Comparing The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

Sherman Alexie’s book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, is a captivating compilation of short stories. Alexie writes about his life growing up on an Indian Reservation in Washington and his “part time” life as an Indian when he leaves the reservation as an adult. Alexie writes his stories from all different perspectives but closely sticks with a character named Victor to tell most of his stories. Victor is a representation of Alexie. Throughout the story Alexie addresses stereotypes and the truth to them on the reservation, his family or lack there of and romance. One story that really encapsulated what Alexie was trying to share with readers was the story, “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian who Saw Jimi Hendrix

Play ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock.” The three basic themes in this story are reservation relationships, war and heroes. Alexie brings these ideas together through the main character of the story, Victor.
One of the themes that Alexie chooses to talk about in depth throughout this story is the one of reservation relationships. Victor, the main character and narrator of the story, talks about his father’s relationship with him and his mother and Victor’s relationship with his mom. Victor’s father was never there for his wife and she was left to pick up the slack of the family.
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Even though he left, she still felt strong emotions towards him. That can be seen when Victor describes a recurring situation with his mother- “Sometimes I caught my mother digging through old photo albums or staring at the wall or out the window. She’d get that look on her face that I knew meant she missed my father. Not enough to want him back. She missed him just enough for it to hurt” (35). These feelings and inability to move on comes from staying on the reservation. Victor’s father was also never there for him which made his relationship with his mother so much stronger because she was always the one to be there for Victor and try to distract him when his dad did not show up, again. That can been at the end of the story when Victor runs out to the porch because he thinks that it is the night his father is going to come for him. When she comes out and finds him all she does is put her quilt around him, then let him wait and Victor then describes when it becomes morning time and his dad still hasn’t come. He says that, “I knew it was time to go back inside to my mother. She made breakfast for the both of us and we ate until we were full” (36). It shows Victor can and will always go back to his mother for comfort which is the upside of staying on the reservation. Family is very important there.
Another theme of this short story is war, the actual war and a cultural one that then takes place. The story is set during the time of the Vietnam War. Victor chooses to share with the readers a description of his dad when he was demonstrating against the Vietnam war. He noted that his father was dressed like a typical protesting “hippie,” but with Indian like war paint across his face which differentiated him from the other protesters. That is just a nod to the time that they lived in. Victor shares this anecdote not only because it sets up the rest of the story but also because this is a very proud moment for Victor. It is a strong memory he has of his father and
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even though it may not be right, it still fills him with pride thinking of his father fighting for something.

He is not only able to remember it because it is a story his father told but also because someone caught a photo of him at this particular protest and Victor keeps the photo with him at all times to remember his father. Tensions were high and being a Native American during that time caused them to run higher. He also tells us that when his father was protesting he beat a police officer which landed him jail. ‘‘Although his prison sentence effectively kept him out of the war, my father went through a different kind of war behind bars’’ (25). That was when his father was forced to fight the cultural war of being Indian in a “white man’s world.” This quote retold by Victor from his dad really shows the danger of his time in jail and how race was a major factor- “We’d hear about somebody getting it in the shower or wherever and the word would go down the line. Just one word. Just the color of his skin. Red, white, black, or brown...’’ (25). According to Victor’s dad there is only, “War and peace with nothing in between. It’s always one or the other” (29). That is one of the only lessons that his father tried to teach him and this time of war is one of the only memories Victor has of his dad which is why war is an important

theme.
The other important theme of this story is heroes. Victor’s father, around or not, is Victor’s hero. No matter how many days he disappears for or how many times he ignores him, Victor will do anything for him. Whether it’s set up his Jimi Hendrix record for his father to come home drunk and listen to or stand outside on the porch and wait for him to ride up on his motorcycle and say, “Victor...let’s go for a ride” (35). It is interesting that Victor doesn’t have these same feelings towards his mother. He loves his mother but doesn’t go out of his way to
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show it or make her his hero for raising him for the most part alone.

That is usually how it goes, the reliable people in one’s life are often forgotten and then tossed aside for the unstable, sporadic people in their life. That is because the reliable people can’t offer something new and exciting every day but when the other people show up they can offer that, for example Victor’s dad offering a motorcycle ride. That motorcycle ride takes away from his mother caring for him every single day. Victor looks up to his dad so much that he will always be his hero and able to provide something for him that no one else can. Victor is riding on that hope and Victor’s dad is riding out that pedestal but eventually it will come to an end. Sometimes Victor realizes it but then he goes back to this disillusioned memory of his

father.
Sherman Alexie uses the themes of reservation relationships, war and heroes to allow read into Victor’s life throughout the story, “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock.” It can be seen when Alexie writes about Victor’s relationship with his father, the father’s protesting days and how Victor always has a large place in his heart for his father. I loved “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock,” because of the vivid detail it paints and how it really encompasses his entire childhood in one story.