis booklet to better understand the ways the inhabited characters and their experiences impact the protagonist’s personal growth.
• Analyze and evaluate theme, character development, plot structure, and point of view to draw conclusions in structured essays regarding relationships, memory, collective and personal histories, and free will.