Native American Identity in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven
Native Americans experienced five hundred years of violent subjugation under European imperialism, and as a result, many Native American reservations have since struggled to maintain communal composure and identity. Five hundred years of cultural trauma and oppression has ravaged many Native American reservations into sites of cultural paralysis, where a moment of hope is inevitably followed by failure and drinking in a seemingly inescapable cycle. Published by Native American author Sherman Alexie in 1993, more than twenty years after the American Indian Movement, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven depicts the struggled lives within the Spokane Native
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American Reservation through a series of short stories and lyrical visions with a melancholic, yet dimly hopeful, narrative. Alexie’s portrayal of Native Americans is very gloomy and lugubrious.
Alexie portrays the Spokane Indian Reservation as a disaster zone, describing its inhabitants as “eternal survivors” repeatedly throughout his short stories. The reservations are plagued by mourning and oppression, and in turn, alcoholism and poverty. In Alexie’s stories, characters become so infatuated with the potent effects of alcohol that they justify their inebriation, creating false realities to excuse their responsibilities and problems, claiming, “one more beer could save the world. One more beer and every chair would be comfortable. One more beer and the light bulb in the bathroom would never burn out. One more beer and he would love her forever. One more beer and he would sign any treaty for her.” (Alexie 88). Alexie often presents readers with hope and promise, only to have readers watch it slowly fall apart with the influence of alcohol. In the chapter, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”, Alexie writes about the hope for Julias Windmaker, a young Native American basketball star who has the chance to have a talented basketball career outside of the impoverished reservation. Julius was very talented, and the protagonist, Victor, even considered him to be “the best ballpayer on the reservation these days, maybe the best ever” (Alexie 46). However, Julias’s prowess would be short lived due to his eventual exposure to alcohol. A year after his exposure to alcohol, Victor notices that Julias “wasn’t the ballplayer we all remembered or expected. He missed shots, traveled, threw dumb passes that we all knew were dumb passes.” (Alexie 51). In the meteoric decline of Julias, Alexie reminds readers that this was a common, depressing sight for Native Americans at the reservation; to witness a hopeful young star succumb to the ailments of alcoholism. For the crowd, most “basketball games felt like a funeral and wake all rolled up together” (Alexie 51), with
everyone cringing at the sight of such wasted talent. The chapter ends with a spotlight on a young girl, Lucy, with a bright future in basketball outside of the reservation ahead of her, yet this hopeful light shines dimly against the now seemingly inevitable fate of alcoholism in the reservation’s cycle of hope and despair. In Alexie’s stories, the continued and prevalent abuse of alcohol further repels much of white society from Native Americans. Only a few interactions between the cultures are hindered due to inebriation, yet these interactions set a strong stereotype for white society to shame on. Dirty Joe best exemplifies this shameful stereotype; “I watched her move against the crowd, the only person not running to see the drunk Indian riding the stallion. I turned back in time to watch Dirty Joe stumble from the roller coaster and empty his stomach on the platform.” (Alexie 57). Native American’s behavior under the influence of alcohol often creates a scene in white society, propagating a shameful, drunken stereotype that stagnates integration and acceptance between the two cultures. Throughout many of the short stories, Alexie explains the hardships and challenges Native Americans faced when trying to blend in with society outside of the reservation. Considered a major accomplishment and goal among many Native Americans in the Spokane reservation, life outside of the reservation brought many challenges. In the chapter, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven”, the protagonist, Victor, reminisces about his move from the reservation to Seattle. After being pulled over by a cop for “making people nervous” (Alexie 183) and not fitting “the profile of the neighborhood” (Alexie 183) while driving to clear his head after an argument with his white girlfriend, Victor comes to a conclusion that he will never be able to live a normal, fair life in white society. Victor realizes that he will be racially profiled because, “dark skin and long black hair… was dangerous.” (Alexie 183),, and that he will always be labeled suspicious. This is most apparent in Victor’s stop by a 7-11, where Victor has to convince a white cashier that he is not robbing him. After the cashier “stiffen[s], ready for gunshot or the blow behind the ear” (Alexie 184), Victor quells his fear by asking a rather random yet amicable question, “What I want to know is if you know all the words to the theme from ‘The Brady Bunch’?” (Alexie 184). The question reveals Victor’s friendly and educated personality, and succeeds in changing the cashier’s image of Victor as a criminal, but further solidifies Victor’s belief that people will never see his American identity, but rather, his hair and skin. While the majority of Alexie’s stories are dominated by melancholy and despair, Alexie finds a rather unique way to spare some hope, and presents it, packaged with Spokane history, in an unconventional, yet natural and effective, configuration. Alexie uses a hallucinated “dream-vision” in multiple short stories as a medium to express hope, Indian consciousness, heroism, and history in a more lyrical literary fashion that intentionally defies the configurations of Western literature and logic. Alexie uses the hallucinations of Thomas-Builds-the-Fire to tell stories in a more oral, traditional Native American configuration, and in the story, “A Drug Called Tradition”, hallucinations from mushrooms comfort Thomas, Victor, and Junior, creating visions of a productive and happy Native American Society. Through these visions, Alexie can naturally infuse many of the values and history of the Spokane Native Americans into his stories without having to leave the current setting. While most of Alexie’s short stories are written in a more familiar, realistic prose, Thomas’s visions naturally infuse optimism, history, reflection, and aspirations for the reservation in an interesting, unconventional lyrical configuration native to the Spokane reservation’s culture. Throughout Alexie’s short stories, the protagonists suffer a lot of pain and struggle from the shackles of prejudice, oppression, and traumatic history. A sense of hopelessness and defeat ravages the reservation, and Alexie uses Thomas’s visions as a vehicle to articulate some of the internal rage derived from this defeat, along with the history of these defeats. Each of Victor’s interactions with society inside and outside of the reservation eventually accumulates to establish a cloud of misery and fear intrinsic to most Native Americans. Alexie asserts that Native Americans like Victor must persevere against these obstacles if they are to have or forge relationships with white people, or to have a successful life outside of the impoverished and decrepit reservation. This cloud of misery is immensely disturbing and morose, yet Alexie manages to spare some hope occasionally, most notably in Thomas’s visions and Junior Polatkin’s successful academic career and promising exit from the reservation.
