Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” describes a homeless Indian man named Jackson Jackson, who has never lived farther than one hundred miles from where his tribe, Spokane, originated. In his current location, Seattle, people do not appreciate and respect the individualities of others. In this story, he tries to regain the powwow regalia that has been stolen from his grandmother. Alexie reveals a deep concern for the loss of traditional Native American culture through Jackson’s journey to recover the lost regalia. He presents the theme of self-identification through multiple symbols in the plot. Jackson Jackson continually tries to define himself through the stereotypes given by society, friends, and people he meets until he finally …show more content…
finds himself in the traditional Native American culture passed on in his family. The narrator has lost his identity, and he has gradually accepted the definition given to him by others. Jackson is a homeless man who has to look for a different dwelling every day (8). This represents not only the loss of a physical place to live, but it also symbolically indicates a misplacement of a spiritual roof where he can stay. During his state of homelessness, Jackson recognizes that he had lost his identity long before losing his home. Jackson’s belief that he has “asocial disorder” (9) is also a symbol. Jackson’s asocial behavior makes him want to escape from the society and the unremarkable reality that it represents. However, unlike antisocial behavior, which is medically categorized as a mental health disorder, asocial behavior is merely an attitude towards social life. Nevertheless, society sees asocial behavior as a disorder. He is convinced of society’s definition of asocial behavior, which is symbolically shown when he starts to hopelessly allow others to define him and his personal life choices. Of course, he questions if he is normal. He then “disappeared” (9), not only physically, but also symbolically from his spiritual world. He does not know how to react to society’s definitions of him because he cannot trust his own judgment. He sees himself as abnormal. Nevertheless, he knows that if he stays with someone who is normal then he will also be seen as normal. He becomes an “effective” (9) homeless man. Homeless men are stereotypically labeled as Indians, (9) and he is an outstanding member of his homeless family due to his efficiency. The symbolism here demonstrates his effort and willingness to recognize himself in the Indian group by all capable means. Being an effective homeless man, allows Jackson to feel as if he is in a welcoming group.
He believes that this helps him to define himself. He is aware of this new successful way so he continues to try to find himself in friends and other acquaintances. Yet, he often fails. His closest friends are Rose of Sharon and Junior who are Indians as well. The masses generally assume that close friends have similar habits, hobbies and attitudes. When Jackson and his friends see that the stolen regalia is in the pawnshop (10), his soul feels empty and lonely despite being surrounded by friends. Alexie intentionally puts the regalia in a pawnshop instead of a more respected place, such as a museum or gallery. As technology became more sophisticated after the Industrial Revolution, the regalia began to lose value and respect. The pawnshop symbolically shows the lack of admiration and respect of the regalia and the loss of identity in Jackson. Jackson wants to recover the regalia and his traditions, but he is unable to redeem the regalia due to the shopkeeper’s unreasonable prices. He gains hope to obtain the regalia whenever he wins the lottery. This hope later dwindles as Jackson starts wasting the money he won from the lottery. He goes into the bar for Indians and spends his money buying shots for other Indians (18). The Big Heart bar is another symbol used to show Jackson’s identity quest. The bar is special, and it allows Jackson to recognize himself because there are only Indians in the bar. Jackson can uncover his true self inside the bar when drinking with his brothers and sisters. Furthermore, the Big Heart bar symbolically illustrates the lousy habits and poor choices Jackson makes every day as well. After getting drunk, Jackson passes out on the railroad tracks (21). Railroad tracks are a symbol for his life. His situation is due to his past life choices, and he feels confused about the future and his inability to obtain the lost regalia. After trying to obtain
money in every way he can, Jackson must return to the pawnshop empty-handed. Jackson returns to the pawnshop and earns the regalia back even though he has not obtained enough money (28). Jackson finally finds himself rooted in his Indian heritage. The stolen regalia and lost history has been returned to Jackson. More importantly, the journey symbolically represents Jackson turning away from his ignorance and acknowledging his heritage. Jackson understands that even though the regalia has been stolen, he still has a responsibility to pass on his culture. The task of assimilating and developing the Native American culture should not be abandoned. The regalia is the last and the most significant symbol of the story. The regalia represents the culture that has not yet been conveyed to the newest generation. The regalia connects the past as well as the present, and it gives Jackson a chance to return to his family history. In the end, Jackson dances in the regalia just like his grandmother (28). He recognizes the importance of the Indian heritage that truly defines his deeper self. From the moment that the narrator recognizes the absence of his cultural individuality, he starts the journey of claiming a land of his own. At the beginning, he only knows that he is lost. While trying different ways to define himself, he is able to examine himself and his identity.
