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Cultural appropriation introduction
Challenges faced by indigenous people
Cultural appropriation introduction
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In conclusion, Reservation Blues portrayed two main characters Thomas Builds-a-Fire and Junior Polatkin as an example of stereotyping. Sherman Alexie wanted to share a concern of how life was on the reservation. Junior and Thomas were in a band and it had its moments of good and bad times. Thomas was called out by David WalksAlong saying Thomas would end up like his deadbeat father. He was the outcast in the group because he was new on the reservation. The white people established a way of life for the Native Americans ever since they settled in America. The settlers stereotyped Native Americans as broke, jobless, and drunks. They were so much more than that. The white Americans were too quick to judge and never gave the Native Americans …show more content…
Junior had alcoholic parents but tried not to end like them. Unfortunately, his parents died in a drunk-driving accident. Sherman Alexie used their death as a symbol that alcohol can ruin and tear apart families. Junior decided he wanted a better life, but his past trials were defeating him and bringing him to the lowest point in his life emotionally. Junior is highly unaccounted for as a character. He never told anyone he was depressed that he ended up committing suicide. Meagan Lacy shared a statistic from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health about alcoholism and how it affects parents and their children. It all ties back to the kids not always ending up like their parents. Many Native Americans conceal their feelings and let it build up then they break or harm themselves. The white people do not see Native Americans as people, but see them as objects they can move and toss around. Not all Native Americans are troubled. All they need is a little guidance into the right direction. Today’s culture is screwed up. Nobody can do anything right and will get judged for doing something wrong. Stereotypes are just standards that people want other people to look up
At first, Junior was stuck on the rez and he felt hopeless because Indians who lived on the rez never got a chance to have hope, and some of the things that lead to losing hope are alcoholism,
The film, “In the White Man’s Image” and Sally Jenkins’ narrative, “The Real All Americans” both discussed the controversial issues and historical significance of nineteenth century social policies dealing with cultural integration of Native Americans, yet while “In the White Man’s Image” covered the broad consequences of such policies, it was Jenkins’ narrow focus on the daily lives of students involved that was able to fully convey the complexities of this devastating social policy. Jenkins’ recreated the experiences of students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, bringing the reader along with her as students were stripped of culture, language, and family to be remade into a crude imitation of white society. “...Now, after having had my hair cut, a new thought came into my head. I felt I was no more Indian…” (Jenkins, pg 75). Richard Henry Pratt, the creator of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School that became the inspiration and model for many similar institutions across the nation, intended to save a people from complete destruction, yet the unforeseen consequences of his ...
In the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, Sherman Alexie uses the two most well known stereotypes of Native Americans today, that they are alcoholics and homeless. These are more modern day stereotypes but they fall under the the main stereotype, that Native Americans are helpless and uncivilized. Alexie’s short story focuses on a character named Jackson Jackson, who happens to be both homeless and an alcoholic. Jackson is walking past a pawn shop when he notices his grandmother’s regalia that was stolen from his family fifty years ago. The owner of the pawn shop gives Jackson twenty-four hours to come up with the money for the regalia. The story takes us throughout his journey which consist mostly of Jackson buying alcohol, food, and even some lottery tickets. Jackson would acquire money through a variety of situations right after getting money he ended
Native Americans have been living on American soil for quite a while now. They were here before the European colonists. They have been here and still continue to be present in the United States. However, the way the media represents Native Americans disallows the truth about Native Americans to be told. Only misinterpretations of Native Americans seem to prosper in the media. It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums. When they are represented, they are misrepresented. They are easily one of the most underrepresented cultures and people in American media. Native Americans shouldn’t be confined to a stereotype, should have a greater presence in the media, and shouldn’t be misrepresented when they are presented.
Native Americans, sometimes referred to as American Indians, have continually faced hardships. Native Americans history is Often overlooked and misunderstood which can lead to stereotyping or discrimination They have fought for many years to be accepted and given their rights to continuities practicing the beliefs that were practiced long before the Europeans came upon the Americas long ago. Throughout history, Native Americans have been presented with many obstacles and even now they continue to fight to over these hardships. hey still are continuing to fight to overcome their hardships.
