Sherman Alexie's Every Little Hurricane

The adult characters in Sherman Alexie’s, Every Little Hurricane are alcoholics and suffer from a chaotic lifestyle. The main character of this story is a child that is constantly subjected to his family’s way of life. The past plays a significant role in the theme of this story. Victor, his parents, and even his uncles each hold onto tragic memories from their past. For one example, Victor’s mother cannot forget that she was sterilized just moments after he was born. By holding onto these painful memories, she is not able to experience emotional growth and chooses to drink rather than to heal. Victor is, in a way, collateral damage resulting from the issues his family have. He is subjected to violence and heavy drinking throughout the entire

story. Even though his memories are often negative he holds on to them as a sense of comfort. The narrator gives us insight into the dreams and memories of his family and himself to show how the past has influenced their alcoholism and how Victor is predisposed to becoming an alcoholic.
Holding onto the past is a recurrent theme of this story.

For example, Victor, his parents, and his uncles hold onto painful events and memories that hinder their productivity and cause them to lack the skills needed to grow emotionally. This is a clear indication that they suffer from poor emotional health and coping skills. This is most likely the reason that they all drink alcohol and party on a regular basis. This is also why small issues in their household can blow up into huge arguments and ultimately result in cursing and fighting. Continuing to drink under the circumstances Victor and his family live in only worsen their emotional health. A viscous cycle repeats over and over until a hole is dug so deep that none of them can gain traction to pull themselves out of the misery that’s been created. Victor witnesses this cycle and locks each incident in his mind for safe

keeping.
The memories that Victor share with us are negative and often demonstrate the weight this child carries through his tiny life. He refers to the tragic events in his family’s life as “hurricanes”, indicating that he is intelligent enough to know his family members are not demonstrating normal behavior. Although he recognizes that he is experiencing a chaotic upbringing, he holds onto his memories and dreams as a coping mechanism to survive. This is shown when Victor talks about his dreams. He fantasizes about his mother cooking good food and listening to his parents’ favorite music on the jukebox. He states, “In those dreams, all was good” (Alexie 6). Of course Victor has to fantasize about his mother cooking. While this would be a reality for the majority of children, Victor can only dream about eating good, healthy food as his family are poverty stricken.
Victor’s family are financially incompetent and as a result must live off of government assistance. This is made evident in the first lines of the story when the speaker mentions that the house the family live in is provided through HUD. The family does not have money for food or basic items needed to live comfortably. What little amount of money the family does receive is virtually wasted on unhealthy consumables that only benefit their addictions. For instance, the family smoke cigarettes and drink alcoholic beverages throughout the entire story. They are replacing sustainable resources with things needed to be indulgent. This is an indication that their recreational use of alcohol has turned into an addiction.
Addiction stems from using substances combined with poor coping skills. According to Adrei Sdrulla, “Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors, and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response” (2). Most often people use drugs or drink or both to numb their feelings. Using these substances mask normal emotions because they are mood altering. By altering one’s mood they can temporarily relieve the stress caused by facing thoughts and feelings that are hurtful to the person. The problem lies in that the more these mind altering substances are used, the person using them develops a need for instant gratification. This rolls over into different aspects of their life, hindering emotional health and exacerbating the person’s already poor coping skills. When such behavior is met with continuous drinking or drugging, a transformation occurs in the person’s personality. Where they may have been rational and pleasant at one point, they now become angry and have little tolerance for life’s normal stressors.
Having poor coping skills is a common occurrence in Every Little Hurricane. This is shown when Victor’s uncles are fighting with each other. The narrator mentions that “the two Indians escalated the argument into a fistfight” (Alexie 2). People who are not under the influence can reason that fist fighting is unhealthy behavior. The other members of the family watch as the brothers maim each other out in the yard and no one tries to break them apart. Meanwhile, Victor also watches in fear while his uncles nearly kill one another. As a child being witness to such atrocities, Victor is learning that this behavior is normal and will most likely develop poor coping skills in the future.
Victor is subjected to more horrific things in his short childhood than most adults have experienced their entire lives.

Being exposed to his family’s drinking and violence influence him in a profound way. He will grow up to think that leading a chaotic life is acceptable in society. He is doomed to become an alcoholic himself if his parents do not wake up from their substance abuse haze and get him away from such a negative environment. Children who grow up with addicted parents are predisposed to becoming addicts themselves. According to Robert Priedt, author of Many Alcoholics Suffered Childhood Trauma, “patients being treated for alcoholism were likely to have experienced one or more types of childhood abuse or neglect” (Priedt). He also found that a history of emotional abuse was associated with an increase in the likelihood of the patient having depression. This is important concerning that while Victor is not being physically or sexually abused, he is forced to live in an unhealthy environment. This is a form of emotional abuse. Aside from that, Victor is neglected the basic necessities such as food and safety. With his family constantly under the influence and fighting, they do not have time to give Victor the emotional support that a child desperately needs to grow into a functioning member of society. He is also growing up poor. This is not always a bad thing. In fact, some people that grow up in poverty learn the best coping skills and grow to be resourceful,

ambitious people. In contrast, when poverty is met with a lack of nurturing and education, children develop stress. Stress contributes to many health problems and is a key factor in the continued use of substances. According to Katherine Keyes, “there is a relationship between catastrophic events and alcohol use disorders” (Keyes). There are four main types of stressors: fateful/catastrophic events, child maltreatment, common adult stressful life events, and minority stress. Taking into account the environment Victor is being raised in and the personal accounts of tragedy he shares with readers, one can conclude that he suffers from three out of the four stressors. There is a slim chance that Victor will be able to break the cycle of destruction he is learning from his family or that he will even want to.