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Dylan Baker Mr. Newman English 101: Rhetoric 28 October 2013 Sherman Alexies Flight Patterns First impressions of people can be misleading. Immediately, an analysis of the other person begins. What clothes are they wearing? How do they speak? Are they nice? These first impressions cause the interaction of human beings to be hampered. Interaction without bias is nearly impossible when an individual is always judging another individual. William, the main character in Sherman Alexies short story Flight Patterns, judges every person he interacts with and even himself unconsciously. The immediate judging of another person seems insignificant at first, but the consequences of this first impression can lead to the overall degradation of human interaction and the stereotyping of an entire race. Throughout the story, William is constantly self-conscious about his place in life. He frequently thinks of the first impression hell make, and this negatively impacts his interaction with other humans. This is shown in a seemingly insignificant moment in the story, Yes it is, sir, said William, self-consciously trying to erase any class differences between them, (53). William, in this moment, automatically assumes that a class difference exists between himself and the cab driver. He places a judgment on the cab driver, basically labeling the cab driver as beneath him. William then changes the way he interacts with the cab driver so it is more befitting of the cab drivers place in life. Immediately after that, William looks back on another moment in his life, An elderly porter had cursed at William when he insisted on carrying his own bags

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into the hotel. Perhaps there is something wrong with the caste system, sir, he hotel concierge had explained to William, But all of us, we want to do our jobs, and we want to do them well (53). This moment is similar to the preceding moment because it shows how negative judging others can be on other people. The hotel concierge simply wanted to do his job, and William wanting to help him negatively impacted the concierges job performance. As a whole, both of these moments had a big impact on the story. Towards the end of, Flight Patterns, another key moment in the story arises. William says to himself, Let a luggage porter think his bags were dangerous! Let a security guard x-ray the bags and find mysterious shapes, (61). This moment is important at this point in the story because William had just gotten done interacting with the cab driver. The cab driver kind of voiced his opinion of William and knew that William did not believe a word he said. He was try to tell William no to judge a book by its cover. But, immediately after this moment, William enters the airport at a run and immediately wonders to himself what everyone thinks of him. He is wondering if being brown and running through an airport will make him look like some sort of terrorist. This moment in the story is of great significance to the story as a whole because it truly illustrates the inner turmoil raging within William. He is so self-conscious that he thinks every action of his will come under direct scrutiny by another person. But, that is simply not how the world works. Most people really dont care what you look like, dress like, or act like. Sure, some may think to themselves in a judging manner, but most would certainly not come out and say their judgment of another. Williams judging of himself and others through first impressions leads to the big issue of stereotyping. These moments reflect upon a larger theme throughout the story: stereotyping. Stereotyping is brought up consistently throughout the story, whether its about Muslims and

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911, or about Native Americans and their traditional ways. William is always stereotyping others and wondering whether he is being stereotyped at that specific moment. He is constantly overreacting situations and placing two much stake on ones culture and way of life. The moment where he eases class differences between himself and the cab driver is a perfect representation of the stereotyping theme in the story because he sees the cab driver as somewhat beneath him. William, of course, doesnt realize that the cab driver was actually a man of great importance. The cab driver studied Physics at the acclaimed Oxford University in England, and was even a jet-fighter pilot for his nation of Ethiopia. After being told this, William still refuses to believe and questions the truth of what he was told. This type of human interaction simply should not exist in our world today. To end, first impressions of another person are typically misleading. William, the main character in Sherman Alexies short story Flight Patterns, judges every person he interacts with and even himself unconsciously. The immediate judging of another person seems insignificant at first, but the consequences of this first impression can lead to the overall degradation of human interaction and the stereotyping of an entire race.

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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. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1999. Print.