The book focuses mainly on showing the degraded Indian society, where everyone lives poor reservation life's that are influenced by the alcohol consumption. Alexie’s uses his own experiences, such as him growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation to show the challenges Native Americans go through while leaving in the reservation. Throughout the book, it is clear that Alexi's dislikes white people because whites portrayed themselves as the dominant culture that makes false promises to shape the lifestyle of the modern Indians. Sherman Alexie's, author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven writes this book for those aren't part of the Indiana identity. The message that he wants to give those who aren't part of the Native American …show more content…
identity is that even though there are different identities, everyone should be comfortable with their own values and don’t feel like there is a dominant identity everyone should follow. He does this with the purpose of showing how unfair life is in a reservation for an Indian, due to they have to follow what the White people do and say according to survive.
This means that he is also trying to show the struggles Native Americans went through while leaving in the reservation, such as the white man taking their land, poverty, alcoholism, externalized and internalized racism, acceptance or rejection of culture, and isolation.The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a short-story collection, which central characters are Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the-Fire, two young Native-American men living on the Spokane Indian Reservation, witch stories describe their relationships, desires, and histories with family members and others who live on the reservation. There are twenty-four interlinked tales, that are narrated by characters raised on humiliation and government-issues that are only trying to fit into the American …show more content…
culture. This book shows the struggles Native Americans went through while living on the Spokane Reservation. Most of these struggles were caused by the Americans that try to shape Indians into Americans by establishing boundaries, rules and the given of certain resources that will keep them under control, such as alcohol and poverty lives. Sherman Alexie's violent and depressing diction reveals an acerbic tone when describing the conditions Indians live in and the alcohol abuse. “It was so quiet, a reservation kind of quiet, where you can hear somebody drinking whiskey on the rocks three miles away” (victor pg.35). Alexie's applies figurative language throughout the novel, not only to paint a complex and detailed image but also to illustrates the Native American culture and their hardships, from not being able to find jobs or blend into society, to having their culture ridiculed by others.
In the short story Every Little Hurricane, Alexie's uses a variety of similes to compare Victor and his dreary life. For example, in the text, it states “Rain fell like drums,” (victor pg.6). Victor is comparing the patter of the rain to the banging of the drums. When one thinks of drums in a Native American ceremony, it relates to dancing and happier moments, but when compared with the rain, the mood changes to sad and droopy as if both have the same, steady beat and nothing will ever change. The rain reminds Victor of life and how poor he is and his inability to fix the house him and his parents live in. This creates a negative mood when the rain is compared with the drums. Another example of Alexie's use of figurative language in the text to show Native American's attempts to assimilate to the American culture will be "Most of all, I had to find out what it meant to be Indian, and there ain't no self-help manuals for that last one" (victor
pg.211). In this part of the text, Alexie's makes it seem that victor has lost his identity, due to he tries to fit in by making a mandatory change which implicated him trying to fit in both Indian and American culture. Overall, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven shows how different identities, will always be in a constant fight. This means that one identity will always try to be superior to the other and will do what it takes to convert that identity. This is important because not only Indians are in constant fighting with the Americans. The United States is a diverse country with many identities and at one point, all non-American identities must adjust to the American culture according to stop the constant fighting.
Literature is defined as written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit. For a textbook definition, this suffices. However, literature is much more than that, it’s a form of expression. In Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, we are able to see native communities in a different way than what we read about in articles or research papers. We’re given a different perspective on them which can help us understand these communities better. The first chapter, though it is early in the book, is able to support this idea.
---. “A Drug Called Tradition.” The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Grove Press, 2005. 12 - 23.
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...
This represents Christianity imposing culture on the Native Americans and dismissing the Native traditions (Maithreyi 7). Then Old Women encounters Jesus, as he attempts to calm the waves, he is unable to succeed and Old Women intervenes. The four Indians, Lone Ranger, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and Hawkeye, are based off icons of the white people in the colonial era. These pieces of literature have an underlying tone of imperialism (Maithreyi 3).
Sherman Alexie could possibly be the most realistic man on the planet. In his book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, Alexie uses short stories to paint a picture of his childhood growing up on an Indian reservation. Through a web of characters a saddening image is created with overriding themes of alcoholism, racism, distrust and failure. This image has become greatly controversial because of the stereotypical way it portrays the Spokane Indian tribe. Even though Alexie is himself a Spokane some may say that he was out of line in the depiction of his people; however, Alexie is simply a realist relaying information from his upbringing to the world. He tells not only of the bad but also of the good times on the reservation,
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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
Throughout the years, the violence has decreased, but still exists. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is relevant in modern day America due to the many issues regarding the Native-American population. The story uses deep symbolic meanings to represent a bigger picture, as well as the title itself. Most importantly, it demonstrates the struggling relationship between Native-Americans and white mainstream America, while depicting racism and prejudice on both ends. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a well-written commentary on the occasional issues that arise in the United States with the Native-American
In Sherman Alexie's “Ten Little Indians”, Alexie has a wide variety of lead characters throughout his novel, such as Corliss from the first story “The Search Engine”, and the Women from the third story “Can I Get A Witness”. Alexie instills many traits into the lead character. Alexie also tries to get the reader connected with the characters’ likes and diles, and how their actions affect the character's outlook throughout the stories, including how it affects the reader's interpretation of the stories.
There are a couple of similes the author uses in the poem to stress the helplessness she felt in childhood. In the lines, “The tears/ running down like mud” (11,12), the reader may notice the words sliding down the page in lines 12-14 like mud and tears that flowed in childhood days. The speaker compares a...