In-Depth Study and Comparison: Sherman Alexie’s Flight Pattern and Breaking and Entering

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In-Depth Study and Comparison: Sherman Alexie’s “Flight Pattern” and “Breaking and Entering”
Sherman Alexie is very well known for his takes on Native Americans in modern American society. His books and stories most often are inside thoughts of situations that are occurring or have already occurred. Two of his shorter stories highlight two very different situations but in a sense connect with another. “Flight Plan” and “Breaking and Entering,” although confronting Native American characters, reveal to the reader the important information about American life in general. “Flight Plan” is a story that involves an encounter between a Native American business man and an Ethiopian taxi driver. This story takes place in a taxi cab, revealing personal information to allow the reader a generalization of how people of color are too judgmental, not just one group in particular. “Breaking and Entering” is a short story telling the recollection of events an American Indian editor faces before, during, and after a breaking and entering while he was home and the death he inflicted on a young Black male. Sherman Alexie uses his collection of stories to describe how Americans as a whole judge according to what race/ethnical background the judged is assumed to belong to and that those judgments are based on unreliable stereotypes. Sherman Alexie reveals to the reader in “Flight Patter” and “Breaking and Entering” that the American society tends to judge the individual according to the groups of inclusion that the individual is assumed to belong to.
“Flight Pattern” is a story about to people who are darker skinned. The main character is an American Indian named William from the Spokane tribe. The main plot behind this story comes from the conv...

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...forming the reader of what happened to the main character, George Wilson, after his act hit the news. All any person could see was either: A) He was using his constitutional right to defend his home and B) He was a white pasty man who took pleasure in killing blacks. The creativeness Sherman Alexie used to show how Americans are quick to assume he was white just because his skin was a couple shades lighter than expected is amazing. George was so consumed by the death of the kid he killed, he didn’t notice at first what people were saying. News teams were calling him white. The irony of this story is George was not white; he in fact is a registered member of a Native American tribe. This story shows a prime example that society in the United States are fast to judge and base assumptions strictly off of appearance; which is what Sherman Alexie was trying to pin out.

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