The book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie and the poem “Discovery of the New World” by Carter Revard contain similar and different themes. Both pieces of literature have a theme of a greater power taking control of a lesser power. They both also use the theme of prejudice in a similar way. However, Alexie presents the theme of assimilation in his book. Assimilation means to try to change yourself to be similar to another group of people. Even though Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Revard’s “Discovery of the New World” both contain similar themes of takeover and prejudice, Revard lacks the theme of assimilation that Alexie presents through the use of the characters, plot, and setting.
Alexie uses characters throughout the stories to present the theme of assimilation. In the story “A Drug Called Tradition”, Victor, Thomas, and Junior leave the party in Junior’s Camaro. “The car looked mean. Mostly we just parked in front of the Trading Post and tried to look like horsepowered warriors” (Alexie pg 13). Junior and his friends try to fit in and act “cool” like the white people by using a nice looking car. In addition to this fact, in the story “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock”, Victor describes a photo of his father, saying that “my father is dressed in bell-bottoms and flowered shirt, his hair in braids, with red peace symbols splashed across his face like war paint” (Alexie pg 24-25). Victor’s father is dressed like a hippie. During this time, hippies were mainly white people, so Victor’s father is trying to assimilate himself with the white people. On the other hand, Revard ...
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... point where everyone is “dancing in the snow, fucking in the snow, and fighting in the snow” (Alexie, pg 10). No one cares about a hurricane approaching; they’re just living in the moment and creating new traditions. In Revard’s poem, the aliens need the humans’ “body-space to materialize our oxygen absorbers” (Revard, lines 9-10). The words “oxygen absorbers” imply a futuristic setting when the aliens attack. It also implies that the humans just take up space, making it seem like the humans aren’t doing much to try to stop the aliens, or at least welcome them.
Overall, Alexie shows us that the theme of assimilation plays a major part in the book, compared to the poem, which gives us little to no evidence of any assimilation at all. These two pieces of literature may have similar themes elsewhere, but as for assimilation, they are almost complete opposites.
The alienation elements in Thomas King’s story “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens” demonstrates a different view to see the world, an understanding that cultural and individual identity is not completely suppressed, but can be re-centered and we see this through Coyote’s character. During time we see this character having many different views. Just like many other rights, many tragic and life known events took place because of battle in nations as people were useless while others were treated in a horrible manor that allowed for these terrible events to occur. The aspects characterize the truth that both the government and the nations people were responsible for the alienation of the Japanese and Canadian Aboriginal people faced throughout the story.
Thomas had thrown a party with the money he gets from allowing an electric company to have poles on his land, he ends up leaving the party, and is seen walking on the side of the rode by his boy Victor, and Victor’s friend Junior who had snuck out the party to take magic mushrooms at Benjamin Lake, and Thomas joins them. Thomas sees Victor taking a horse. This is followed by an interlude, described in the first person, in which the storyteller portrays taking a horse from an encampment that belongs to "The Others". Junior takes the mushrooms while driving, and describes Thomas as dancing naked. This is trailed by yet another intermission in which the Junior depicts Thomas is dancing out of sadness after his whole tribe has been exposed to and therefore killed by smallpox. The dancing has magical powers and sends all the white people back to Europe. At the end, Victor takes the mushrooms and sees Junior is singing. In a parallel history in which Native Americans have seized control over the United States. Alexie explores what it implies for his characters to be "real Indians" (20). The characters in this piece have a weird association with their way of life. Victor, Thomas, Junior feel profound ties to their Spokane custom, but the way they live life and the encounters they have are different from that
The author, Sherman Alexie, is extremely effective through his use of ethos and ethical appeals. By sharing his own story of a sad, poor, indian boy, simply turning into something great. He establishes his authority and character to the audiences someone the reader can trust. “A little indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly…If he’d been anything but an Indian boy living in the reservations, he might have been called a prodigy.” Alexie mentions these two different ideas to show that he did have struggles and also to give the audience a chance to connect with his struggles and hopefully follow the same journey in becoming something great. By displaying his complications and struggles in life with stereotypical facts, Alexie is effective as the speaker because he has lived the live of the intended primary audience he is trying to encourage which would be young Indian
Alexie uses an abrupt, direct, and somewhat sarcastic tone throughout his essay. An example of his tone can be seen when he states, “I refused to failed. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open (page 17). This exert stands out because it emphasizes his passion directly. This example explains the white man’s attitude toward young Indians. It was believed that Indians were unintelligent and were only to be taught the necessary basics of life. However, Fredrick Douglas uses a philosophical or political tone. The basis of his tone is exampled when he speaks about his mistress. Douglas explains “I have lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with direction and advice from her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else (page 118). His example shows a very hard struggle in a few simple sentences, using sorrow and a direct approach. This allowed him to set the scene and tone for the essay. He chooses this approach because it best describes the situation and reaches to the reader’s heart. Both authors describe their experiences with different tones and
In a social setting the feeling of belongingness to a group is very important. If one is different and does not belong to a group that person is outcasted. The first story, “The Box” written by Riel Nason is about a character named Jeff who goes to a long time friends wedding and faces a number of obstacles. The second story is called “One, Two, Three Little Indians” written by Hugh Garner and focuses on the obstacles a native-canadian faces. Characters Jeff and Big Tom experience alienation and the difference in values which restrict them from achieving belongingness. Ultimately, it is seen that acceptance to the environment is the key to either success into integrating or failure to do so in certain circumstances.
