Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Cultural identity definition essay
Cultural identity definition essay
Cultural identity definition essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Cultural identity definition essay
Sherman Alexie's Subtle Sarcasm
Sherman Alexie illustrates a subtle sarcasm that is very consistent among his stories. He conveys many of the current social issues that seem to be constant among those of Indian heritage. His main characters all have very similar characteristics: very laid back and socially conscious. An important characteristic that his characters share is a sense of wit and cynicism which helps convey Alexie's ideals in many regards.
The first rhetorical device Alexie utilizes is his methophorical use of his titles. In the piece The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven he uses two characters from a movie that was very popular at the time. However he puts the two characters against each other despite them being allies in the movie. The Lone Ranger symbolizes the stereotypical attributes of white's ideal hero while Tonto symbolizes the Native Americans ideal hero. The fistfight in heaven could possibly symbolize the struggle over land. This sets an atmosphere for reader that places Native Americans and the Whites as rivals despite the current overview or veil that shrouds the situation like the false friendship. Alexie is keen on the implements that his title will suggest. This is also apparent with The toughest Indian in the world which also sets a concise point of view of which to begin his story.
Alexie does not attempt to disguise the racial unrest that is present among his pieces. The only description of the character's girlfriend in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is that she is white. He does not go into any dept about any of her characteristics. In his pieces he creates generics characters like this in many different fashions. He states that the clerk in the store looks lik...
... middle of paper ...
...chhiker invoke. This act by any means is not an implication of sexuality but instead an effort to be a close to this stereotypical ideal of a Native American that he has concocted.
Another ideal that Alexie explores is the distrust of the more charitable acts of the whites. In the scene in the store in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven even after the clerk reveals his reasons for observing the speaker and attempting small talk, the speaker still suspects these act to be counterfeit. He also states that he knows the price of the item that was given to him free as if he thought that item was an unfair trade. Alexie also illustrates this in This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona when he doubts the sincerity of the conversations that Thomas and a woman on the plane undertakes and the witty responses he adds in the conversations on the plane.
Alexie uses an abrupt, direct, and somewhat sarcastic tone throughout his essay. An example of his tone can be seen when he states, “I refused to failed. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open (page 17). This exert stands out because it emphasizes his passion directly. This example explains the white man’s attitude toward young Indians. It was believed that Indians were unintelligent and were only to be taught the necessary basics of life. However, Fredrick Douglas uses a philosophical or political tone. The basis of his tone is exampled when he speaks about his mistress. Douglas explains “I have lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with direction and advice from her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else (page 118). His example shows a very hard struggle in a few simple sentences, using sorrow and a direct approach. This allowed him to set the scene and tone for the essay. He chooses this approach because it best describes the situation and reaches to the reader’s heart. Both authors describe their experiences with different tones and
In Indian Killer Alexie uses a pulp-fiction form, the serial killer mystery, to frame the social issues facing American Indians. He populates the book with stock characters such as a grizzled ex-cop, a left-wing professor, a right-wing talk radio personality, drunken bums, thuggish teenagers and a schizophrenic main character who serves as the most obvious suspect in a mystery that never quite resolves itself.
He wanted a chance to have more opportunities than what was given to him on the Indian Reservation. The structure of Alexies piece was specific and purposeful due to the fact that it truncated his life into years; the years of education. The audience is aware of the thematic shift in the seventh year when he “.kissed the white girl” (Alexie). The shift between his time on the reservation and his resilience through taking matters into his own hands despite the backlash he received through growing up. Alexie knew that he didn’t want to leave his culture behind, but it was something that he had to do in order to change his life and take charge of it like an “Indian” would do.
involved in being black in blue. Alex was concerned with the ways in which the
Alexie uses authority through the character Junior to make his message solid on discrimination of Indians in the school system and society. The discrimination was evident when the Chicano teacher (Alexie, 1993) immediately thought Junior was ill from drinking too much alcohol, because that is what society thought all the Indian kids did, not from Junior having diabetes. This was an additional tone used when Alexie said, “sharing dark skin doesn’t necessarily make two men brothers” (Alexie, 1993, p. 5). The fact is Indians deal with discrimination more often than most realize. Listed below are some astounding numbers, (Vavrasek,
...as they throw themselves against walls. This rehearsed behavior supports Alexie’s rhetorical agenda. The relationship is superficial and very scientific with very little emotion because they feel obligated to act eccentric so that people actually have a reason to stare. Also, both characters are very intelligent and think of life in a sensible, mathematical way. Jeremiah refers to Mary Lynn as the “constant” in his life. Their ethnicity in conjunction with their rational personalities directly causes their relationship to be very dull and dysfunctional.
