Analysis Of The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

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The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
A Major Works Data Sheet
By Daniel Shiels

General Information
Title: Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1993. Web.
Author: Sherman Alexie
Biographical Information about the Author: Sherman Alexie is a poet, an author, and filmmaker who was born October 7th, 1966 on the Native American Spokane Reservation, which is where he pull most of his stories from. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Diane Tomhave.
Date of Publication: 1933 by Perennial/Atlantic Monthly Press
Genre: The genre of this book is considered to be adult fiction or short stories.
Characteristics of the Genre: the genre of “Short Stories” becomes blatantly obvious immediately upon reading the book: it is broken up into multiple unnumbered chapters that have no specific time sequence. In addition, the books “Adult Fiction” tag is not a misnomer. Themes of alcohol, sex, violence, and drugs permeate the novel along with the Indian reservations residents’ oft-used ‘colorful vocabulary.’
Historical Info about the Novel: The book was published by Alexie in 1993, but he had written many other short stories about his family and hometown (using pseudo-names, of course) which he used to offer a new insight to Indian Reservation life. The book was published, and is in circulation, during a time where Indians face numerous trials because of their heritage and the society that they are born into. The setting is derived from Alexie’s hometown, the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington.
Plot Summary: The plot of this book can simply be summarized as a collection of short stories and tales that explain the child, teen, and adult life of Victor Joseph and...

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Chapter Summaries
Every Little Hurricane
A Drug Called Tradition
Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock
Crazy Horse Dreams
The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore
Amusements
This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
The Fun House
All I Wanted to Do Was Dance
The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire
Distances
Jesus Christ's Half-Brother Is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation
A Train Is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result
A Good Story
The First Annual All-Indian Horseshoe Pitch and Barbecue
The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor
Indian Education
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Family Portrait
Somebody Kept Saying Powwow
Witnesses, Secret and Not
Flight
Junior Polatkin's Wild West Show

The Author’s Writing Style

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