Saari 1 Sydney Saari Newman English 101: Rhetoric 05 November 2013

Right Time, Right Place

Saari Lit Analysis.mp3

The type of environment that a person grows and lives in can be a major influence in their lives. It can shape what decisions a person makes, as well as the way that a person behaves or acts. In Sherman Alexies short story, Flight Patterns, the main character William is heading to the airport in a taxi, and as he is heading to his destination, he converses with his driver about their different heritages and lives that they live. Throughout the story, Alexie uses the time and place that the characters are in to compare and shape the characters background and lives for the reader. Time is a very important tool that an author uses in the exposition and setting of his story. It gives the reader a sense of what they can expect to happen if it is set in the past, and a sense of mystery if set in either a parallel universe or somewhere in the future. In Flight Patterns, Alexie choice of time for his story is very important. He sets his story in Seattle, after the events of 9/11, a terrorist attack that happened in America. The aftereffects of this event led people to judge and stereotype one another in the cruelest of ways. Alexie's main character, William, notices the judgment he receives from other people, telling his taxi driver, We're all trapped by other people's ideas, aren't we (Alexie 57). William faces people's judgment everyday with people's confusion with his ethnic background, and knows that people shape their judgments on a

Saari 2 person's appearance, which the event of 9/11 strengthened. Even William's cab driver, Fekadu, faces the assumptions of other people based on the time period he is in. When he was asked by William how things have been for him since the events of 9/11, he replied that people ... don't see me as a terrorist, only as a crackhead on welfare, explaining how people judge him, heavily influenced by the time that they are in (Alexie 57). This time choice that Alexie chooses to use in his story helps to shape his story's characters by the criticisms that they face from other people, and the way that they live their daily lives. As well as time, Alexie uses another element to form the characters in his story. He uses the place that his characters are in to establish more of who they are and define their past. During his story, he has his characters in America after the events of 9/11. Overall, that place shapes a roll for both Fekadu and William because at that time and place, racial tensions were high, and both of them felt the tension that was going around. But Alexie also uses place to shape the characters by where they live and how they grew up to form their identities. For William, Alexie uses place to distinguish William as a man who has abandoned his heritage, in order to live the life of a business man in society. He uses William's ethnicity and place is society to form William into who he is, a Native American who has chosen to become ... a civic American citizen (Alexie 54). Along with William, Fekadu, William's cab driver, is formed by the places he has been in Alexie's story. Fekadu tells William the story of his past, and how the place he was in society back in his homeland of Ethiopia shaped him into the man he is in the cab with William. Fekadu starts his story by telling William that he ... wasn't born into an important family, but rather his father ... worked for an important family, stating to William his important place in the Ethiopian society (Alexie 59). He tells him about all the privileges he got, and what his role was in society, a solider in an army that killed their own people. He then

Saari 3 abandoned his post and his family, and ending up fleeing to France, and then America, moving his place in society. Instead of being in an upper class soldier in Ethiopia, he is now a lower class taxi driver in Seattle. Alexie's usage of place shows the reader a depth to the both of the character's pasts and even their own personal stories. Alexies usage of time and place in Flight Patterns for forming the characters is his story is not the only reason why he uses it. Alexie makes sure that while they come from different places, William being a citizen in the United States, and Fekadu being a drafter from the Ethiopian military, they both have several comparisons that can be made by their time and place in the story. Both William and Fekadu abandon something important to them to get to the place that they are while the story is going on. William abandons his heritage to take his place in the business society, while Fekadu abandons his family and post in the military to flee from the fighting and war going on in Ethiopia and seek refuge in another country. Both characters abandon their position in one place, in order to gain a different on somewhere else. As well as place, both characters are affected by the time that they are in. They both face the discrimination and racial remarks from other people because of the racial tension going on, asking each other How have things been since September eleventh, trying to understands each others situation (Alexie 57). Overall, Alexie uses these tools to make sure of the comparison between the two characters. Certain usage of plot tools can help form and shape characters in a story, but if it isnt used correctly, then what happens to the story? If Alexie decided to change the time and place that he uses in the story, we wouldnt have the same characters. If William was instead of a Native American business man abandoned his heritage was instead tied to his heritage, there would be little to none relation that he would have with Fekadu with abandonment. And if the

Saari 4 timing of the story was changed to before the events of 9/11 instead of afterwards, then the racial tension that the characters face in the story wouldnt nearly be as high and as much of a factor to the story. Alexie chooses to use both place and time to make sure that the important underlying elements of the story are shown in the characters. He successfully uses the time he sets the story in, as well as the places the characters have and are in to develop and bring out the characters in the story, and if he didnt, then the characters wouldnt nearly be as viable as Alexie presented them.

Works Cited Alexie, Sherman. "Flight Patterns." 2003. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005. 49-61. Print.

Rubric for Literary Analysis Purpose (33): Successful (A+ thru B): Demonstrates a superior understanding of Flight Patterns in that you analyze and not just summarize the story Shows a complex understanding of the Critical Lens/ Lit Device/Moment concept/Area of Interest

Genre (33):

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Successful (A+ thru B): Contains a thesis in the last sentence of the intro that effectively captures your argument Includes well-chosen support from throughout the text that supplements the thesis Analysis is academic in nature

Design/Layout (20): Successful (A+ thru B): Uses MLA format to skillfully weave quotes and paraphrases into the text Uses a 12-point, Times New Roman font with a double-spaced page Includes a creative title, appropriately placed headers, heading, and page numbers Includes a Works Cited page that accurately lists the text(s) used

Audience (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Uses vocabulary appropriate for a college audience Assumes a level of intelligence and sophistication for the audience Grammar/spelling/punctuation should be appropriate for a college freshman

Stance (14): Successful (A+ thru B): Offers a convincing argument Includes a consistent tone that presents your perspective appropriately