Pawn I Will Redeem

Who gives without receiving? That’s right hardly anyone…. It’s sad to say but most of us struggle with the idea of freely giving without expecting anything in return. However, generosity splits us in two and has taught us to reach down and lift people up no matter their label. In the short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, written by Sherman Alexie, the main idea expressed is that reaching down into your empty pocket to give to others wins true success. The author demonstrates this idea through the use of characterization to show Jackson’s righteousness, the use of irony to differentiate the common Indian stereotypes from the main character and the use of symbolism of pawning to show the meaning of the story’s title and the pawnbroker.

The man was married, but never told Counter about being married until she asked him if he was hiding something. The man also told Counter many lies during their relationship, which in the end also caused their relationship to not work out. He lied to her about seeing her in the Drake Hotel, which was the reason for how their relationship got started in the first place. He also lied to her when he said, “[f] amily is the absolute most important thing to me” (20). If family was the most important thing to him he wouldn’t have cheated on his wife with Counter. The man continued to lie to Counter by saying, “I’m so ready to settle down” (20). He told her this when he was already settled down with a wife and a kid. By telling Counter that he wants to settle down, he deceives her into feeling like she can trust him and settle down

Another virtue the grandmother lacks is courage. Courage is “The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger with self-possession, confidence and resolution” (Courage). When The Misfit arrives, the grandmother is nothing but a coward. She exhibits no self-possession, “Alone with The Misfit, the grandmother found that she had lost her voice” (O’ Connor 1116), displayed here when she can’t even speak. She also has no resolution to the situation but to give The Misfit her money, “‘I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!’” (O’ Connor

Marriage unites two people for better or worse, in sickness and health, until death they do part. In earlier times, some people might say wedding vows were taken more seriously; other say divorce was different back in the day. Looking at Katie Chopin and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who both exemplify martial vows in their short stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Birthmark.” It is clear in one instance, it was because divorce was different but then on the other hand the stories demonstrate the seriousness of the wedding vows. However, these stories express a husband-dominated relationship, in which the men possess ideals such as possession, perfection, and being all knowing.

“But you didn’t give me as much as you gave him. isn’t my money as good as his? Don’t you know they always give men more?”(Page 168)

In discussions on the topic of lying, a controversial issue has been whether there is justification of lying or not. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if there is ever a time when a lie can be told for the good of someone else. Whereas some are convinced that lies should never be told, others agree that there are certain instances where lying is acceptable because the liar protects the one lied to. In the essay “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, she explores the types of lies and how they affect everyday people. In Anton Chekhov’s fictional story, “The Lady with the Dog,” he displays two characters, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, lying for love and to avoid consequence by their spouses. I stand against lying for the benefit of oneself because I think that it has the ability to ruin relationships or friendships and is hard to keep up the lies which leads to creating more lies. Although some people think that there are circumstances that warrant lying, I claim that no one should lie because lies end up hurting both people involved: the liar and the person lied to.

He thought since it was a reward or honor it should be given to her, for free. He asked her “Then if you pay for it, Martha, it is not a scholarship jacket, is it?”(Salinas). Her grandfather was right. Why should you have to pay for something that you earned as a reward for all the hard work you done? Then it is not really a reward. When you earn something in life weather it is a scholarship jacket, a trophy, or just even a certificate or promotion you should be able to enjoy it without having to stress over it or pay for it. Martha was upset that her grandfather refused to pay for the jacket, but she knew he was right.

It is very true that we lie. We lie everyday conscious or unconsciously, anywhere and to anyone. It has become a way of life to many people, when one lies it feels completely normal, actually they don’t feel anything at all. One can be couth lying in any place like work, home and to different person’s friends, family, clients, teachers and even authority. In the preface of the story the author had describe how in a day she had lied a minimum of four times to various people. In spite of this the authors tried a different approach she tried now to go a week without consciously lying, she discovered that it is merely impossible and of course as various negative consequences. So the main topic here could be why do we lie? Thus to know the reason why we like we must first examine the ways we lie, the so commonly ways we lie daily fashion. And to these there are several ways to lie, let’s examine two: The so called “White Lies” and of course the common stereotypes and Clichés.

Jackson’s dilemma begins when he and his friends pass a pawn store window and he notices powwow dance regalia in the storefront window that he recognizes belonged to his grandmother. The powwow dance regalia had been stolen years before, but Jackson is confident that he recognizes the regalia from photos. In an effort to prove the powwow dance regalia belonged to his grandmother, he tells the shop owner that he will find a yellow bead sewn on the inside. While the shop owner is sympathetic to Jackson’s situation, he explains that he has paid one-thousand dollars for the regalia, and can’t give it away. He does however offer to discount the price by one dollar.

Peck says that some people will go to ridiculous length to avoid assuring responsibility for their personal problems. The ridiculous things about the sergeant behavior is that when peck had suggested other activities like fishing, reading that sergeant can do instead of drinking, sergeant had come up all the reason not to do all those things and just keep drinking. The ridiculous things about young wife’s is that peck also gives her suggestion when she compliant she doesn’t have any friend, peck had suggested her to drive to wive’s club to make friend and learning how to drive a car. But she had come up with all the reason like how the road is bad and other things to avoid her problem and blame someone else for her problem. Both sergeant and

“I’ve got more than enough money for my daughter. What I need is honour. I intend to make her a marquise” (226).

In the short story, the main character, Yunior starts by explaining that he had cheated on his fiancé. But

Sherman Alexie’s "What you Pawn, I Will Redeem" appears on the surface to be a simply written story of a homeless, alcoholic Indian in Seattle who is trying to earn enough money to reclaim his grandmothers Pow Wow regalia from a local pawn shop. But upon looking closely, there are many symbolic passages that my lead a person to much deeper conclusions. Throughout the story there are many clues that hint at the fact that this quest may not have been real, but a more "spiritual" experience for him. It could be argued that Jackson Jackson was on a modern day vision quest.

The man has the money to fairly compensate the vendor, which can be seen from his initial offer of "three-and-six," yet he elects to pay him an extremely unfair price. He draws out this process because he considers it "fun," which indicates his belief that his interactions with the natives are a game

In return for the ephemeral joys of change, I am sure you are motivated by love, a love that existed well before your marriage and that fate has not been able to satisfy.”