Reservation Blues By Sherman Alexie

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

Later on in history we abolished slavery only to discriminate against race. In early 1900s, race became a problem due to its increasing population of ethnically diverse people. America was seen as the

Slavery is a system in which human beings can be owned by other people and are treated effectively like property in the eyes of the law. Slavery was introduced to the colonies in 1619, at Jamestown, Virginia, where unskilled workers were needed to farm tobacco (“Slavery(Issue)”) . The South needed slaves more due them having a more agricultural lifestyle. However, the North, which was based upon manufacturing and trading and basically no slaves by the time of the Constitution. During that time, indentured servants were more popular due to less expense and danger than the slaves. However, after the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which established cotton as a lucrative

The issue of slavery has been in infamous part of American history since it first started in the 1600’s in Jamestown, Virginia. During the colonial era, white male landowners needed help on their land taking care of crops, so they would purchase the African slaves after they arrived by boat and have them work the land as well as other tasks that needed to be done such as tending to

After the American Revolution, the plantation systems of the south greatly expanded slavery in the United States. The Southern states relied on this slave labor for workers in their fields. This created tension everywhere, politically, economically, and socially. Many felt it was unjust to own a human being and the treatment of these slaves was horrible. These tensions were so strong that it became a major component to the nation-wide crisis, which resulted in the Civil War. Non-slaving holding Americans used forms of anti-slavery agitation to try to persuade slave-holding people to see their side. After the Civil War ended and the abolishment of slavery was put into law, the problem of race was not over. It provided freedom to millions of enslaved Americans and was a major social shift in the United States.

The institution of slavery was meant to be a permanent condition for Black males. This condition lay the historical outline for structural and societal racism resulting in a degrading formation of identity within Black. Africans were imported to the United States as purchased goods beginning around 1620. By 1770, almost 700,000 people, nearly 18 percent of the Americans were slaves. By the time of the Emancipation Proclamation, that number had exploded to over 4 million Davidson, J., DeLay, B., Heyrman, C., Lytle, M., & Stoff, M. (2011). Blacks were systemically dehumanized for hundreds of years, a practice that had unique social and psychological effects on men. They worked and were whipped in fields like animals. Any resemblance of pride, any call for justice, and any measure of manhood was tortured, beaten, or sold out of them. Most were forbidden from education, which included learning to read and write Davidson et al. (2011).

Whites have always considered themselves superior to blacks, no matter if they were slave owners or not. Blacks were considered lower than humans, making them a main target of oppression of whites. So even when a small group of blacks were given their freedom, they weren’t truly liberated from the chains of slavery and oppression. Blacks were freed in the early 1800s, giving a limited amount of blacks the freedom they deserved. These blacks were usually rural, uneducated, and unskilled domestic servants who had to work hard to survive in the society that shunned them. Free blacks were still given restrictions and laws because of their status in society. In the early 1830s, a law in Virginia was made to prohibit all blacks from getting their education. They even took it to the level where free blacks who went out of state to educate themselves were not able to come back and return to their own state. The worst restriction was that blacks could not testify in court. When a slave owner claimed that a free black was their slave, they could not defend themselves, and would have to conform back to their slavery. Despite the terrible treatment given to blacks, some rose above the oppression and became successful, therefore achieving their goals and potentials of being a free black man, leaving a huge impact on society in the 1800s.

Alexie uses first hand experiences all throughout his article to depict the reality of American Indian’s lives. By appealing to the pathos, he gives his readers the ability to empathize with him, experiencing both the trials and triumphs. His use of analogies provides his audience with visuals that portray his experiences more accurately. When Alexie writes about himself in

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

Before reading this book, I honestly knew little about Native American. I knew that many lived on reservations, but I knew nothing about those reservations. By being brutally honest, Sherman Alexie provided incite to how the everyday life of a teenage Native American is like. This book opened my eyes to the problems that Native American’s face, that I was in the dark about before.

Throughout history, African Americans both free and enslaved were not treated equally nor permitted with the same rights as white men. African Americans were enslaved and not allowed to vote or hold public office. Since the 15th century, African Americans have been treated less than human, some even experienced brutal punished for justifiable mistakes. The use of African American slave labor was an enormous contribution to agriculture and labor. It became a part of southern state’s economy within America. Additionally, African Americans were forced or born into slavery where they endured harsh working conditions with zero pay and often times were punished by their masters. Even slaves that became emancipated or paid for their freedom were also treated differently than whites. Notably, blacks did not have the same privileges as whites and were forced to carry a “freedom card” wherever they went. Failing to do so would lead to severe consequences, such as being forced back into slavery. Once African Americans were considered free, they faced additional discriminations such as not being able to vote or serve as a figure in public office. Due to this and additional factors, African Americans were almost entirely incapable of defending themselves against whites. Since the start of the 17th century, African Americans, free and enslaved were punished for their skin color and were considered the lowest scale by not being allowed to the same opportunities and rights and white men.

In the creation of The United States, African Americans captured and enslaved for their labor to make a profit. African American before the 19th century, were not seen as equal to that of white Americans, in fact African Americans during the era of slavery were often treated or seen as the equivalent to wild animals. The enslavement of African Americans exists in the form of racism but the use of African Americans was based on economic mobility for the United States in the global economy. As centuries past, African slaves fought for their rights against their oppressors; the notion of oppression against African later ceased to exist. Years later, slavery became abolished in the United States due to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which defined slaves as freed men. African Slaves were to be recognized as freed by federal law; this allowed slaves to free themselves from being enslaved by their white slave masters. Africans eventually became American citizens and they were given certain freedoms that were equivalent to that of white Americans. Still many rights like the right to vote, obtaining better wages, affordable housing and social equality overall were not given to African Americans, as years past, law makers proposed a set of state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in pubic communities in the United

In Sherman Alexie’s novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven shows the struggles of daily Native American life, which is shown through the point of view of male character. All though out the book the following three questions appear: ‘What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? and What does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?’ Alexie uses literary devices such as point of view, imagery, characterization to make his point that the conflict of being an Indian in the U.S. in these short stories using the following short stories “An Indian Education” and “Amusement”. “An Indian Education” uses both imagery and characterization to show us what the narrator is

In the story of reservation blues by sherman alexie the opening chapter starts off with the literary device of foreshadowing. “ In the one hundred and eleven years since the creation of the spokane indian reservation in 1881, not one person, indian or otherwise, had arrived there by accident. Wellpinit, the only town the reservation, did not exist on most maps, so the black stranger surprised the whole tribe when he appeared with nothing more than the suit he wore and guitar slung over his back.” The opening scene in this chapter gave me the feel of an mystical spooky setting. This lead me to believe that this character “ Robert Johnson” would have a big part in this story.

Native American authors often share common themes that stem from life on reservations; these include poverty, violence, abuse, and alcoholism. Sherman Alexie, a Native American from Spokane, Washington, is not only one of these authors, but she may be the most successful and well-known Native American writer who contributes these themes. Alexie often made strong attempts to portray life as a Native American in her short stories in novels. For her, it was about depicting the Native American experience. she does just that in her short story collection, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.” Alexie uses literary elements, such as themes, symbolism, and imagery to further aid her overall message of what life is like growing up and living on a reservation. These experiences, as she demonstrates, contrast sharply with those of white society, as they cannot fathom a similar culture.