Flight: A Novel

The scent of beer and onions, which only emanantes from male characters, is a metaphor for dishonesty and an indicator of an unsavory character. All of this goes back to one of Zits’ earliest experiences and one of his first tragedies—being molested by his aunt’s boyfriend, who smelled of onions and beer. The scents are associated with Zits’ early trauma as well as his feeling that no one would ever care for him or listen to him, based on his aunt’s choice to side with her boyfriend over believing Zits’ accusation, as well as her eventual abandonment of her nephew.

The smell becomes a trigger for Zits. The first foster father whom the reader encounters is “eating cereal flakes, but his breath smells like beer and onions” (19). The cereal, as well as the man’s insistence on displays of good manners, are the foster father’s attempts to align with wholesomeness. Zits rejects the pretense, knowing that foster fathers who have presented as decent men have more often been abusive, neglectful, and childish.

The next instance in the story in which Zits announces the smells of beer and onions is when he is teleported into the body of Hank and smells it on the breath of his partner, Art, who leans in closely to see if Hank feels all right.