Comparing The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

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Native American Resilience Ever since the Europeans crossed the Atlantic and settled in North American it has caused many hardships for the Native Americans. They have had their land taken away, many millions were killed, and others forced to live on reservations. Life on the reservations has always been difficult for them. Even today they struggle with things such as poverty, but they show great resilience. In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, he shows the struggles of Native American life on reservations. Even though this is a work of fiction, his stories tell how these people live in extreme poverty and struggle to survive; however, many of these stories also showcase the inner strength of the Native American …show more content…

The narrator of the story says “Imagination is the only weapon on the reservation” (Alexie 150). Imagination is what helped these people through their struggles. They had no money or food to feed their families, but they had imagination. The narrator describes how his father and he used to imagine eating things they did not have. Things such as Pepsi, chocolate, and deer jerky. He even imagined if Crazy Horse had invented the Atom bomb, and had attacked Washington D.C. He described what a world where the Native Americans were the prominent people of the country. It is this imagination and creativity that helps the Native Americans continue to fight. Not fight for their lands anymore, but to fight for survival. They suffer from poverty and starvation on the reservation. They use creativity as a way to move forward. Their power of creativity is a tool for the Native Americans to cope with the harsh reality of reservation life. Alexie knew the struggles of reservation life because he grew up on a Spokane rez, as he likes to call it. It had 7000 miles of salmon spawning beds destroyed from the environmental impact of the Grand Coulee Dam (Wilson 1). Alexie was no different from the characters in his stories. Many of his stories are autobiographically written. Alexie knows first had of the struggles …show more content…

“The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor” is about Norma and Jimmy. A married couple that lives on the reservation. Jimmy has a tumor and always jokes about it. This is his own way of dealing with the stress that he will die soon. He does not want to live his last days being depressed and having everyone feel sorry for him. This is why he acts to lightheartedly toward his tumor; however, his wife does not like the way he deals with his terminal cancer. He continues to behave this way and Norma then leaves him, but she comes back shortly after to be with Jimmy in his last few days before he dies. Even though she could not stand his attitude and outlook on life she returned to him because she loved him. Alexie shows that love is a powerful thing and if it is true it can overcome a substantial amount of hate and suffering. Love is what keeps the Native Americans together and fighting to survive. Because of love they make the best of life on the reservation. Love is what gives the Native Americans the power to get back up even though they have been knocked down so many

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