Month: February 2024

Chapter 18 tells us that fathers can have a huge impact in their child/children’s lives, helping them develop themselves and giving them a chance to learn. Zits’ father had the memory because he was at a stressful point in his life, he was going to become a father himself. He didn’t want to be the same type of father that his father was to him so instead he left Zits and his mother to not have a chance of abusing Zits the way he was abused. Sadly, Zits still has a lot of his father and the fathers of those fathers deep inside as he’s still a violent soul, he still drinks like them, still gets in trouble, and hangs out on the streets. Thankfully, Zits seems to be changing and pulling away from that cycle like his father tried to do before him.

I feel I’ve read several books that have been challenged or banned even as I’m an avid reader and my collection is extensive. I’ve even read books that were controversial in the past, like The Jungle by Upton Sinclair or Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. People may challenge books for many reasons: disagreement on the topic or the opinions and contents, overall disgust of specific authors or their works, or how certain topics or ideas are brought to the different age groups or generations of people.

Flight could be listed as controversial due to the excessive violence and obscenities, the hard topics like depression and suicide or the thought of having sex, and even just the fact of Zits as an individual due to individuals and their thoughts of racism. Zits could be quite the controversial person himself through his ideals, choices, and even just his identity. These topics with Zits can be heavily controversial depending solely on the individual reading the book and their mindset or thoughts of Zits from the outside.

TIQA Paragraphs about Zits’ identity, self-reflection, and behavior

Topic 1- Appearance & Identity

Teen Identity: Figuring out who you are

“Teens are starting to figure out who they are. They are thinking about how others see them and how they want to see themselves. Teens work out who they are by trying on new identities and experimenting with different appearances or new interests.” 

Teens are trying and struggling to find and accept their identity and who they are or will be soon. Zits relates to this by struggling to identify himself with the people around him especially not having his parents around to help him learn who he is, but instead has a bunch of different foster parents who never relate to him. The article also states things about teens “trying on” new identities such as new groups of people and behaviors or identifiers like hair color changes, or changes in clothing style.

Dangers of Teenage Stereotypes

“Clearly not all teenagers are the same. Some sleep in more than others, some love social media, some don’t. But rather than dismiss them as teenage things, we need to look beyond the behaviour. What’s going on in their lives? How can we be there for them?”

Teens are just trying to live their lives just like everyone else, meaning they shouldn’t be defined by one little thing like sleeping or their struggles with anger. Zits is a prime example because he constantly gets defined by his violent and rage-filled actions when he’s sad or stressed. He struggles to express himself healthily due to his past, its strong trauma, and the horrible memories that stick with him. Everyone has their moments and shouldn’t be judged for the negatives or the one thing that makes them different but instead, talk to them and help them out if needed.

Topic 2- Anger & Behavior

Destruction of Innocence-

If there is one topic in the book Flight that is most prevalent in chapters 9 through 12 it has to be the looming misery of the destruction of innocence. Several children in the book are exposed to things that destroy their innocence of youth.

“I’m only twelve or thirteen. This body is only twelve or thirteen. I am only a child. I stare at the white soldier in front of me. He’s probably eighteen. Or younger. He’s seventeen or sixteen or fifteen. He’s a child and I’m a child and I’m supposed to slash his throat,” (Alexie 78).

“There was the body of a little girl, blond, blue-eyed, pretty even in death. She was still wearing her little blue gingham dress. She was the only person still wearing her clothes. The Indians had shown her that much respect: They murdered her, but they didn’t strip her naked. They let her die as an innocent. Three arrows in her stomach. She was still clutching a rag doll,” (Alexie 86).

“A soldier dismounts and chases down a woman and her little daughter. He shoots the woman in the back. She falls. The daughter drops to her knees beside her mother. Daughter wails. The soldier shoots at the daughter. But his gun jams. He pulls the trigger again. Nothing. So he grabs the barrel of his rifle, still so hot that it burns his hands. But he doesn’t feel the pain, not yet, as he smashes the gun down on the girl’s skull. He hits her again and again. Keeps hitting her until his rifle breaks in half,” (Alexie 90-91).

These chunks of text from the book all perform a similar scene in which a child is ripped of their innocence and forced to see the reality of the world around them.

Personally, I feel that all the books I have been exposed to are safe for teens maybe not children, as I read Stephen King, and lots of other crime/murder-style, or supernatural books. While teens may enjoy these novels, adults could possibly get upset at their teens/children or other people’s teens/children, which are of no concern to them, for exposing themselves to such literature and sadness in such writings. No one wants their child to be reading such despair, even if the vocabulary is beautiful and you can see the scenes, hear the sounds, feel the feels, and smell the smells of each scene as it unfolds before you.

One connection between the article and Flight is the violence, brutality, and killing of Native Americans by federal agents. In the book, Art shoots and kills a Native American by the name of Junior. Similarly, the article states the deaths of 2 federal agents and a Native man in a shootout as well as other lives taken throughout the whole process.

The most important aspect of Zits’ character in the book Flight is his logic, he’s an avid thinker and has sharp knowledge and wits. Zits’ logic in the story thus far is a large part of the defining features of his character as he’s able to outsmart lots of people and thinks before he makes a decision even when under pressure. Even though he can be quite violent and is deep into the crime world, he is a fairly accurate depiction of a common teen in he’s testing the limits, experimenting with different things in life, and struggling with family life as I see that most teens do, including myself.