Shadow Of A Nation By Sherman Alexie Summary

In all of Sherman Alexie’s work, there are many recurring symbols. These symbols represent ideas that Alexie thinks are important to Native American life on a reservation. One of these symbols is basketball. Alexie uses basketball as a substitute for war. In Native American culture, war is a way to win glory and respect.
In Shadow of a Nation, by Gary Smith, it states that intertribal warfare was banned. This meant that the Native Americans no longer had a way to win glory or status anymore by rule of their culture. As stated in the article, “something had to take war’s place, some way had to be found to count coups.” The article goes on to mention how pre-battle rituals were used before big basketball games. It also compares how “the same drum cadence and honor songs used 200 years ago to celebrate the seizing of a dozen horses of the killing of three Sioux now reverberated through gymnasiums and community halls at the capture of a basketball trophy.” This explains why Alexie uses basketball as a way to gain glory, or lose it in his short stories.

In the short story, The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore, by Sherman Alexie, the main character of the story, Victor, almost idolize Julius, a good basketball player on the reservation.

This is seen when the Victor thinks to himself “I’d only seen Julius play a few times, but he had that gift, that grace, those fingers like a *** medicine man.” This is an example of how Alexie uses basketball as a form of war. Another point in the text that basketball is treated as a way to earn glory is when Victor compares actual heroes that have saved lives to basketball players. He says “and to be honest, I don't remember none of those names (referring to “actual heroes”) either, but a reservation hero (referring to good basketball players) is remembered. A reservation hero is remembered

forever.”
In conclusion, Sherman Alexie views basketball as a type of war, or way to gain glory, for Native Americans on reservations. This is supported by Shadow of a Nation because, in this article, it explains why basketball is the only option to gain glory in Native American culture. In The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore Basketball “heroes” are remembered on the reservation more than people that actually save lives are, as well as basketball “heroes” are idolized. Basketball is a reservation’s most prized statistic.