In one section, Alexie talks about reading the newspaper after he contributes to losing a game for his school basketball team, coincidentally named the Indians, when he describes, "...I pick up the sports page and read the headline: INDIANS LOSE AGAIN. Go ahead and tell me none of this is supposed to hurt me very much" (179). In using this tone, Alexie manages to show the irony and shame in that phrase in such a way that it speaks for itself. Instead of merely explaining the centuries of oppression and the personal humiliation that it holds for him, he captures it flawlessly with his sardonic tone. In the context of his people’s history, Native Americans had constantly been On a personal level, he feels he has failed his people by being unable to help lead his team to victory. As he explains prior to displaying the headline, he missed several free shots that could have won the game for his team. Many may have doubted his ability due to his ethnic background, and he felt he had the chance to not only prove them wrong but make his entire race proud, and he felt as if he blew it. Alexie manifests his frustrations and shame over the racial stereotyping towards him in his uniquely grim and sarcastic
He also applies this to real world situations and excels in being an author. I think Alexie talks a little bit about how hard it was growing up as an Indian in a non-Indian world and how he also surpasses the fact he is Indian and succeeds in being the author he is today. I’ve gained knowledge from Alexie through his story “Superman and Me” such as his methods of learning how to read, his "refusing to fail" attitude, took him far. I think Alexie's reading methods to teach young children how to read could be very beneficial. He first learned the essay structure by comparing everything to paragraphs. I think that children will learn more effectively about essays if they learned the structure of a paper before reading and/ or writing one. That way they may not as confused on what a paper should always look like. With that said, by understanding the text, he was able to look at the picture and guess what the person or persons was saying and/or doing. Also, the children should first learn the letters and what they mean before trying to guess the sentence. Strongly and unlike many of the other Indian children, Alexie refused to fail in school. I don’t think any child no matter their ethnicity should ever give up but instead keep a positive attitude and always have the type of attitude Alexie had
Overall, Alexie clearly faced much difficulty adjusting to the white culture as a Native American growing up, and expresses this through Victor in his essay, “Indian Education.” He goes through all of the stages of his childhood in comparison with his white counterparts. Racism and bullying are both evident throughout the whole essay. The frustration Alexie got from this is clear through the negativity and humor presented in the experiences he had to face, both on and off of the American Indian reservation. It is evident that Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
To begin, Alex is one out of the four characters that reveals self-awareness broadly. Alex begins by stating, “What’s it going to be then, eh” (Burgess 1). The use of this quote explains to the reader that Alex is not only self-aware of himself, but he is careless, and he is an outlaw. Another quote that Alex states throughout the novel is, “O my brothers” (Burgess 5). “O my brothers” reve...
He goes through the struggles of deciding who he wants to be and who he is. He lived on a reservation with his family and attended the school there. He decided one day the only way he would go anywhere in life was if he were to attend Reardan, an all-white school. Here, Junior was forced to find who he really was. Junior experienced more struggles and tragedies than any white student at this school. He had to fight through the isolation he first experienced to building up the courage to play in a basketball championship. I believe that every event Junior wrote about throughout the novel had an important purpose, and even more importantly, could be related to sociology. As I read the novel, I constantly thought about questions such as the following: What importance does he have to write about this? Could I relate this to my life? Who is Alexie’s audience? Could anyone read this novel and learn something from it? By the time I completed the novel, I could answer all of these questions without a
Irony in a Good Man is Hard to Find Flannery O’ Connor’s story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the tale of a vacation gone wrong. The tone of this story is set to be one irony. The story is filled with grotesque but meaningful irony. In this analysis I will guide you through the clues provided by the author, which in the end climax to the following lesson: “A Good Man” is not shown good by outward appearance, language, thinking, but by a life full of “good” actions. The story begins with the grandmother trying to persuade the family not to travel towards Florida but perhaps go to Tennessee instead.
At the base of his family was Judaism. Their identity was firmly rooted in their religion. To Alex all he saw when he looked in the mirror or at other kids, at the furniture in people's homes, the way they spoke, was Jewish and not Jewish. His facial features and his name became sources of resentment and things he desperately wanted to change. Thoughts of being Alton C. Peterson and having a smaller nose consumed him. The pressure his parents put on him to go to temple and define himself as a Jew! Jew! Jew! Jew!, "sucking and sucking on the sour grape of a religion," made him crazy. Frustrated with dwelling on the past and the anxiety of being a perfect Jew, Alex insisted, "I also happen to be a human being!"
Alexie’s tone changes from sarcastic to serious as he talks about more stern ideas like religion. Though a specific form of religion is never stated, the assumption that God is present is mentioned in the poem. Lines 9-13 reads “... Let fame/ And shame intertwine. Let one...
Alexie Sherman’s, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” displays the complications and occasional distress in the relationship between Native-American people and the United States. Despite being aboriginal inhabitants of America, even in present day United States there is still tension between the rest of the country, specifically mainstream white America, and the Native-American population. Several issues regarding the treatment of Native-Americans are major problems presently. Throughout the narrative, several important symbols are mentioned. The title itself represents the struggles between mainstream America and Native-Americans. The theme of racism, violence, and prejudice is apparent throughout the story. Although the author