Analysis Of Lawyerss League By Sherman Alexie

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Recommended: Coming of age in literature

In his short story “Lawyers League”, Sherman Alexie does a great job of accurately

portraying characteristics of the PNW as well as struggles, cultures, and social issues commonly

found in the region. He displays great regionalism in his work in terms of culture, theme,

conflicts and location. However, it’s hard to say whether or not his themes are universal yet.

When looking at the text in “Lawyers League” in juxtaposition to the theory of stages in “Pacific

Northwest Literature—Its coming of Age” and the sample of first-stage regional writing “Down

the Columbia”, Lawyers league illustrates that PNW literature has not yet come of age.

In the academic article “pacific Northwest Literature—Its coming of Age”, the process in

which literature …show more content…

When universal understanding is

achieved, the individual style and themes of regional literature becomes used throughout the

world of literature and it’s easy to recognize that style of writing in juxtaposition with any other

form of writing. For example, if you were to read “Much ado About Nothing” it could easily be

concluded that it’s Shakespearian literature because of the style and common themes in his

writing, or in other words a universal understanding of his literature has already been established.

When looking at his work, it’s easy to see how Shakespeare’s writing has evolved through the

three stages. When looking at Alexie’s work it’s more difficult to say whether or not it’s gone

through the three stages.

After reading “Lawyer’s League”, it’s easy to conclude that its regional writing: His story

takes place in Seattle and follows a half African-American half Spokane-Indian lawyer named

Richard. This text shares very common themes with the region, those themes being racism,

inequality, conflict and regret. “’Hey, Steve, nice bunch of friends you have here’, I said. ‘I’m so

happy you racist white boys are looking after justice in our state’… ‘I’m not your boy,’ I

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