Indian Education Sherman Alexie Summary

“Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie is narrative in which he captures the essence of being an Indian and which the story is told from his perspective and he expresses his personal sentiments of what he endures being an Indian attending school. Alexie maintains a clear narrative order by using headings which are classified by each grade starting from Kindergarten to Senior year. Alexie does not use clear and succinct transitions but he ends each narrative with a sarcastic or thought-provoking statement or thought and it refers or concludes that paragraph for what he is initially talking about in that heading. These food for thought statements that Alexie ends his paragraphs with gives us insight into Alexie’s style as a writer and has a symbolic meaning to the overall narrative and sentiment expressed by Alexie towards

his education. For example, on page 146, in the subheading titled “Eleventh Grade”, Alexie is recalling a moment during a basketball game when he missed the game winning free throws and how his team nickname is called the “Indians” and he is actually the only Indian on the team to play for a team with a mascot as an Indian and he reads the paper the next day and its headlined “Indians Lose Again” and Alexie states “ Go ahead and tell me none of this is supposed to hurt me very much”.

This statement by Alexie gives the audience insight the struggle Alexie must endure as an Indian and this negative stigma and identity Indians like him face in a “civilized world”; he feels like he won’t be able to prosper due to the stereotypes he is labeled with. The chronology of “Indian Education” is smooth in terms of each grade, what happened in each grade and when they occurred in his life but since Alexie uses snapshots of experiences and events that he dealt with while he was in grade school in seems a bit choppy. For example, he goes from talking about a school dance in ninth grade to talking about his driving test in tenth grade to talking about playing basketball in

eleventh. Although each experience correlates with a specific time in his life (grade it occurred), each subheading paragraph is a story within itself that contains an important significance.
The lesson Alexie is trying to depict to the audience is that despite hardships and hard times, one can overcome them and should not allow them to dictate your life and future. Alexie had to overcome racism, inequality, stereotypes, and constant judgment and assumptions but that in term allowed him to evolve and become more resilient and led to his growth as a person and in school. For example, on page 147 Alexie graduates high school and he states, “I walk down the aisle as valedictorian of this farm town…Later I stand as the school board chairman recites my awards, accomplishments and scholarships”. Throughout his entire childhood and grade school years, he was made to feel invaluable and unsuccessful or unworthy but he beat the odds and typical cycle of Indians and became something of himself. Overall, this narrative is a well written narrative that ultimately achieved its purpose.