Sherman Alexie

What I researched and why:
As I continue to read Flight by Sherman Alexie, I am completely enthralled by his writing style and the creative and twisted world he creates for the main character, Zits. He uses descriptive langauge which helps the reader create a vivid depiction of what is going on in the mind and environment of the main character. I cannot help but feel bad for Zits and feel that his whole life has been a cry for help. When he experiences the time travel, he is able to experience a different person, which works to his advantage since he seems to loathe himself and have nothing but self-pity for himself. Since I was so intrigued by this character, I wanted to do some research on Alexie and find out how much of this story was autobiographical or if it even was based on him at all. I couldn't help but wonder...what is the author's hope for the reader and what does he want young readers to think or feel as they read this highly entertaining book.

What I found:
While doing research on Alexie I came across an interesting interview between him and Dennis and Joan West, called "Sending Cinematic Smoke Signals: An Interview with Sherman Alexie." (This should take you to the website: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/alexie.html. If not, you can go to wikipedia.org and scroll all the way to the bottom, under interviews, it is the second link). Smoke Signals is a film that Alexie was the scriptwriter and co-producor for. He argues that American pop culture recognizes Native Americans in two categories, the warrior and the shaman. He destoys the stereotypes through different images, stories and songs.
In the interview, Alexie comments on the semi-autobiographical elements by stating, "It's more about my relationship with my father...he had to struggle with alcoholism, as I have. It's also about the struggle within myself...it's sort of schizophrenic multiple personality of myself that I develop within the movie." He talks about his "fascination with dreams and stories and flashing forward and flashing back and playing with conventions of time", which directly correlates to the time travel feature in Flight.

My interpretation:
When asked to comment on the absent father theme, I found Alexie's response to be fascinating. He explains that a father does not have to physically leave home to be absent in a child's life, that they could simply be sitting in the living room and still be absent. This theme resonates for Alexie because of his negative relationship with his father. He states, "My father did leave to drink, but he always came back. So for me it was a way of exploring that feeling of abondonment." This statement is quite powerful and insightful. I feel that when Alexie writes stories such as Flight, where personal, painful issues are raised, it almost acts as therapy for him and is a way for him to heal his wounds from the lack of his father figure. I think takes a brave and aware individual to create something like that and have hopes that someone who struggles with the same issue will read the book and feel less lonely and with more hope.

What this adds to our discussion:
I feel like this topic ties in with our discussion last week on Where the Wild Things Are in which we discussed how books "speak for children" and even side with them. The school of thought in the 1960's when Where the Wild Things Are was written, was that books should expand a child reader's imagination and more importantly, they should have a pyschological benefit. For example, they can help children deal with childhood traumas or fears. Specifically, if a child has an absent father or experiences the intense loniless and shame that Zits does, they can unleash these feelings while delving into the story of Flight. By relating to the character, they feel safe and know that they are not the only one who is struggling and they find comfort in the fact that someone else has felt the same sadness they have felt. Is this not the sole purpose for books? Especially books for child readers...they need to feel safe and comfortable and realize that books can help them deal with issues in their life where they may feel are lacking or out of control. It is readily apparant how the book Flight could potentially help child readers who may relate to the characters and have experienced struggles both individually and interpersonally.