Analysis Of 'When The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven'

Throughout “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” the theme of resilience is deliberately presented. Native Americans past and present continue to face stifling issues such as racism, alcoholism, isolation and suicide. Sherman Alexie makes it his obligation in his stories and poems to show Native American resiliency through humor. By using his characters to show resiliency through humor Alexie presents humor as an integral part of Native American survival.

While listening to a story, one can engross his or herself in the action, experiencing the events vicariously. By experiencing the story one can gain an understanding of the purpose that the author is trying to portray. In “A Place Where the Soul Can Rest” by bell hooks and “How to Make a Slave” by Jerald Walker the audience is taken on a journey through the progression of each of the author 's life experiences dealing with racism and sexism. Through use of anecdotes the audience develops a comprehension for both of the authors’ lives, witnessing their hardships of being subordinates in a white, male dominated society. Although both authors bring awareness to the atrocities of racism and sexism, hooks’ story’s purpose stands above

Analysis of Sherman Alexie's 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven' and 'Smoke Signals'

Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull are all noble Indian warriors of the recent past. Each warrior symbolizes courage, hope, and bravery in battle. The mighty warriors proved themselves in battle time and time again. These men were looked up to with the highest regards of their people. Indian children grew up with stories of these brave warriors being passed down from generation to generation. A great respect is seen for the legendary warriors of the past. As times change and the days of Indian and cowboy battles are behind us; how is it possible for a warrior to still be relevant in the modern day? Sherman Alexie expresses this idea of a modern-day warrior in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Many times,

The way we live defines us, tradition defines us. Tradition is a very important thing. It is something that spans many generations and is a part of one's identity. Tradition can define us. Therefore when tradition is forcibly taken away it can hurt a lot of people and generations. An example of a people who have had many of their traditions suppressed and taken away are the original inhabitants of the Americas. Their tradition was taken from them and they were either killed or forced into following a new tradition which erasing all of their identity. The effect this has on the newer generation is bad because they will feel like a part of them is missing because their tradition was taken and it can cause a trauma called generational trauma. The book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in heaven, focuses on a Native American named Victor in order to describe how generational trauma causes a weakening of tradition because it becomes replaced with alcohol and isolation. In addition, Alexie presents how a rekindling of old traditions is a way out of this harmful circle.

In July 2009, at a TED conference, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author, gave a stunning speech about “the Danger of a Single Story”. In her speech, she mentioned about negative consequences happening when people tend to form stereotypes based on a single story, the one-sided argument. The single story blindfolds our eyes and prevents us from seeing the complexity, diversity, and similarities that construct our world, just as Adichie says “these negative stories is to flatten my experience and overlook the many other stories that formed me” (12:56). Listening to all her own personal experience and argument, I have become fully convinced and also see myself reflected in her stories. The single story can cause underlying and harmful impacts not only on personal issues but also on the global scale.

In “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” written by Sherman Alexie, he talks about his struggle in society of being Indian. Alexie shows his struggle through his telling of personal experiences in life. In his late night trip to 7-11, he has a strange encounter with the 7-11 employee because the employee is suspicious of him just because he is Indian. “‘I was hoping you weren’t crazy, you were scaring me,”’ said the 7-11 employee. He proves his point by giving quotes of his conversation, but even though Alexie was not being suspicious, he gets eyed down as if he was just because of his race. Another way Alexie was racially abused was when he was driving around at night because him and his girlfriend got in a fight. “‘Well you

In today 's society, equality is a big deal, with many people still fighting for their rights. People all over the world are still being discriminated against, a topic that is not uncommon for a vast amount of dystopian novels. In fact, it 's a very common theme for multiple dystopian pieces. Scott Westerfeld 's Uglies, Joelle Charbonneau 's The Testing, Liam Hughes ' The Social Classes, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 's Harrison Bergeron, and Wes Ball 's interpretation of The Maze Runner all have social discrimination integrated into their story lines. Despite the many problems in dystopian societies, authors also present the classic hero that rises above those issues and works to rebuild their government or community. However, a hero isn 't just born, they 're made through a series of events such as problems with social class discrimination.

The short story "Class" by Sherman Alexie tells of the struggles of an American Indian man and tries to demonstrate how he reacts to his contrasted feelings and diverse world around him. The central theme of Alexie's short story is contrast, and this theme is evident throughout the story, even in the smallest of details. The actions, emotions and even the language of the characters contrast and these contrasts clearly illustrate the difference the characters have in class.

Love and respect go hand and hand. Respect is earned but love is given, that is the only difference between them. Love should be felt all around the world and happiness will come with it also. But sometimes love isn 't in people 's hearts, that 's when wars are created and people die. A Lot of stories written throughout history have been about love, dedication to culture, and a race separated from respect and judged harshly. In the essays An Indian Father 's Plea, Gate A-4, and Just Walk On By:Black Men In Public Space, each tells of at least one and should be looked at with open eyes and minds.

In Adichie’s remarks, she explains the effects of single stories through forms of racism. While racism is a huge issue, I wanted to bring in a different example of when single stories were used in my life. These were connected with my religion and the religion of others.

In these novels the theme I chose was racial prejudice, were it also gives a message racism and how far it could go. Further into “From An Ordinary” it's

It doesn’t take long to figure out that race and ethnicity issues continue to affect America - a quick glance at the news will show the latest riot, hate crime, or police brutality incident. This centuries old struggle has given rise to a number of literary works on the topic, many of which take a different approach to the issue. W.E.B. Du Bois, for instance, published the work The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, arguing for blacks’ right to equality in a horrifically segregated society. In these essays, Du Bois coined the term “double-consciousness,” wherein those with black skin must view the world both from their own perspective, and from the perspective of the predominately white society. The short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison explores this concept through the removal of the characters’ races, and the film Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, tells a story to demonstrate it. While the former shows double-consciousness through the usage of ambiguity, the latter almost directly references the concept. Taken together, these two sources argue a multi-faceted version double-consciousness, wherein society alienates the characters in ways that go beyond just the color of one’s skin.

Internalized oppression is just one factor that contributes to the inescapability of intergenerational trauma. Alexie uses figurative language to demonstrate that the cycle of oppression is further perpetuated by the concept of racial inferiority, poverty, and failure to achieve an education in his short story “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”. The main character, Victor, sits on the porch with his friend Adrian as they reminisce their past and hope for others futures. Victor claims that “Indians [could] easily survive the big stuff... It’s the small things that hurt the most. The white waitress who wouldn’t take an order, Tonto, the Washington Redskins” (49).

The book’s character’s main problem is finding individuality in racism. For the duration of the book, the narrator is constantly fighting racism and stereotypes. Ellison put many examples in the book to help show the character’s fight to be seen equal. Ellison shows that, through the character himself, that you can not tell people who to be. However, Ellison throws curves at the narrator that challenges