To begin with, Matt Zoller-Seitz’s article, “The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die,” succeeds at providing the readers with evidence that show stereotypes in innocuous films, which may look inoffensive is actually offensive by using movie such as, “The Green Miles” to analyze his point. The movie, “The Green Miles,” shows the African American man who is on a death row for a crime that he did not commit, but still helps heals the white folk’s who is sick. Zoller-Seitz states, “He’s not imaginary. He’s a ‘Magical Negro’: a saintly African American character who acts as a mentor to a questing white hero [...] The Green Mile (a gentle giant on death row whose touch heals white folk’s illnesses)” (Seitz, 357). When the article implies this,
As a group, we believe that popular culture does in fact perpetuates stereotypes. Television is a main source of information of popular culture. Television has forever changed how humans have interacted with another and introduce a world of diversity and knowledge. But with this profit, television has also harbored negative aspects. As a group, we studied how racial stereotypes are portrayed in television. In the history of television, different racial and ethnic groups have been widely underrepresented and television itself has been overwhelming represented by white figures. And when racial groups are presented on TV, the characters are often played in limited roles based on stereotypes. A stereotype isn’t necessarily untrue, but it is an assumption based on an incomplete and complex ideas that are oversimplified into something that isn’t what it meant to be, and it’s usually negative. For example, African Americans are often depicted as violent or involved in some kind of criminal activity. Their characters often portrays a person who is always sassy and angry or that isn’t intelligent and won’t succeed in life and inferior to whites in some manner. Asian characters are
Growing up on an Indian Reservation is a tough thing to do. Everyone is poor, and almost every adult is always drunk and unhappy. Junior’s own father suffers from alcoholism. His father will sometimes forget about Junior and never shows up to give him a ride home. Junior is then forced to walk or hitchhike all the way back to the Reservation. His father also constantly spends all of their money on alcohol, even during the holidays, “...Dad did what he always does when we don’t have enough money. He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk” (Alexie 150). Junior’s unfortunate understanding of alcoholism makes him see the world as an unfair place. He knows that he never wants to be like his father when he grows up. Alcohol also causes a lot of deaths in Junior’s life. His sister died in a terrible fire because she was too drunk to escape her burning RV. Junior is let out of school early because of his sister’s death. He has to wait for his father to come get him, and he laughs and he cannot stop laughing at the thought of his dad also dying on his way to pick Junior up, “...it’s not too comforting to learn that your sister was TOO FREAKING DRUNK to feel any pain when she BURNED TO DEATH! And for some reason, that thought made me laugh even harder, (Alexie 205). When he finally finds out about how his sister dies, he cannot help but laugh even more. Every Indian dies because of alcohol, and Junior finds it funny
Alexie’s tale mostly explores the fact that white subjugation of Native Americans has led to a marginalization of Native Americans in modern culture, leading them to be holed up in small, poor reservations with broken-down pickup trucks and an ongoing problem with alcoholism. Citizens of ‘the rez’ have to deal with these issues every day, as well as the ancient stereotypes about peace pipes and firewater that continue to plague them. Alexie’s perspective is to treat that marginalization with humor, rolling with the punches and admitting the grain of truth that occurs in many stereotypes (Nelson, 2010). In one scene, when he asks another Indian in the hospital if he owns a blanket, he angers the man, who replies: “You’re stereotyping your own damn people…But damn if we don’t have a room full of Pendleton blankets” (Alexie). In this moment, the Native in question both admits to the stereotype and rebels against its use, as Natives have to navigate this confusing world of 21st century technology and the desire to keep alive the traditions of the
Thomas C. Foster explains in Chapter 6 that religion is always tied into books and stories. No matter how unrelated religion may seem it’s always in there, just not in the way you expect it to be. The author may not stand before you and part the Red Sea however Foster says “Many modern and postmodern texts are essentially ironic, in which the allusions to biblical sources are used not to heighten continuities between the religious tradition and the contemporary moment but to illustrate a disparity or disruption.” Page 47 In Reservation Blues it shows religious traditions and disruption through religion. While boarding a plane for the first time to meet some record producers, Victor is extremely frightened. Victor has a little bit of an aviophobia
A very important scene that exemplifies this is the scene on the bus when Victor teaches Thomas how to be a real Indian. The movie uses frybread as the symbol to represent the desire to fulfill the stereotype because Thomas is wearing the “Frybread Power” shirt when he lets his hair down. They feel the need to act this way because they have only lived on the reservation and do not know anything different. In the movie the viewer is given the impression that the Indians on the reservation fear the outside world. One of the girls they run into on the reservation even says that even though they are still in the United States it is like they are going to a foreign land. As the movie progresses, Victor and Thomas move away from the stereotype. Victor cuts his hair, even though earlier in the film he states that an Indian’s strength is his hair. Thomas goes back to braiding his hair and wearing a suit. This represents the change in culture of Native Americans since the colonialism era. Another scene in the movie that shows change in society is when Victor and Thomas are in the sheriff’s office after the car accident. They think that they are going to be in trouble for simply “being Indian”. Victor and Thomas end up getting off without being in any trouble because there is no actual evidence against
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
In “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona,” Alexie creates a story that captures the common stereotypes of Native Americans. For instance, in the story the narrator states, “Who does have money on a reservation, except the cigarette and fireworks salespeople?” (Alexie). This quotation shows that the narrator addresses the idea that all Native Americans must own businesses that sell fireworks and/ or cigarettes in order to be successful. In this example, Victor is shown to not identify with the Native Americans because he does not pursue the same job opportunities as many Native Americans do. Victor's character is used as a contrast to the stereotypes that , there he represents reality. Another instance in which the author incorporates a stereotype about Native Americans is when Thomas-Builds-the-Fire first makes conversation with Victor. Thomas-Builds-the-Fire informs Victor about the news of Victor's ...
In more of an extreme case, after Junior finally overcame his fear of leaving the reservation for a new and more positive life, he was not treated fairly. In the beginning of his experience at Reardan he writes, “After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky or weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer” (Alexie 2007:63). This is a perfect example of how easily people believe things they hear. Junior was literally a weak fifteen year old that could never hurt a fly, yet people looked at him as a killer because that was a stereotype about Indians. This idea goes along with Johnson’s thoughts of symbols, “symbols go far beyond labeling things” and “Symbols are also what we use to feel connected to a reality outside ourselves” (Johnson 2008: 36).
Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.