Sherman Alexie's Flight Patterns

The story "Flight Patterns" by Sherman Alexie begins as the main character, William, wakes up to the sound of his alarm and prepares for his day of travels. It is in the first few paragraphs of this short story that I initially question why this literary work is entitled "Flight Patterns". As I turned the page, my question is later answered. Although, it was not answered before reading seemingly pointless information about Williams life, such as: his taste in music, his weekly exercise regimen, he is a Spokane Indian, or that he religiously practices chiropractic exercises every morning. It became apparent to me that William is a sort of white-collar worker whose job requires him to frequently fly around the United States. Although, I did not understand why William often brings up his ethnicity, and that of others, when describing the world around him. I was slightly confused as to why it was so important to acknowledge so many characters solely by their ethnicity. After Learning that the story takes place about a year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist
Much of their conversation is based on race and the views of others. They discuss that after the September 11th attacks that they feel they are more commonly identified by their skin tones. In this discussion Fekadu said something that stood out to me. He said, " we are all trapped by other people's ideas, aren't we?" (cite) . I feel that single line stands for the entire narrative. Throughout the story William identifies every person by their skin tone. It made me see a possible theme: that you are unable to control what others think of you, nor how you are identified in their eyes. Since the 9/11 attacks, how others label William and Fekadu has changed. After completing the short narrative, I feel that the authors purpose was to address an issue that may be overlooked in today's