Rodriguez 1 Aaron Rodriguez Mr.

Newman English 101: Rhetoric 5 November 2013 Deeper Meanings From the beginning of Flight Patterns the main character, William, seemed to be a very interesting person. The first paragraph alone shows examples of his music and seemingly unimportant trivia knowledge. William is an intelligent Indian living in The United States who prides himself in not only being a prestigious Indian, but a successful American citizen. Just as the cab driver did to William, at first glance William might seem to be a Jewish or a light skinned black man but all it takes is a conversation to know he is a proud Spokane Indian. Many things in life often require a second look in order to completely comprehend or obtain full meaning; reading is no different. Flight Patterns, by Sherman Alexie exhibits a unique writing style in terms of its structure throughout the short story. Overlying themes such as sexism and ethnic stereotypes are easy to pick up, but one moment in the story that required a second look to decipher is, His doctor had offered him sleeping-pill prescriptions, but William declined for philosophical reasons.(49) Though his philosophical reasons stated were unclear at first read, after re-reading the story his reasoning becomes clear. Williams cold hard dedication to fitness, his wife, and his daughter all shape him to decline supplemental sleeping aid. Alexie did not hold back when describing Williams athletic fitness. He is described in the second paragraph as an extremely fit man who lifted weights three days a week, ran every day, competed in four triathlons a year, and various other astounding physical feats. Exercise is typically known to help promote good sleep and maintain a healthy weight, but despite being so athletic, William suffers restless nights because of his insomnia. When he was offered sleepingpill prescriptions by his doctor, he denied for philosophical reasons. William would not want to taint his pure physical body with unnatural products. This thought process adds to philosophical reasons mentioned. He is an Indian who didnt smoke or drink or eat processed sugar.(49) Alexie adds Indian in that sentence to most likely infer that because of the fact he is an Indian, it isnt out of the norm for him to live a natural life compared to the average unhealthy American. As it was time for William to leave for his business trip, the two goodbyes he gave to his daughter and wife spoke a lot about the type of person he was and added to the philosophical reasons for declining insomnia medicine. He genuinely loved his family and hated the moment that he had to leave them for a business trip. William compared himself to a caveman leaving the fire to hunt animals in the cold and dark. It can be inferred that if he didnt have to leave for the long business trips, then he wouldnt go, but without his successful career it would lose a whole aspect of the successful Indian American man that he was so proud to be. Alexie made Williams goodbye with his wife Marie especially intimate with playful sexual references such as their Scooby inside joke (51). Marie tried pulling William back into the bed usi ng sex as bait hoping that she would somehow change his mind to cancel his flight and stay home with her.

Rodriguez 2 William also said to Marie, Your breath stinks, and she replied, So do my feet, my pits, and my butt, but you still love me, this statement really shows the readers the pure true love they share for each other. After saying goodbye to Marie, William went into his daughter Graces room expecting to find her asleep, but she was still up just so she could say goodbye to her dad. He hugged her and squeezed her tight before leaving and she cried as he left her room. Already quite sure he was only and adequate husband, he wondered, as he often did, if he was a bad father. (51). Just as he didnt want to leave his wife, his daughter was just as hard to say bye to. He felt like he was a bad father for leaving his daughter for days at a time in order to make a living even though his family showed him they loved him dearly. He always had the thought of his family being harmed, and it haunted him while he was away. His doctor had offered him sleeping-pill prescriptions, but William declined for philosophical reasons.(49).The significance of this moment at that point of the story is that it shows the readers Williams ignorance towards something that will help him. Even though he knows the pills will help him, he still chooses to not accept them. The significance of this moment to the story as a whole would be that just how William is ignorant to the fact that the pills will help him, is how he feels like he is only an adequate husband and a bad father. Despite the true love that his family shows him, he still had the anxiety attack at the airport. His body may be strong and smart but his mind and heart are weak. The philosophical reasons are nothing but his ignorance to good.