Analysis Of Sherman Alexie's Novel 'The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven'

Most of Alexie’s writing reflects life on the reservations today. The poverty, oppression, commodity food, and alcoholism are the main themes in his stories. The title story of his collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, however, deals with the life of an Indian man who has left the reservation to live in Seattle and some of the obstacles he faces in the white world. We never know the main character’s name, probably because he feels like a nameless nobody in this strange world. He is alienated and told that he doesn’t belong even

Defining exactly what shapes ethnic identity in the United States is the hardest question I can imagine being asked. As a child born in the United States, I find this question so difficult because I have been exposed to a large variety of cultures within the small boundaries of my own family. This makes it very difficult to determine one, or even a few characteristics that define ethnic identity. In the case of many of these novels, the task of defining ethnic identity is not so complicated. The list of determinants that I believe to define ethnic identity includes language, geographic location, and tradition.

Purpose: Alexie highlights how he ultimately overcame the hardships suffered during his early years due to his Indian ethnicity and displays how Native Americans were, and continue, to suffer from discrimination.

“Indians are like the weather.” With his opening words Vine Deloria Jr. sets up the basis for the rest of his witty yet substantial manifesto, Custer Died for Your Sins. The book, which describes the struggles and misrepresentation of the American Indian people in 1960s American culture, is written in a style that changes from ironic and humorous satire to serious notions, then back again. Through energetic dialogue that engages the reader in a clever and articulate presentation, Deloria advocates the dismissal of old stereotypes and shows a viewpoint that allows the general public to gain a deeper understanding of what it is to be an American Indian.

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

In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Superman and Me,” Alexie writes about his life as an Indian child growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the state of Washington. He depicts his life from when he was three years old, living on the reservation, up to his current self, as an adult writer who frequently visits that reservation. He primarily describes his interest in reading and how it has changed his life for the better.

In a Bill Moyer’s interview “Sherman Alexie on Living Outside Borders”, Moyer’s interviews Native American author and poet Sherman Alexie. In the Moyer’s and Company interview, Alexie shares his story about the struggles that he endured during his time on a Native American reservation located at Wellpinit, Washington. During the interview, Alexie goes in-depth about his conflicts that plagued the reservation. In an award-winning book by Sherman Alexie called “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, Alexie writes semi-autobiography that reveals his harsh life on the reservation through a fictional character named Arnold Spirit Junior. In Alexie’s semi-autobiography, Alexie shares his struggles of a poor and alcoholic family, the

Education —an institution for success, opportunity, and progress — is itself steeped in racism. In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Indian Education” from his book The Longer Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is set in two places, the Spokane Indian Reservation and a farm town nearby the reservation. The story is written in a list of formative events chronologize Victor’s youth by depicting the most potent moment from each year he is in school. Alexie addresses the issue of racism in education by examining examples of injustice and discrimination over twelve years in a boy’s life. Victor faces his initial injustice in first grade when he is bullied by bigger kids, but his understanding of injustice becomes much more complex in grades two through twelve as he experiences discrimination against his American Indian identity. Familial experiences of a Native woman, Alexie’s style and humor, and Victor’s awareness of discrimination from grade one to twelve all reveal the grim reality of growing up and being schooled on an American Indian reservation.

The three stories “A Drug Called Tradition,” “What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, and “The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire” in a book of short story collection called: “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” published in 1993 and reissued in 2005, by Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/ Coeur d’Alene Indian. Those three short stories introduce us readers to Thomas Builds-The-Fire, a character who tells too much stories. Through analyzing Thomas Builds-The-Fire’s stories, we will understand why his community treats him like an outcast. The story about three proud Indian boys: It is night time, they aren’t doing drugs. Instead, they drink Diet Pepsi, and strangely, “They are wearing only loincloths and braids” even though they’re sipping on the Pepsis in the twentieth century. Because, as Thomas suggests, they “have decided to be real Indians tonight”, “they all want to have their vision…receive their true name,” and they want to “breath in that sweet smoke” (20) from the fire they built. The word “sweet smoke” gives us readers a sense of release and relief of their suppressed feelings coming from the longing to reconnect to their roots. Later, the boys become non-alcoholic, and in a matter of seconds, “Thomas throws away the beer,” “Junior throws his whiskey through a window,” and “Victor spills his vodka” (21). At the end of this story, “the boys sing. They sing and dance and drum. They steal horses” (21), thus become heroes, proud Indian heroes. Story of Thomas and

