Essay on Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

I’m interested in how things should be.” He refused to accept the injustice that he lived in, so he fought. His father’s fighting spirit never rested; according to him, “Indians are pretty much born soldiers….” There was a distinguishable difference between how Victor and his father thought. As Victor dreamt about his father’s experience at Woodstock and tried to gain some sort of commonality and understanding with his father he said, “But as much as I dream about it, I don’t have any clue about what it meant to my father to be the only Indian who saw Jimi Hendrix play at Woodstock.” He realized that he had no idea how to relate to his father. His generation had no idea how to relate to the wounded generation of his father’s. The assimilation of the Native American people into the unaccepting American culture caused an un-relatable, un-mendable, and incomprehensible separation of thought and relationship between the young and old generations. There was a chasm created by the breaking of a culture.

Yet, the moment he ingested his first -- of many -- beer, the path he had so diligently followed shattered -- a decision that both left him forever ruined and dead. After an elucidating moment, Samuel begins to understand “too much about fear and failure,” and recognizes that “at the halfway point of any drunken night, there is a moment when an Indian realizes he cannot turn back toward tradition and that he has no map to guide him toward the future” (134). By coming to this conclusion, Samuel becomes aware of the direct link between failure and methomania, explaining how now that he -- like many of his community members -- has succumbed to this addiction, he no longer has a “map to guide him toward the future,” and thus has -- in a way -- lost the opportunity of seeking a new profession, which in turn renders his future meek, like that of other Native Americans. Not long after understanding this, Samuel passes out on the train tracks, where he succumbs to his death upon the train’s arrival. Unfortunately, Samuel is not alcohol’s only victim, as irreparable damage is also done to Julius Windmaker’s life in “The Only Traffic Signal On The Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”. Julius, a basketball prodigy, and hero on the reservation, joins the group of “fallen stars” after losing his sobriety. Throughout this short story, his peers Adrian and Victor,

To begin, Victor is just like a typical seventh grader because he has a crush. On page , Soto writes, “As Teresa walked down the hall, Victor walked the other way, looking back, admiring how gracefully she walked, one foot in front of the other.” This quote shows that Victor is just like a typical seventh grader. He really fond of Teresa, you could even say he loves her. Victor loves to just watch Teresa walk down the hall. He would rather be with Teresa than hang out with his friends because he likes her so much. A normal seventh grader has a crush even

In light of the treatment the Native Americans faced in the 19th Century, Pratt underlines the various ways the Native’s segregation triggered the establishment of a unified pact. He points out that the introduction of assimilation would be better for the good of the Natives and the country. His main argument touches on the destruction of the superstitious mannerisms that exist in the native culture, such as their language and religion. He maintains that the existing legislation that is in an establishment, such as the Land Severalty Bill, is counterintuitive to the progress and unity of the American people. Furthermore, he highlights that the effects of this action of segregation of the Indian people encourages cruelty that exists because

However, the actual school system was also a problem for Coates. When describing his dilemma between street skills and education, he says: “If the streets shackled up [his] right leg, the schools shackled up [his] left. Fail to comprehend the streets and you gave up your body now. But fail to comprehend the school and you gave up your body later” (Coates 25). The way in which Coates describes the “shackle” and “giving up” one’s body creates a prison-like connotation for school. He emphasizes on the necessity of balancing one’s schooling with education of the streets in order to survive. In fact, Coates explains how “There was nothing sanctified about the laws of the streets…But the laws of the schools were aimed at something distant and vague” (Coates 25). As schools have to cater to the needs of all of its students, this restricted education inevitably creates a generalized and vague curriculum aimed at the middle class.

Victor having a devastating experience by losing his father in this case, he now collects what his father left behind. In addition he had also lost his job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Alexie 319) and Thomas who is the tribal story teller that nobody wanted to listen to (Alexie 320). Victor and Thomas weren’t friends in childhood because as a child Victor always think people around him would embarrass him, “Victor closed his eyes in embarrassment"(Alexie 322). In addition, Victor and Thomas had a fight, “When they were fifteen and had long since stopped being friends, Victor and Thomas got into a fight” (Alexie 322). Which makes perfectly good sense they never established a good childhood relationship.

