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How did westward expansion affect Native Americans
Essay about alcoholism on native american reservations
Essay about alcoholism on native american reservations
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In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the readers get a sense of who he is and how he views things through the character, Victor. Throughout history, Native Americans have been subjugated by the white man. Through prejudice, domination, false promises, and betrayal by the dominant culture had impacted and shaped the lifestyle of the modern Indians. As Victor and his people yield to the addiction of alcohol and devastation of poverty and unemployment, the loss of culture, tradition, and identity is evident. As a result, many Native Americans have a different perspective of the world, including the author. In the short story, “Imagining the Reservation,” we are given an insight on how Alexie apprehends the true nature of things in the reservation. He says, “Survival equals Anger X Imagination. Imagination is the only weapon on the reservation” (p.150), meaning that he believes his people have to have those two factors in order to keep their character and traditions alive in situations where they may become extinct. Alexie believes that Native Americans should be emotionally and psychologically ready for the burden that’s been placed upon them. Due to the history of their people, many Natives experience a great lost. The Americans annexation of their land causes them to feel powerless and naïve to a certain extent. For instance, the Americans coaxed the Indians into giving up their land for a trade of beans. Considering the fact that Indians don’t have the same values like the whites, they agreed without any hesitation. With so many hardships that were presented to them, the Indians have a difficult time to digest the values and purposes of their culture that has been passed down by many gene... ... middle of paper ... ...y perspective on things, therefore the American society have somewhat conquered my cultural life and belief system as well. For instance, there’s a language barrier between my family and I because I was raised to speak in English. Even though I can understand the Vietnamese language well, I am incapable of speaking it to an extent that my people truly understand me. Not only am I losing my language but also my beliefs have been twisted. Coming from an immigrated family, my parents believe that education is success and that by being a doctor or pharmacist would provide me a stress-free life. I believe that too, but I also consider the idea of doing what I love to do. It may not be a doctor or a pharmacist, but something that I enjoy doing. The idea of “Follow your dreams” had imprinted in my mind that I don’t necessarily agree with what most Asian people believe.
The English took their land and disrupted their traditional systems of trade and agriculture. As a result, the power of native religious leaders was corrupted. The Indians we...
Cronon raises the question of the belief or disbelief of the Indian’s rights to the land. The Europeans believed the way Indians used the land was unacceptable seeing as how the Indians wasted the natural resources the land had. However, Indians didn’t waste the natural resources and wealth of the land but instead used it differently, which the Europeans failed to see. The political and economical life of the Indians needed to be known to grasp the use of the land, “Personal good could be replaced, and their accumulation made little sense for ecological reasons of mobility,” (Cronon, 62).
In this essay, McFarland discusses Native American poetry and Sherman Alexie’s works. He provides an overview of Alexie’s writing in both his poems and short stories. A brief analysis of Alexie’s use of humor is also included.
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...
One of the hardest realities of being a minority is that the majority has a thousand ways to hurt anyone who is part of a minority, and they have but two or three ways to defend themselves. In Sherman Alexie’s short story The Toughest Indian in the World, Roman Gabriel Fury is a member of the Native American minority that makes up less than two percent of the total United States population (1.2 percent to be exact). This inherent disadvantage of being a minority, along with various cultural factors, influences the conflicted character of Roman Gabriel Fury and his attitudes toward the white majority. Through his use of strong language, demanding tone, and vibrant colors, Roman Gabriel Fury is able to reveal his complex feelings about growing up Indian in a predominately white world.
American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,” non-Indian American people. Because these Euro-Americans considered traditional Indian lifestyle savage, they sought to assimilate the Indians into their civilized culture. With the increase in industrialization, transportation systems, and the desire for valuable resources (such as coal, gold, etc.) on Indian-occupied land, modern Americans had an excuse for “the advancement of the human race” (9). Euro-Americans moved Indians onto reservations, controlled their education and practice of religion, depleted their land, and erased many of their freedoms. The national result of this “conquest of Indian communities” was a steady decrease of Indian populations and drastic increase in non-Indian populations during the nineteenth century (9). It is natural that many American Indians felt fearful that their culture and people were slowly vanishing. Modern America to American Indians meant the destruction of their cultural pride and demise of their way of life.
He wanted a chance to have more opportunities than 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 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 do.
“Survival = Anger X Imagination.” Is this equation really true? Well, at least one person thinks it is. In Sherman Alexie’s book The Lone Ranger and Tonto’s Fistfight in Heaven, he gives the equation in order to aid in the understanding of character backgrounds and characteristics. By taking Alexie’s equation on blind faith, it in fact would be quite simple to in some way, shape or form halfheartedly apply to any character and see some sense in doing so. However, when a deeper and more thorough examination takes place it is more inherently apparent that this equation is not fully applicable to all characters in the movie.
The novel “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese demonstrates the many conflicts that indigenous people encounter on a daily basis. This includes things such as, the dangers they face and how they feel the need to flee to nature, where they feel the most safe. Another major issue they face is being stripped of their culture, and forcibly made to believe their culture is wrong and they are less of a human for being brought up that way, it makes them feel unworthy. Finally, when one is being criticised for a hobby they enjoy due to their indigenous upbringing, they make himself lose interest and stop the hobby as it makes them different and provokes torment. People who are trying
Through Laws, treaties and proclamations it becomes clear of the transfer of power between Native Americas and colonizing powers within the US and Canada. One significant treaty was Treaty NO. 9 in which Native Americans gave up their aboriginal title and land for money, hunting right, entrance into the christian school system and a Canadian flag presented to the Chief. The treaties described define the cascading effect of how western powers came into control of land at which Native Americans resided in. Specifically converging on the using Native Americans “elites” to influence other Native Americans into adopting western cultural beliefs, overshadowing the diverse Native American cultural practices. The overshadowing and belittling of Native American culture is not only expressed through the several treaties presented to Native Americans across history but also through real life accounts of Native American children adopted into the western school system. This sections places into the prospective the monopolization of Native American land and
At the end of the 18th century, the Europeans began their Westward expansion which ultimately began the infamous destruction of the Native American culture. Over the course of these events, the Europeans imposed their culture upon the Native Americans, forced them to conform to their societal norms, and abide by their foreign laws. Not only did these alien men force the Native Americans to leave the land they called home for centuries, but they confined them them to a plot of land that they deemed adequate. Many Native Americans expressed their outrage through violence and war, but some, seeing how these “white men” operated, voiced their grievances. In Chief Seattle’s pensive speech, he urged the Europeans to try and understand his fellow
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 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.
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria’s book reveals the White view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging affect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems and build a better future for their children.
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