In Sherman Alexie’s short story excerpt, The Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor, he highlights the identity of his people through the use of humor. Humor is perpetually seen throughout this work, defining Alexie’s style and view of the world around him. It is both a coping mechanism and a way of communicating with those around him, as it is a language everyone can understand. In this sense, it weaves together Alexie’s view of Native American identity. Alexie uses this humor both to subtly reveal stereotypes about Native American people and communities and to maneuver through everyday life. A name is an integral part of one’s identity, being given at birth and held on to till death. It represents who a person is. Sometimes someone might go by different names depending on how close they are to another. A name can be altered to tease lovingly or show sincerity. Such an instance takes place within the text. Surnames in the Native American community differ from that of western society. Descriptions took the place of a typical last name, creating more intimate and interesting names. For example, the main character of this excerpt is Jimmy Many-Horses. While Jimmy speaks with a cousin, he is fondly called “Jimmy Sixteen-and-One-Half-Horses” (Alexie 157). This reveals a relationship that is close enough to give nicknames. Later on, the character calls him “Jimmy Zero-Horses” to show solemn disappointment (Alexie 157). This remorseful teasing reveals the intimacy of these
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will
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
Identities can be ripped away from people, but love can help people to regain it and realise who they truly are. In Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse the native children’s identities are taken from them, and not all of them find it again. Saul’s own identity as an Ojibway is taken by the residential school and the impact of unfavourable circumstances; but with the love and support of his family and friends, he finds it again. The residential school and other negative influences cause Saul to lose his identity, which is the offset for his quest to regain it with help from his friends and family.
This shines light upon her Native American roots and how it can be an inspiration for her Century Quilt, each square representing her family’s racial diversity and mixed roots. It is quite difficult to learn of all the harsh animosity they were enduring, such as Meema and her yellow sisters whose “grandfather’s white family nodding at them when they met” (24-27). The hostility is clear as the white relatives only register their presence; no “hello” or warm embrace as if they didn’t acknowledge them as true family. However, with descriptive imagery, the speaker’s sense of pride for having the best of both worlds is still present as she understands Meema’s past experiences and embraces her family’s complexity wholeheartedly; animosity and all.
“My Name” by Sandra Cisneros is a short excerpt from her book The House on Mango Street (1984). In this excerpt, Cisneros narrator is a girl named Esperanza, who is telling us that her name reminds her of a lot of negatives things, including who she inherited it from. Esperanza is trying to convince us that her name is a terrible name, which is built up of negativity and bad history. She state that she was named after her great-grandmother, who was born in the Chinese year of the horse, which they have in common, and is well known for her wild customs which lead to her feeling sad and lonely all her life. Esperanza specifies that her name sound beautiful among Spanish speakers, but to non-Spanish speakers her name is pronoun funny “as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth” she says. She indicated that she would like to baptize herself under a new
At several points within “The Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor,” Alexie plays with the use of nicknames to relay relationships between characters. A name is an integral part of one’s identity, being given at birth and held on to till death, representing who a person is. Sometimes people go by different names depending on how close the person is to another. Names are altered to tease lovingly or show sincerity. Such an instance takes place within the text. Surnames in the Native American community differ from that of western society. Descriptions took the place of a typical last name, creating more intimate and interesting names. For example, the main character of this excerpt is
Names create an identity, and Vanderhaeghe uses this convention to further confuse the division between Indigenous and white. Jerry Potts is also referred to as Ky-yo-kosi and Bear Child throughout the novel, mirroring his own inner conflict of being unsure of what he really is. He wants to be “a Blackfoot, a Real Person” (Vanderhaeghe 106) but he is most commonly called by his white name, reminding the reader of his positions on both sides. Another instance for confusion is when a Metis brother is referred to with his white and Indigenous name together in a sentence. “Unborn Calf…McKay’s pony” (330).
There comes a point in time in an individual’s life in which their name truly becomes a part of their identity. A name is more than just a title to differentiate people; it is a part of the person. In Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard E. Kim, names play a major role on the character’s identities. The absence and importance of the names in the story make the story rich with detail and identity through something as simple as the name of a character. Names are a significant factor affecting the story and the characters throughout the novel Lost Names.
Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian tells the story of Indigenous people in Canada and the United States, it challenges the narrative on how Indigenous history is taught and explains why Indigenous people continue to feel frustrated. King’s seeks to educate the reader as he provides a detailed accounts of the horrific massacres Indigenous people endured, yet he simultaneously inserts humorous moments which balances out the depressing content and enhances his story. The books highlights the neglect and assimilation that Indigenous were subjected to and how their survival was seen as an inconvenience to western culture. King directs his message at a Euro-centric audience to offer an accurate explanation of Indigenous culture and
Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”
Throughout literature many pieces of work can be compared and contrasted to each other. In “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie discusses the challenges he faced as a young Indian adult, who found his passion of reading at an early age, living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He challenged the stereotype of the young Indian students who were thought to be uneducated while living on a reservation. Likewise, in the excerpt from The Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez shares his similar experience of being a minority and trying to break stereotypes of appearing uneducated. He shares the details of his life growing up learning a different culture and the struggles he faced becoming assimilated into American culture. In these two specific pieces of literature discuss the importance of breaking stereotypes of social and educational American standards and have similar occupational goals; on the other hand the two authors share their different family relationships.
Sherman Alexie demonstrates laughter as one of the ways a person can deal with emotional and physical pain shown in the short story “The Approximate Size of my Favourite Tumour.” Jimmy Many Horses is an Indigenous character that faces an inevitable disease: terminal cancer. Despite having cancer, Jimmy has a positive outlook towards his situation. He is an optimistic person, always looking for the good in bad conditions. Alexie depicts Jimmy’s relationship with others and his surroundings through their interactions. She has many hidden meanings that also ties in with the History of Indigenous people and their experiences during colonialism where they faced identity loss and racial stereotypes. Through symbolism, Alexie shows healing as a major theme shown throughout her use of the setting, cancer, and Jimmy Many Horses himself.
In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, he has many various characters. This specific short story is quite known for its irony within the story. The character’s name explain in vague terms there personality or even what they are not. Many of these characters can be seen in different ways but also be compared to one another. O’Connor gives significance in the characters names is contributed to what they do within the story.
In his stories Sherman Alexie’s humor, portays a role that helps bring people together,Alexie 's sophisticated use of humor unsettles conventional ways of thinking and helps brain growth, which allows Indian characters to connect to their heritage in ways and forces non-Indian readers to reconsider their ideas on them.
The authors of the majority praised works possess an element of madness within them. However, this element of madness is not meant to have a negative connotation; is simply means that praised authors, as a whole, have the ability to create piece of work beyond the capabilities of an average individual. Moreover, this element changes from writer to writer, due to the external forces and internal forces around them. Therefore, leading an author to have a particular writing style. Sherman Alexie a well acclaimed poet, prose and script writer has a very distinct style. His accurate portrayal of Native American culture, written to a young adult audience, has exemplifies why he has been so influential in today’s society. In fact, this style is displayed in “Evolution,” which was one of his earlier poems. This poem depicts the bitter reality of the destruction of Native American culture, while adding bits of irony to make it more light hearted. In order to better understand the consistent theme in his writing, one must uncover the Alexie background and the literary element he incorporates.