Sherman J. Alexie, is a short story written in the first person focusing on two Native American Men who grew up together on a Reservation for Native Americans but have been estranged from each other since they were teenagers. Victor who is the narrator of this story is a young man who lost faith in his culture and its traditions, while Thomas our second main character is a deeply rooted traditional storyteller. In the beginning of the story Victor, our Native American narrator learns the death of his father. Jobless and penniless, his only wish is to go to Phoenix, Arizona and bring back his father’s ashes and belongings to the reservation in Spokane. The death of Victor’s father leads him and Thomas to a journey filled with childhood

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Unfortunately Native Americans have deep roots with racism and oppression during the last 500 years. “In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven,” Sherman Alexie tries to show racism in many ways in multiple of his short stories. These stories, engage our history from a Native American viewpoint. Many Native Americans were brutally forced out of their homes and onto Reservations that lacked resources. Later, Indian children were taken from their families and placed into school that were designed to, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” In the book there are multiple short story that are pieces that form a larger puzzle that shows the struggles and their effects on Native Americans. Sherman Alexie shows the many sides of racism, unfair justice and extermination policies and how imagination is key for Native American survival.

“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.” - Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. In Sherman Alexie’s collection of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, we read stories of Native American struggles for survival in an American society designed to keep Native Americans locked in the cycle of intergenerational trauma. Alexie illustrates the importance of rejecting intergenerational trauma as a method of survival, by isolating the two main causes intergenerational trauma becomes inescapable and giving examples that showcase the impact of attempting to survive the cycle. Through the interpretation of multiple sources, it becomes clear that the inescapability of intergenerational trauma is the outcome of internalized oppression and pessimism.

Given these two choices, Tony feels he must choose between them. Anaya introduces Tony to a different culture, as he enters school; there he meets the white dominant culture head on.  Tony, now blends a third culture into his life.  Tony's heritage offers him two ways of being a Spanish-Mexican-American; in Alexie's novel, Victor strives to be an Indian, period. Victor’s culture, being different from Tony's, breeds different cultural problems.   Victor, a Native American Indian, in Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, searches daily for ways to survive being Indian.  Victor lives in a white world that continually divests him of the privilege of his heritage daily.  The ordinary daily erosion damages Victor--and the Native American--the most.  Alexie writes, ". . . 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.  The white waitress who wouldn't take an order, Tonto, the Washington Redskins" (Alexie 49).  Victor needs to learn to survive the daily-ness, the ordinary and wants someone to show him how and says:  ". . . I have] to find out what it mean[s] to be Indian, and there ain't no self-help manuals for that . . . " (Alexie 211).   As Victor wanders through the Native American cultural maze, somewhat aimlessly and alone, Tony is

This was a problem since the European powers wanted this land as a foreign expansion of their colony. In order to rectify this issue, American Indians were chased away from their land to cater for the interests of the White man. Eventually, the population of the Native Americans dwindled due to the constant wars, massacres and disease that ravaged them. Later, government legislations were established that confined them to reservations. These secluded locations limited the abilities of American Indians while White settlers were allocated more land to develop themselves. Life in these reservations was hard with deprivation and alcoholism stagnating growth. In ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Stories’, Sherman Alexie prejudice is a major theme in the book’s portrayal of the lives of Native Americans in an American in the society that favored the White man. In ‘This Is What It means To Say Phoenix, Arizona’ (a chapter in the book) The author captures the issue of poverty when he writes about Victor, his mother and Indian Councils lacking money to fly him home to bring his father’s ashes (Alexie 74). This portrayal of the characters reflects the reality of Native Americans in an era that cared less for their needs than that of the White

Some of the symbolism used by Alexie are subtle enough that the readers may have to read between the lines, but each symbol used represents a bigger issues within the Indian Reservations. The first use of symbolism that I noticed as I read this collection, can be found within the title The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. “The Lone Ranger”, I believe, refers to a Western television show that used stereotypes in order to portray Native Americans. More often than not, children want to be the cowboys when engaging in the game “Cowboys and Indians”, because it is always portrayed on television as being the winning side in any conflict that occurs between the two groups of people. A story that demonstrates a usage of typical Native American stereotypes is “Crazy Horse Dreams”, in which a woman is looking for the perfect “Crazy Horse Indian” to sleep with so that she may connect to her beloved Indian roots. However, due to the stereotypes she let herself believe she never really finds this type of Indian and instead settles for Victor who at one point tells her, in reference to wanting to connect to her Indian roots, that “You’re nothing important… You’re just another goddamned Indian like me” (pg. 41). As the stories progress we see the usage of stereotypes via the Indians and the shows they watch on television such as “The Brady Bunch”, and the lack of interest the Native Americans have in conforming to the Western