Throughout The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,
Sherman Alexie uses survival as a common theme to
emphasize the importance of being a warrior in the Native American
society. Even in the very first story, “Every Little Hurricane,” Victor
vaguely depicts his life’s struggles as a boy in the Spokane Indian
tribe. Even from early on in his Indian life, between
his family and friends, Victor’s time on the reservation is plagued by
trials and tribulations. His metaphor of personal hurricanes symbolizes
survival and that every man must experience things that shake their
personal foundations to the core. The ideas of
becoming a warrior and fighting for your life are very present in
Alexie’s collection of short stories because they are fundamental to all
Native American culture.
Young Native American men especially long to be warriors within their
reservation’s society. I believe the yearning stems from the boys’
desire to protect the Indian community from
another genocide or disaster. The idea of being a warrior can be related
to the idea of being prominent within the reservation, and even to
being a hero. After white people infiltrated the Spokane tribe, the
society was never the same – Sherman Alexie even
writes on page 29, “Indians are pretty much born soldiers anyway. Don’t
need a uniform to prove it.” As Native Americans, there is an innate
desire to triumph, whether it is over white people, over each other, or
over personal hurricanes. It is clear throughout
the novel that each character utilizes their own means of survival in
order to endure life on the reservation. Thomas Builds-The-Fire fights
battles by means of honesty and storytelling, for example, and even
eventually lives his life through his adopted son,
James.
“But it’s almost like Indians can easily survive the big stuff. Mass
murder, loss of language and land rights. It’s the small things that
hurt the most” (49). The destruction of
the Spokane people, as well as Native American society as a whole, is
mentioned throughout the several short stories as a hurricane felt by
all. On the reservation, although sharing different characteristics, the
tribe bonds over their survival and over the
loss of their loved ones and people. Fighting and becoming strong as
individuals is what leads to the strength of their community. Survival
is even more played up in “The Approximate Size Of My Favorite Tumor,”
where James is dying of terminal cancer. James
Many Horses uses humor to survive, while his wife Norma doesn’t
understand his actions. James combats a world full of terrible struggles
in his own way. Some other examples of potential Indian warriors
learning to cope and fight would be the man in the tribe
who can only drive in reverse or when the young men steal a car and park
it in front of the police station.
Sherman
Alexie essentially points out that being a warrior can be just as
figurative as well as it is literal. Do the men of the Spokane tribe
collectively struggle for the
same end result? Or do they choose to fight individual battles for
specific purposes? The fulfillment of their desires is continuously
frustrated by the quality of life on the reservation – the lack of an
advanced infrastructure or a well-developed economy
greatly hinders the progression of their society.
Sara I really enjoyed your post. I like how you related the hurricanes to their goal to survive, "personal hurricanes symbolizes survival and that every man must experience things that shake their personal foundations to the core". It makes a lot of sense. They go through a storm in some part of their life and once to the core of the storm everything calms down for a while then the storm is back again. The story of their lives but they learn to overcome the obstacles. To answer you question I don't think the Spokane tribe purposely struggle for the same end result. Look at Junior for example, at the end of the story Junior gets an A on his paper and still wasn't satisfied with his achievement and figured that the whites didn't care whether they succeeded or not. But in my opinion Junior did succeed, he had a son by a white woman who still taught him his heritage, and even though he didn't have his father's indian last name I feel like he was their Spokane hero because his son can make it. Does anyone else agree?
ReplyDeleteGreat post Sarah! I think that they all encounter different struggles throughout the book that cause them to encounter those individual battles. Alexie uses poverty as a huge theme throughout the book. Whether it be "imaginary" or the real reservation poverty, it still is an idea of memories of social and individual identities. With that being said, I think that they fight their battles for individual purposes. Each story has it's own struggle with the characters and I relate this back to how Victor is a fictionalized version of Alexie. It leads me to believe that Alexie was trying to overcome all of these obstacles while avoiding the struggles.
ReplyDeleteI loved the post, Sara!
DeleteShelby, I really like what you said at the end of your comment about how every character is going through their own struggle. There's the big, cultural struggle that they are all apart of (like the big storm or hurricane), and there is also a little storm going on in every single character about something more personal. For example, in the story where James is taken in by the narrator, the narrator goes through his personal struggle of adapting to his new life with James and with alcoholism. He is also struggling with the "big storm" going on within his culture (how they are not treated the same as white people). An example of how he goes through the "big storm" is when he takes James to the hospital because of his unresponsiveness and the doctors shrug him off. What other examples can y'all think of that show how each character is going through their own "little storm" while they are going through "the hurricane"?
Thank you Shelby & Brooke :). Shelby, I really liked what you said about the idea of memories shared by the tribe. I also think that each of them is striving to accomplish individual goals -- but because they each are lingering onto a memory of theirs. Maybe the Spokanes all share the same memory? Of a peaceful community until the whites came and destroyed their loved ones and beloved habitat. Maybe subconsciously, they all wish things could just go back to how they were, and they use drugs, alcohol, and methods of survival to gain the strength to endure life on the Reservation.
DeleteI think that the men of the reservation share a common goal, but this does not mean it is a group effort. It seems that all the men of the reservation want to bring pride to their people, but get to distracted by everyday life and alcohol to actually pursue this. They instead end up fighting these individual battles just to survive, when they really want to thrive. As with all other cases, alcohol plays a key role in keeping the Indians on the reservation subdued in a sense. They all want great things but are too busy getting drunk and focusing on hedonism to pursue anything meaningful. Because of this, I think the men end up fighting the small battles just to get by when that's not really what they want and the ultimate reason they are often depressed or dissatisfied with life.
ReplyDeleteThank you, David. I like how you brought up alcohol -- in order to survive the hard times on the Reservation, many if not all of the Indians make alcohol their method of survival. It does subdue them and perhaps for them surviving doesn't mean changing things or necessarily tackling their obstacles. In contrast, I think they become warriors by making it by, in general. I think that for some, the standards of becoming a warrior are lowered when they consume alcohol or other things to take their mind off of reality. Their reality becomes numbness and a stagnant lifestyle, and not overcoming specific hindrances.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you guys think they turn to alcohol to solve their problems? Do you think it is because they have nothing else to do, or because it's the only way to deal with the hardships they suffer? The way I see it, the problems on the reservation seem to be this vicious cycle that never ends. Bad things happen to the Indians in the book, and many of them solve it with alcohol. Of course, the alcohol only leads to more problems. It's almost as if these Spokane Indians have accepted the role of alcohol in their life and know no other way to live! They are survivors, but sometimes it doesn't seem like their survival is worth anything. I know that's a grim thing to say, but do you guys agree? Yes, Indians CAN "easily survive the big stuff," like murder and a loss of land rights. Do you guys think this is because they are apathetic to these problems? Or maybe they are just so used to these problems they've become numb?
ReplyDelete