The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven By Sherman Alexie

In the book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, author Sherman Alexie tells the story of twentieth century Native Americans through a compilation of short stories. The stories come from childhood memories, dreams, and realistic situations. Through dark comedy and irony a picture is painted of life on and around the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. The author uses intriguing themes such as alcoholism, forgiveness, passion, and family to describe the struggles Indians went through to hang on to their culture in a time when it was not embraced by the predominantly white society.
Alexie depicts the Indian culture by demonstrating their identity through four major themes. Three of the themes—passion, forgiveness, and family depict Alexie’s positive emotion toward the Indian culture, however he includes the theme of alcoholism to keep the book unbiased. Even though alcohol is a negative stereotype given to Indians that misrepresents Indian culture, the author includes it to show the descent Indian culture has taken since whites took over their lands and forced assimilation upon them.
One theme of the book becomes recognizable within many of the short stories through the reoccurring love-hate relationships. Examining the relationships and characters that are present throughout the book we see a definite passion. One example of a passionate relationship is that of Norma and Jimmy. In the short story “The Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor,” we learn of the love between Norma and Jimmy when they first meet and get married. We are soon introduced to the hatred when Jimmy jokes about his diagnosis of cancer. Norma becomes enraged and leaves Jimmy. The act of Norma leaving and the hatred shown is her way of dealing...

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...by Alexie here since alcohol is also a major cause of the decline.
Overall, Alexie uses this book to call to Native Americans across the country to do something about the destruction of their culture. He uses activities such as fancy dancing, powwows, and storytelling to lend to the idea that Indians are able rekindle the flame of their culture and that the identity of the Indian culture can still be preserved. Norma Many Horses and Thomas Builds-the-Fire show up numerous times in the short stories and have an unforgettable affect on readers. This is because they both have a strong sense of the identity of their culture and the fact that it is slowly diminishing. Through out the stories these two characters do their best to use their talents to preserve their culture. The book is full of persevering characters the will the Native American culture to continue on.