Sherman Alexie grew up in Wellpinit, Washington as a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene tribal member (Sherman Alexie). He began his personal battle with substance abuse in 1985 during his freshman year at Jesuit Gonzaga University. The success of his first published work in 1990 incentivized Alexie to overcome his alcohol abuse. “In his short-story and poetry collections, Alexie illuminates the despair, poverty, and alcoholism that often shape the lives of Native Americans living on reservations” (Sherman Alexie). When developing his characters, Alexie often gives them characteristics of substance abuse, poverty and criminal behaviors in an effort to evoke sadness with his readers. Alexie utilizes other art forms, such as film, music, cartoons, and the print media, to bombard mainstream distortion of Indian culture and to redefine Indianness. “Both the term Indian and the stereotypical image are created through histories of misrepresentation—one is a simulated word without a tribal real and the other an i...
traditions and cultural aspects of their race outwardly for the world to see. In Alexie’s mind, the
How White people assumed they were better than Indians and tried to bully a young boy under the US Reservation. Alexie was bullied by his classmates, teammates, and teachers since he was young because he was an Indian. Even though Alexie didn’t come from a good background, he found the right path and didn’t let his hands down. He had two ways to go to, either become a better, educated and strong person, either be like his brother Steven that was following a bad path, where Alexie chose to become a better and educated person. I believe that Alexie learned how to get stronger, and stand up for himself in the hard moments of his life by many struggles that he passed through. He overcame all his struggles and rose above them
Overall, Alexie clearly faced much difficulty adjusting to the white culture as a Native American growing up, and expresses this through Victor in his essay, “Indian Education.” He goes through all of the stages of his childhood in comparison with his white counterparts. Racism and bullying are both evident throughout the whole essay. The frustration Alexie got from this is clear through the negativity and humor presented in the experiences he had to face, both on and off of the American Indian reservation. It is evident that 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.
Alexie was grew up in the Indian culture but unlike Sa he willingly leaves. Alexie specifically showcases the changes in his life throughout the structure of his text; through the idea of education. He wanted a chance to have more opportunities then what was given to him on the Indian Reservation. The structure of Alexies piece was specific and purposeful due to the fact that it truncated his life into years; the years of education. The audience is aware of the thematic shift in the seventh year when he “...kissed the white girl”(Alexie). The shift between his time on the reservation and his resilience through taking matters into his own hands despite the backlash he received through growing up. Alexie knew that he didn’t want to leave his culture willingly behind but it was something that he had to do in order to change his life and take charge of it like an “Indian” would
In conclusion, Sherman Alexie created a story to demonstrate the stereotypes people have created for Native Americans. The author is able to do this by creating characters that present both the negative and positive stereotypes that have been given to Native Americans. Alexie has a Native American background. By writing a short story that depicts the life of an Indian, the reader also gets a glimpse of the stereotypes encountered by Alexie. From this short story readers are able to learn the importance of having an identity while also seeing how stereotypes are used by many people. In the end of the story, both Victor and Thomas are able to have an understanding of each other as the can finally relate with each other through Victor's father.
Alexie shows a strong difference between the treatment of Indian people versus the treatment of white people, and of Indian behavior in the non-Indian world versus in their own. A white kid reading classic English literature at the age of five was undeniably a "prodigy," whereas a change in skin tone would instead make that same kid an "oddity." Non-white excellence was taught to be viewed as volatile, as something incorrect. The use of this juxtaposition exemplifies and reveals the bias and racism faced by Alexie and Indian people everywhere by creating a stark and cruel contrast between perceptions of race. Indian kids were expected to stick to the background and only speak when spoken to. Those with some of the brightest, most curious minds answered in a single word at school but multiple paragraphs behind the comfort of closed doors, trained to save their energy and ideas for the privacy of home. The feistiest of the lot saw their sparks dulled when faced with a white adversary and those with the greatest potential were told that they had none. Their potential was confined to that six letter word, "Indian." This word had somehow become synonymous with failure, something which they had been taught was the only form of achievement they could ever reach. Acceptable and pitiable rejection from the
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character Arnold, also known as Junior, has many health issues, and notably stands out in the crowd. It does not help that he is a poor Indian boy that lives on a reservation, and that he decides to go to an all-white high school. Many of his experiences at school, and on the Reservation, impact his identity. Experience is the most influential factor in shaping a person’s identity because it helps gain confidence, it teaches new things, and it changes one’s outlook on the world.
Alexie Sherman’s, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” displays the complications and occasional distress in the relationship between Native-American people and the United States. Despite being aboriginal inhabitants of America, even in present day United States there is still tension between the rest of the country, specifically mainstream white America, and the Native-American population. Several issues regarding the treatment of Native-Americans are major problems presently. Throughout the narrative, several important symbols are mentioned. The title itself represents the struggles between mainstream America and Native-Americans. The theme of racism, violence, and prejudice is apparent throughout the story. Although the author
Throughout the book, ‘Everything, Everything”, the idea of assimilation is shown through symbolism, imagery, and figurative language.. Across the book, there are out-of-the-ordinary methods and hints that depict what the word “assimilation” means. Assimilation is also displayed with theme, to be brave and take risks. Maddy had to take risks and be courageous in order to adapt to her new world and find love.