Lila Bilsky

Dr. Suhr-Sytsma
English 181-001
03/25/16
Bearing Witnesses
Suffering is a universal phenomena that Sherman Alexie explores throughout his novels
Flight and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by forcing the protagonists to endure
immense amounts of pain. Alexies novels highlight the numerous struggles that Native
Americans face, including alcoholism, racism, traumatic deaths and oppression. The cause and
effect of these struggles is pain, which can be defined as sorrow, grief, or unhappiness.1 Zits, a
fifteen year old orphan with Irish and Native American roots, is the protagonist in Flight. Junior
is the physically deformed but highly intelligent high school freshman who takes center stage in
True Diary. Both protagonists come from unstable and poverty-stricken households, allowing
Alexie to make it apparent that pain is passed down from generation to generation. It is baffling
to me that in the 21st century our society has not found a way to mitigate the suffering of Native
Americans. What is our dominantly white society doing to prevent indigenous people from
healing their wounds?
In a scholarly reflection on Sherman Alexies writings, author Jan Johnson claims that our
society is inhibiting Native Americans from letting go of their past sufferings. Her article
Healing the Soul Wound in Flight and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian argues
that people do not bear witness to the past and current sufferings of Native Americans.
Not acknowledging the trauma Native Americans have endured is not an appropriate means of
dealing with the past. Since the suffering-and hence pain-of Native Americans has never been
adequately addressed in this country, a deep wound has been festered within indigenous

1 Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://www.etymonline.com/>.

communities. Johnson has titled this pain the soul wound and Alexie displays the effects of
such a wound in Zits and Juniors storylines. While the soul wound is unfortunately still present
within indigenous communities, Alexie reveals that Native Americans can overcome their pain
by creating happy endings in Flight and True Diary. Johnson emphasizes that Zits and Junior are
able to relieve their suffering by receiving compassion and empathy, as well as possessing the
ability to forgive. She also claims that there is no relief from trauma without witnesses, which
goes to stress the seriousness of neglecting the suffering of Native Americans. I agree with
Johnsons overarching arguments and I think it is necessary to address the importance that crossracial interactions has on Zits and Juniors ability to let go of their pain. I contend that the
increase in cross-racial interactions the protagonists take part in contribute most to their recovery
processes. A feat that their past relatives were not able to accomplish, Zits and Junior are finally
able to break the chain of suffering due to the high number of relationships they have with nonindigenous people.
Once Zits and Junior realize that there are people who are acknowledging their suffering,
they can finally begin the healing process. Johnson notes that it is impossible for victims of
trauma to come to terms with their pain without allies who are looking out for them:
Victims of historical trauma desperately need someone to validate their pain by
acknowledging their grief. Without some sort of efficacious intervention, the traumatized
person cannot understand or witness the sources of their suffering and thereby gain relief
from its continual haunting (232.)
The word intervention caught me by surprise. However, I agree with Johnsons claim since it is
validated in True Diary when Junior is put in an eye opening situation. Having tried to hide his
extreme poverty and parental neglect, Junior admits to his girlfriend that he is poor. There is no
way Junior can continue to hide his familys circumstances when he has no money to pay for

meals and no means of transportation. While initially ashamed that his friends Penelope and
Roger would judge him for being poor, Junior reflects that if you let people into your life a little
bit, they can be pretty damn amazing (129.) I believe that after Junior has this intervention he is
able to admit the full extent of his suffering to himself and others. He will no longer be
haunted by the trauma he experiences because he has witnesses to look out for him. Penelope
and Roger have aided Junior in admitting his pain, and now he can finally work on relieving his
soul wound. Similarly in Flight, Zits has police officer Dave to look out for him and serve as his
witness. I therefore endorse Johnsons assertion that these witnesses serve to give the traumatized
teens empathy and compassion. Having completed the first step in the healing process, Zits and
Junior are ready to move on to the more difficult step of forgiveness.
According to Johnson, forgiveness of those who have wronged Zits and Junior is
essential to heal their soul wound. In addition to that claim, I maintain that forgiveness is
necessary to relieve the soul wound once and for all because pain is intergenerational. The pain
that Zits and Juniors grandparents experienced was never resolved, which was therefore passed
down to their parents and then themselves. Now that Zits and Junior are building up the strength
to tackle their pain head on, forgiving the source is the only way to fully let go of their suffering.
For Zits, that means forgiving his alcoholic father who walked out on him. Johnson is not sure
Zits is capable of pardoning his fathers actions without an apology:
Must victims forgive their oppressors, even when they do not receive an apology from
them? Can victims of colonialism and historical trauma heal without an apology? (236237.)
Johnson never firmly answers this question, but I would argue that it is possible for Zits to
forgive his father without an apology. Junior is also able to forgive his friend Rowdy, who
betrayed him for leaving the reservation, without an apology. Zits and Junior have come to terms