“What you pawn I will redeem” is a story written by Sherman Alexie. The story takes place in Seattle, Washington and follows the homeless native american named Jackson Jackson on his journey to obtain his grandmothers regalia that was stolen 50 years ago. He finds the regalia in a pawnshop and spends the rest of the story doing many different things in attempt to make enough money so that he can purchase it back. Throughout the story the author uses Jacksons humor and like-ability to do impressive job of tricking the reader into feeling compassion for Jackson. But when you take a deeper you look into the story, it reveals that in the end Jackson is just a tricky homeless alcoholic.
Jackson describes in more detail of how he felt more like his grandmother after he wrapped the regalia around him. The pedestrians, city, everything around him was watching him feel like his grandmother, like some sort of flashback he could be
The author, Sherman Alexie, is extremely effective through his use of ethos and ethical appeals. By sharing his own story of a sad, poor, indian boy, simply turning into something great. He establishes his authority and character to the audiences someone the reader can trust. “A little indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly…If he’d been anything but an Indian boy living in the reservations, he might have been called a prodigy.” Alexie mentions these two different ideas to show that he did have struggles and also to give the audience a chance to connect with his struggles and hopefully follow the same journey in becoming something great. By displaying his complications and struggles in life with stereotypical facts, Alexie is effective as the speaker because he has lived the live of the intended primary audience he is trying to encourage which would be young Indian
Interpretive and escapist are two types of literature present in Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. Escapist is written for people who seek a distraction or relief from reality. Interpretive is written to make people understand questions of life and death. Sherman Alexie conveys his story through plot and conflict in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” to show interpretive and escapist aspects in the story.
Sherman Alexie writes in his story, What You Pawn I Will Redeem about a homeless Salish Indian named Jackson Jackson. Alexie takes readers on Jackson’s journey to acquire enough money to purchase back his grandmother’s stolen powwow regalia. Throughout the story, Jackson’s relationships with other charters ultimately define his own character. Alexie, a well know Native American author tells an all too common tale of poverty and substance abuse in the Native American community through his character Jackson. The major character flaw of Jackson is his kindness, which ultimately becomes his greatest asset when fate allows him to purchase back his grandmother’s powwow regalia from a pawn broker for only five dollars.
To understand Jackson’s book and why it was written, however, one must first fully comprehend the context of the time period it was published in and understand what was being done to and about Native Americans in the 19th century. From the Native American point of view, the frontier, which settlers viewed as an economic opportunity, was nothin...