I appreciate Alexie’s bringing attention to the problem of alcoholism among Native Americans. As a wise man once said, we are only as sick as our secrets. The reality is that Native Americans are more likely to have an alcohol addiction than the U.S. national average. This high number may be due to genetic differences, higher poverty levels, or cultural differences. But, whatever the cause may be, we will not change these numbers unless we are willing to openly discuss the issue. As long as alcoholism is considered a problem of moral character and not a disease, we will be ineffective in treating the problem.

On one hand Victor says many things that lead us to believe that he is very proud of his Indian heritage. On the other hand, he makes some derogatory statements. For example in the reflective scene where his father asks him who his favorite Indian is, young Victor says nobody. He is obviously disgusted with the alcoholism within his family and probably throughout the reservation. I think that he wants to be proud of his heritage, but that the Indians he is surrounded

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.

I think Victor represents the strong and brave aspect of the Native Americans since he didn’t really feel accepted by anyone. Victor is in constant conflict with who he actually is and where he actually come from. Victor was quite angry towards his dad, but he does not understand this aggression until the very end, and it is at the point where he understands why his father ran away that he can accept his father's mistakes and celebrate his spirit. Thomas was they complete opposite of Victor when it came to being brave, he wasn’t tough and he didn’t stand up for himself. Victor tried his best to help Thomas become tougher just as he was. This is also the point where the idea of running from problems is also resolved. Running from problems is

Victor is a no-nonsense type of person. He is a stickler when it comes to tradition and is aware of how people perceive him as a Native American. He

This article talks about how on Indian Reservations, that if people don’t see you as dumb, then you are not accepted among everybody. If you were smart and Indian, you were considered dangerous but now the education for the schools have gotten a lot better and are teaching them things that they wouldn’t have been taught 20 years ago.

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie, is about a group of Native Americans who start a jazz band called Coyote Springs on an “Indian” Reservation near Spokane Washington. The novel takes us along with the band from start to finish, while they face problems concerning interracial relationships, cultural appropriation and exchange, and shared creativity. In Reservation Blues, their band is able to uniquely tie two historically oppressed cultures together. The first culture involved is Native American culture, as that is the culture of the members of the Coyote Springs band. The second culture involved is Black culture, as jazz was originally contrived from Black culture and is the type of music played by Coyote Springs. Due to the presence of creative property of one culture being used by another culture the concepts of cultural appropriation and cultural exchange come into play. Cultural appropriation is when one culture, often the oppressive culture, borrows elements of another culture, often the oppressed culture, and uses them for their own benefit. Which would be the Native Americans in this story using Jazz from Black culture, however, since both cultures are considered oppressed, this relationship would instead be considered one of cultural exchange. Cultural Exchange is similar to that of cultural appropriation without the element of oppression or dehumanization. In the novel, Alexie portrays the relationship between Native American and Black culture through Coyote

As a child, his only friends are Elizabeth and Clerval, and they are in fact, the only true friends he has throughout his entire life. He isolates himself from society during the time he is creating the monster, claiming that, 'I must absent myself from all I loved whilst thus employed' (page 147). He claims that this is necessary if he is to discover the secret of life. One reason why Victor isolates himself is due to his fear of sexuality. When he creates the monster, he is eliminating the role of women and rejecting normal sexuality. This is also shown when Victor's father suggests that he should marry Elizabeth immediately, and he states 'Alas! To me the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and dismay.' (page 147). This shows Victor's problems with relationships and therefore his isolation from others.

One characteristic that was described of Victor was his temper, and the violent nature in which it took over him. Victor classified his temper as not being meant to hurt people, but how he envisioned his ability to learn about heaven and earth (Chap. 2). Victor became infatuated with the work of Cornelius