Sherman Alexie's Subtle Sarcasm

Sherman Alexie's Subtle Sarcasm

Sherman Alexie illustrates a subtle sarcasm that is very consistent among his stories. He conveys many of the current social issues that seem to be constant among those of Indian heritage. His main characters all have very similar characteristics: very laid back and socially conscious. An important characteristic that his characters share is a sense of wit and cynicism which helps convey Alexie's ideals in many regards.

The first rhetorical device Alexie utilizes is his methophorical use of his titles. In the piece The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven he uses two characters from a movie that was very popular at the time. However he puts the two characters against each other despite them being allies in the movie. The Lone Ranger symbolizes the stereotypical attributes of white's ideal hero while Tonto symbolizes the Native Americans ideal hero. The fistfight in heaven could possibly symbolize the struggle over land. This sets an atmosphere for reader that places Native Americans and the Whites as rivals despite the current overview or veil that shrouds the situation like the false friendship. Alexie is keen on the implements that his title will suggest. This is also apparent with The toughest Indian in the world which also sets a concise point of view of which to begin his story.

Alexie does not attempt to disguise the racial unrest that is present among his pieces. The only description of the character's girlfriend in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is that she is white. He does not go into any dept about any of her characteristics. In his pieces he creates generics characters like this in many different fashions. He states that the clerk in the store looks lik...

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...chhiker invoke. This act by any means is not an implication of sexuality but instead an effort to be a close to this stereotypical ideal of a Native American that he has concocted.

Another ideal that Alexie explores is the distrust of the more charitable acts of the whites. In the scene in the store in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven even after the clerk reveals his reasons for observing the speaker and attempting small talk, the speaker still suspects these act to be counterfeit. He also states that he knows the price of the item that was given to him free as if he thought that item was an unfair trade. Alexie also illustrates this in This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona when he doubts the sincerity of the conversations that Thomas and a woman on the plane undertakes and the witty responses he adds in the conversations on the plane.