Alexie’s contrasting style is used to help support his thesis that America is a contradiction. Sherman uses events and people to show the contradiction in our history. “How did we get from there to here? This country somehow gave life to Maria Tallchief and Ted Bundy, to Geronimo and Joe McCarthy… to the Declaration of Independence and Executive Order No. 1066…” and forces readers to understand the contradictory state of the union, and the entire world. The forced analysis put forth in “What Sacagawea Means to Me” pushes the readers of TIME to digest his complex thought, and to enrich themselves in a history different than the one found in their high school
Jackson Jackson, who is of Native American descent, lost his home due to reasons he does not want to share, but is actively trying to turn his life around. (Alexie 1433) The author, Sherman Alexie, who is also of Native American heritage, put him in the story to show the passion and drive in Native Americans. Since, they have been run out of their homes for the past hundreds of years, they now feel like they are “invisible”, not hated. Jackson goes on a quest to try to buy back his grandmothers regalia, which can be seen as a metaphor of him trying to get his life back together. Even though he continues to fail at getting the necessary amount of money to buy it back, Jackson continues to try. Jackson shares a philosophical theory with the father in “When The Emperor Was Divine”, in that “it’s better to bend than to break”. (Otsuka 78) What he means is that it is better to resist than to give up. For instance, Jackson could have just given up at the pawn shop and not tried to buy back the regalia that he knew was his grandmothers, but instead he tried to buy it back. Even though he kept spending the money he earned, he continued to work for more. (Alexie 1448) Despite earning over one hundred and fifty dollars, Jackson spent it on; food, alcohol, and lottery tickets. Even with all of this spending Jackson never gave up on his goal of buying back his grandmothers regalia. Moreover, Jackson refused to make up excuses as to why he cannot get the regalia. Even though for years Native Americans have been seen as “liars” he does not use that as an excuse to stop trying. (Alexie 1436) At no point in the story did Jackson ever act like he was a different ethnicity, or try to become a different person. Even when he ended up with the same amount money that he began with he still went back to the pawn
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, 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.
In conclusion, Sherman Alexie created a story to demonstrate the stereotypes people have created for Native Americans. The author is able to do this by creating characters that present both the negative and positive stereotypes that have been given to Native Americans. Alexie has a Native American background. By writing a short story that depicts the life of an Indian, the reader also gets a glimpse of the stereotypes encountered by Alexie. From this short story readers are able to learn the importance of having an identity while also seeing how stereotypes are used by many people. In the end of the story, both Victor and Thomas are able to have an understanding of each other as the can finally relate with each other through Victor's father.
Picture yourself in a town where you are underprivileged and sometimes miss a meal. In the novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie wrote the book to show hardships that Native Americans face today. Alexie shows us hardships such as poverty, alcoholism and education. In the novel, Junior goes against the odds to go to an all white school to get a better education to have a better life
In the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, Sherman Alexie uses the two most well known stereotypes of Native Americans today, that they are alcoholics and homeless. These are more modern day stereotypes but they fall under the the main stereotype, that Native Americans are helpless and uncivilized. Alexie’s short story focuses on a character named Jackson Jackson, who happens to be both homeless and an alcoholic. Jackson is walking past a pawn shop when he notices his grandmother’s regalia that was stolen from his family fifty years ago. The owner of the pawn shop gives Jackson twenty-four hours to come up with the money for the regalia. The story takes us throughout his journey which consist mostly of Jackson buying alcohol, food, and even some lottery tickets. Jackson would acquire money through a variety of situations right after getting money he ended
The poem “The Pow Wow at the End of the World” by Sherman Alexie was published in 1996. Along with being a novelist, short story writer, and filmmaker, Alexie is a talented Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-American poet. He experienced the life of a Native American surrounded by developing American culture as he grew up on a Spokane Indian Reservation. Another work of Alexie’s is his book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. The book tells the story of himself as a young native american boy who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Throughout the book, he faces the challenge of fitting in because he is an outcast. The book intertwines with the poem he wrote as they both speak of forgiveness. It is evident that Alexie is humble and forgives people who have wronged him.
Sherman Alexie’s, What You Pawn I Will Redeem. is a brutally honest exploration of an honest and homeless Native American’s connection. with his ancestry, using metaphors and symbolism to convey the message of unity. one’s heritage and an escape from the tortures of the past. One of the first things Jackson, who attributes his matching first and last.
“What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” by Sherman Alexie gives readers a look at the life of homeless, easygoing, middle aged Native American, Jackson Jackson. The story, which is set in Seattle, describes the conditions that Jackson finds himself in. Alexie’s choice of motifs emphasizes the significance of cultural and historical references. With these concepts in mind, the reader is taken through a journey of self-realization. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” narrates the internal struggle Jackson feels trying to figure out his personal identity as a Native American.