알렉시의 『탈주』

Sherman Alexie’s Flight : Thinking of the Boundary

This paper aims to analyze Alexie’s Flight in terms of zoe/bios and bare life in Agamben’s Homo Sacer, For Agamben, zoe is a natural life common with an animal, a plant, and an insect, whereas bios refers to a politically valuable life. In ancient Greek, zoe is defined as a man who may be killed and yet not sacrificed, and has a relation of inclusive exclusion with sovereignty. Based on this relationship, politics in Greek is regarded as tanatopolitics which is continuously excluding zoe into a state of exception. In modern times, zoe itself becomes a subject of sovereign power. In this context, Zits in Alexie’s Flight identifies himself with an acne as his identity. And in the end of text, Zits wants to be called Michael. In short, Zits becomes Michael. This process of name revision means that Zits as a subhuman, who defines the American Indians, not only searches for identity through time travel, but implies the general plight of human beings in modern political system. Because human beings as a bare life are thrown into a undistinguishable zone between zoe and bios shown in camps and refugees. Thus, Alexie searches for the boundary between zoe and bios, Indian and Whites through Zits, and beyond it, may recognize the universality of human beings hidden in the structure of modern politics.