Sherman Alexie's Flight Patterns

With his use of imagery Bierce displayed that, in his mind, Farquhar, while being hanged, still had all of his thoughts and he believed that he was escaping the army, bringing suspense to the story. Farquhar thought that the rope had snapped and that he had fallen into the water, he imagined himself escaping the military by swimming away. After he got to shore, Farquhar began to run, he ran as far as he could until he made it back home. While running all he thought about was

People like the idea of believing in religion and a higher power because it gives people something to believe in when nothing seems to make logical sense. This is exactly the case for John in A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. As stated at the very beginning of the book, Owen is the reason John believes in God, and it’s because it helps John make sense of everything that happens that doesn’t seem possible. The things Owen does and the things he knows prior to them happening are only possible if there is some higher power guiding Owen’s life. Thus, when Owen knows when his life is going to end and what he needs to do leading up to it, John can’t help but believe Owen has some sort of connection with God. Since Owen has a certain knowledge of the future, many of his actions foreshadow his inevitable death. Therefore, a major theme all throughout the novel which adds immensely to one’s understanding of the story is the idea of foreshadowing.

“To be human is to be beautifully flawed.”(Eric Wilson). All humans are flawed. That is what makes them human. Flaws sometimes are hurtful, but they make the character interesting. In most stories, all developing characters have flaws. Many problems are caused by a character’s personal flaw. They can also be what draws the reader in, and it can be what connects the reader to the character. A certain fatal flaw is the inability to let go. In the stories, “Helen on Eighty-Sixth Street”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “The Scarlet Ibis” all of the characters are related because of their inability to let go.

Zora Neale Hurston’s book, “The Gilded Six-Bits” is an important piece of literature due to its impact on the world during the Harlem Renaissance era. It is considered a brilliant piece of modernist literature due to Hurston staying true to her background and roots as a black woman from the south, in which segregation was still a huge issue. The reason why it is considered a piece of modernist literature is because she wasn’t afraid to write in the black vernacular which was considered uneducated as blacks were progressing in arts, literature, and the music was alive. The story is filled with many different themes and issues that people can relate to such as money, deceit, and for people who have a big heart forgiveness and reconciliation.

Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic. Dramatic irony is usually an over the top, tragic form of irony. Both Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” are great examples of an ironic situation. Every expresses the common theme in their own way. Although both of these literally pieces provide us with the theme of irony, Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" gives the reader a sense of suspense with the irony that proves to be more effective.

In the novel Flight by Sherman Alexie, the character Justice is imaginary in the mind of the protagonist, Zits, to validate his subconscious acts. If justice was a real person in the story, he would have been there in each scene with Zits, and with that; he would have also experienced the same consequences for his actions that Zits endured. The fact that Justice was not with Zits for a vast amount of time throughout the novel, and he also did not live through the consequences for his actions proves that he was just an imaginary figure in the mind of Zits.

“Hatchet” does a better job of telling the story, than “A cry in the wilds” . I believe this because it show’s more imagery and a better understanding of foreshadowing, rather than just showing us a picture. For example, imagery in the book, Brian described the kiss of his mother and the secret kissing. According to the text, the book showed imagery by saying , “he widened the hole with his finger and looked inside. Just an egg. It had a dark yellow yolk and not so much to bite as he thought there would be. Just an egg. Food. Just an egg he had to eat. Raw. For another example, the book also foreshadowed, “and he kicked out as hard as he could, and threw the hatchet at the sound, a noise coming from his throat. But the hatchet missed, sailed

Bloody, vicious, and gut wrenching deaths occur frequently across the world. Human often contribute to the demise of various living things in order to ensure their own survival. People capture and execute animals for nourishment and protection. In the short story “The Rattler,” a man must decide whether or not to spare the life of a rattlesnake that he encounters during a walk in the desert. He chooses to slaughter the snake, resulting in the snake’s gory death. The author convinces the audience to sympathize with the snake and empathize with the narrator through the characterization of the snake, the descriptions of the tranquil environment, and the perspective of the man.

The theme of this book is learning to love and care for the people around. How I came to this conclusion is by how Liesel acts towards Max, her foster parents, Rudy, and her neighbors. Liesel cares for people even if they weren't like her and she doesn't understand why there is hatred in this world. She wanted the world to be a happy place for everyone including Jews to be friends with one another. On page 426 in ‘The Book Thief’, when Rudy’s father went to war Liesel could relate to Rudy because “her mother. Her brother. Max Vandenburg. Hans Hubermann. All of them gone. And she’d never even had a real father.” Also, when Mama was depressed about Papa going to war, Mama would sleep with Papa’s accordion Liesel acknowledged “that there was great beauty in what she was currently witnessing, and she chose not to disturb it” (Zusak, 429). Finally, when Liesel’s papa gave a Jew bread during the parade and what Liesel did during the parade, she gave Jews bread by placing them in the street.

When a federal spy disguised as a confederate soldier tricks Farquhar into risking his life to become the hero he had always dreamed of, Farquhar is put in his unfortunate situation. Farquhar inability to recognize the difference between a federal spy and a confederate soldier leads him to the decision that results in his untimely death. The story itself gives the readers a false sense of hope that Farquhar might actually escape his own death. Palmisano illustrates the author's deception when he writes"Bierce does not overtly inform the reader that Farquhar's escape is a hallucination but expects that the careful reader will realize the impossibility of events described in the final section of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Bierce expresses his disdain for the deceptive tactics used during the civil war by causing the reader to feel remorse for Farquhar's death. Without the use of irony, the story wouldn't be as suspenseful and there would be no build up to the

While reading the 5 fiction short stories there became a common pattern between 3 stories and the characters in them. These stories are “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence, “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Every character has the mindset to possibly fulfill their goals to better and/or change their lives.

He(the character) had internal conflict and external because he had found out something tragic that he will not forgive his father for what he had done in the past. The was some foreshadowing in the beginning so then they started to explain what have happen to that man hat have died. That would have gave the read some emotion to the story or thinking of the story of what they will be talking about or giving more info to answer the questions that the read had. “I wanted movement and not a clam course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the change to sacrifice myself for myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our life.”-Leo Tolstoy “rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, an obsequious, but sincerity and truth were;and i went away hungry from the inhospitable board. The hospitality was as cold as ices.”- Henry David Thoreau “For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and prefer mercy.”-G.K. Chesterton “but we little know until tried how much of the uncontrollable there is us, using across glacier and torrents, and up dangerous height, let the judgment forbid as it may.”-John Muir.

In the novel Flight, author Sherman Alexie “tries to validate and question ‘the individual’s desire to bridge cultural and personal difference’” (Ibarrola-Armendariz and Vivanco 7). Flight is centered around the main character, Zits, as he transforms into different bodies while simultaneously transforming his identity. He gets insight into the minds of different cultural, historical, and social backgrounds, which helps Zits change from cold and violent to understanding and sympathetic. To illustrate this change more in depth, Alexie uses various literary elements to achieve a theme of identity. Also included in the novel are violence, multiple character perspectives, and development of self. Through these things, Zits is able to learn valuable

Will struggles with one important aspect, and that is within himself. As the reader, you see Will is capable of achieving greatness and accomplishing wonderful things for himself. According to Mrs. Smythe, “I was going to tell you how much I liked your essay. You must have done a lot of work on it.” (445) However with the environment Will lives in, and the influences that surround him; drugs, alcohol, and his home life. It affects Will for achieving high grades, being the best that he can be, and propensity can harm his