What You Pawn I Will Redeem By Sherman Alexie

636 Words2 Pages

In Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” alcohol plays a major role in the life of the protagonist Jackson Jackson; all through the story we can see the impact alcohol has had in his life. It's only at the end of the story that we experience a sober Jackson for the first time. In this scene Jackson experiences a sober, realistic connection to his grandmother. A real physical connection not overshadowed by alcohol. In the story Alexie’s shows us the chronological events that take place in Jackson’s mission to redeem his grandmother’s powwow regalia, and how every time he gets some money he rather squander it on alcohol. For instance already having five dollars among them and getting a twenty from the pawnshop owner instead of keeping …show more content…

He lets us know who she is “her name was Agnes” (Pg. 13), what she did “she was a nurse at a military hospital in Sydney” (Pg.16), and how she died “and she died of breast cancer…” (Pg. 13). He also let us know how Jackson had been using alcohol as a numbing agent ever since his grandmother’s death, “What the hell’s wrong with you...”It’s my grandmother, I said. “She died.”…I’m sorry, man. When did she die...”Nineteen seventy-two.”…“And you’re killing yourself now?”…I’ve been killing myself ever since she died.” (Pg.21). Drinking himself to a stupor all to forget about her death but what Jackson needed was to connect to his grandmother not forget …show more content…

28). To him he was just trying to retrieve the regalia but what he got instead was his a piece of who he was back. I say this because Jackson's grandmother represents who he is and where he comes from, and by getting the regalia back he got back a piece of himself. Being sober allowed him to connect with the reality of that piece of his identity coming back. Alcohol couldn't give Jackson the sense of who he was no matter how much he drank. Yet it wasn’t necessarily Jackson intentions to be sober that morning, he just found himself in that state due to the events of that day. Knowing Jackson if he had the time to use the five dollars he had left he probably would have but Alexie’s knew it that would have taken away the importance of that moment. Only a sober Jackson could connect with the spirit of his grandmother on such a profound level wherein turn he found

More about What You Pawn I Will Redeem By Sherman Alexie

Open Document