with their suffering through the support of others, something Zitss father and Rowdy never had.
Through time travel Zits learns that his father was emotionally and physically abused by his
grandfather, and Junior has knowledge that Rowdys father is an abusive alcoholic. In the same
way that others have shown them empathy for their unfortunate living situations, Zits and Junior
forgive their loved ones. Not only is this a step in personal growth, I believe Alexie intends these
apologies to serve as the first step in ending the trend of emotional suffering for the next
generation of Native Americans. If current youth like Zits and Junior are able to have children
without holding onto any past grievances, the soul wound might slowly die out.
The increased cross-racial interactions Zits and Junior experience in comparison to their
relatives indicate that our society has evolved and is more willing to acknowledge past Native
American suffering. I believe that the underlying message in both Flight and True Diary is that
the more cross-racial interactions that occur, the faster the soul wound will heal and cease to
exist. Johnson disagrees with me and contends Alexies novels serve a different purpose:
Cross-racial alliances and communities of concern can play a powerful role in healing
those afflicted by the soul wound of colonialism. Flight and Diary provide validation and
inspiration for Indians seeking to heal the soul wound of historical trauma. Yet I argue
that one of the most important effects of Alexies latest works-particularly since he admits
the majority of his readers are white-is making Native American historical trauma and the
occluded truth of American Indian history visible (237.)
Johnson concludes that Flight and True Diary were written to bring light to the suffering that
Native Americans go through on a regular basis and make Native American historical trauma
visible. While this claim is certainly not far-fetched, I actually think Johnson negates some of her
own remarks with this final statement. Both Johnson and I agree that Zits and Junior are able to
relieve their pain by receiving empathy and compassion from others. However, the only way
these youth could be comforted by these non-indigenous witnesses is by allowing their suffering

to be visible. Although I agree that Zits and Juniors pain is not proudly on display at the
beginning of the novels, I cannot concede that their personal suffering remains hidden
throughout. My own view is that the truth of American Indian history is visible to most nonindigenous people, so Alexies books do not serve as eye openers to his readers. Although
realizing that Native Americans are suffering from historical trauma is progress in helping
indigenous people heal, a realization does not provide a solution. Developing relationships
between indigenous and non-indigenous individuals is the key to adequately dealing with Native
American pain, which is what Alexie exhibits in his most recent works. Cross-racial interactions
make it nearly impossible for white Americans to ignore the hardships that people like Zits and
Junior go through. Therefore, merging communities together to form more cross-racial
relationships will allow Native American pain to diminish over time.
Zits and Junior are unfortunately not the norm; many Native American youth still suffer
from a soul wound caused by never properly dealing with the past. Even though I have
continually asserted that there is a need to increase cross-racial interactions, the question still
remains: who needs to initiate the formation of these relationships? In Flight the non-indigenous
aid worker, foster families, and officer Dave reach out to Zits. This is a stark contrast to True
Diary where Junior puts an extreme amount of effort into becoming friends with his peers at his
predominantly white high school. There may not be a definitive answer to this question, but the
American government should create programs that would bring indigenous and non-indigenous
youth together. Native American communities are still isolated from the rest of the general
public. The formation of cross-racial relationships is not possible if this division remains, so the
government should take the measures necessary to mend the gap that isolates Native Americans.
If no effort is made to decrease the divide between indigenous and non-indigenous people, Zits

and Juniors recovery from their pain will be exceptions. The next step that our country needs to
take is to become more inclusive towards Native American communities. Once that occurs
hopefully more cross-racial relationships will develop at a dramatic rate, allowing for the death
of the soul wound once and for all.

Bibliography:
Alexie, Sherman. Flight. New York, NY: Black Cat, 2007. Print.
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown
and Company, 2007. N. pag. Print.
Johnson, Jan. Sherman Alexie: A Collection of Critical Essays. Salt Lake City: University of
Utah Press, 2010. 224-37. Healing the Soul Wound in Flight and The Absolutely True Diary
of a Part-Time Indian. Print.