would sign any treaty for her (Alexie).” However, alcohol only made their lives worse. Native Americans throughout the story began to realize that sticking to tradition was more important than following the negative roads of white American culture.
Stories are much more than just ink placed in clean rows on paper or dialogues that travel through air columns. All stories transform worldly experiences into sources of inspiration and perspicuity and Saul Indian Horse’s story is no exception. In Richard Wagamese’s novel, Indian Horse, Saul Indian Horse explains the events that have resulted in him receiving treatment for alcoholism at a rehab centre. Readers are exposed to the former hockey player’s moments of triumph, failure, and everything that falls in between. Saul mentions in his story how a leisure pursuit like hockey granted him temporary freedom and happiness from his sorrow-filled life. Saul’s example can inspire First Nations individuals to remain resilient in the face of adversity.
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
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.
We have all been alienated, stereotyped, and felt the general loss of control at one point in our lives, weather you are black, native American, Hispanic, or white. Race, skin color or nationality does not matter. This is the reoccurring theme in both of the text, “Women Hollering Creek” and “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”. Women Hollering Creek is a story by Sandra Cisneros a noted Mexican novelist, poet, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1954). It is a story of a young Mexican girl Cleofilas, who with visions of grandeur leaves her family to marry a man she barely knows and begin a new life across the border in the United States. The second short story is by Sherman Alexie (b. 1966) who was born on a reservation to Native American parents. This story is about the struggles of a Native American man who tries to disprove the stereotypical view society has of Native Americans, and to fit into society outside of the reservation. In one way or another, both characters in these texts have experienced being singled out and made to feel as though they did not fit in.
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...
These moments of pure happiness inspire hope in the hearts of his characters. The Indians are able to find peace for just an instant holding onto it in a beautiful way that allows them to forget the strains of their lives. This psychological phenomenon is exhibited constantly throughout the collection of stories but Victor best embodies it when he remembers his father. He changes “[T]he memories. Instead of remembering the bad things, remember what happened immediately before. That’s what I learned from my father.” (page 34). Instead of remembering how his dad left him when he was young he savors the memory of him when he was there. By being able to be thankful for the days with his father Victor can make life without him less painful. Alexie shows through Victor’s use of this coping mechanism of thankfulness that Reservation Indians are happier with the little they have than the spoiled people of the rest of our country. This idea is clearly a positive and shows that Alexie’s realism is not all just the racist, stereotypical garbage that many claim it is. Instead it has actual meaning behind it; it is simply an examination of the Native American’s lifestyle and world-view
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
Culture has the power and ability to give someone spiritual and emotional distinction which shapes one's identity. Without culture society would be less and less diverse. Culture is what gives this earth warmth and color that expands across miles and miles. The author of “The School Days of an Indian Girl”, Zitkala Sa, incorporates the ideals of her Native American culture into her writing. Similarly, Sherman Alexie sheds light onto the hardships he struggled through growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in a chapter titled “Indian Education”. While both Zitkala Sa and Sherman Alexie were Native Americans, and take on a similar persona showcasing their native culture in their text, the two diverge in the situations that they face. Zitkala Sa’s writing takes on a more timid shade as she is incorporated into the “white” culture, whereas Alexie more boldly and willingly immerses himself into the culture of the white man. One must leave something in order to realize how
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 ...
Picture yourself in a town where you are underprivileged and sometimes miss a meal. In the novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie wrote the book to show hardships that Native Americans face today. Alexie shows us hardships such as poverty, alcoholism and education. In the novel, Junior goes against the odds to go to an all white school to get a better education to have a better life
Growing up on a reservation where failing was welcomed and even somewhat encouraged, Alexie was pressured to conform to the stereotype and be just another average Indian. Instead, he refused to listen to anyone telling him how to act, and pursued his own interests in reading and writing at a young age. He looks back on his childhood, explaining about himself, “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (17). Alexie compares the life and treatment of an Indian to life as a more privileged child. This side-by-side comparison furthers his point that
Hardship is everywhere but Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” is an amusing and intelligent novel that clearly provides the reader with perfect examples of poverty and friendship on an Indian reservation. Alexie incorporates those examples through the point of view and experiences of a fourteen year old boy named Arnold Spirit Jr.
Experience changes one’s outlook on the world. Growing up on an Indian Reservation is a tough thing to do. Everyone is poor, and almost every adult is drunk and unhappy. Junior’s father suffers from alcoholism.
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