Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals

Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of society quite different from that in England. Changes in religion, economics, politics and social structure illustrate this Americanization of the transplanted Europeans.

D). Also, the society change of peace between the Chickasaw Indians with the Americans who became the Indians “brothers” (Doc. C). Although, American faced many social challenges within the American Revolution, nevertheless, Americans relationships grew stronger with foreigners and fellow

In the film Smoke Signals, Chris Eyre explores the lives of the people of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation through Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s story. Thomas’s story shows how Victor's relationship with Arnold is rebuilt even after Arnold's death, and Victor comes to a place of understanding and forgiveness with his father and the world around him. Throughout the film, the symbolic references of the rez car and the cutting of the hair tie the story together and complement the main themes of life change and renewal, exemplifying the way people work through life's hardships.

European came to the new world of North America and they brought out advanced technology and culture to American continent. Over time, their lives changed as they adapted to different environments and they brought tremendous changed to American Indian tribes. New trade goods became another big change that European explorers and colonists brought to American Indians. Indians was trying to use these product that the explorers provided in their daily lives. Soon, American Indian men put away their bows and arrows for European firearms and lead shot. The desire to get European goods changed ancient trading patterns and American Indians began depended on European items for daily needs. The new goods brought from European totally changed Native American

Smoke Signals was the first feature film to be written, directed and co-produced by American Indians. This film is based on the literal and figurative journey of two Native Americans. Alexie uses humor, storytelling, and tradition throughout Smoke Signals to represent a coming-of-age story for two young Native American men at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Much of the film’s power has to do with its honesty, both in the way the characters are depicted as well as stories shared.

The American desire to culturally assimilate Native American people into establishing American customs went down in history during the 1700s. Famous author Zitkala-Sa, tells her brave experience of Americanization as a child through a series of stories in “Impressions of an Indian Childhood.” Zitkala-Sa, described her journey into an American missionary where they cleansed her of her identity. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” Zitkala-Sa uses imagery in order to convey the cruel nature of early American cultural transformation among Indian individuals.

Contact with the Native American population changed those Europeans who settled in the Americas. Europeans who came used the numerous natives as labor workers to build their powerful empires like the Spaniards. They also used the populations to provide food and shelter, and even

An example of this is when the Arawak Indians were enslaved by the Spaniyards, who would work them to death and even kill them if they did not do what was asked. Another change was the attitude that the Native Americans had towards the Europeans. Initially, they were welcoming and even believed the Europeans were gods, but after a series of unpleasant encounters, this opinion changed. An example of this would be the backlash from Native Americans who would attack Europeans who attempted to colonize on their land.

The long and often dark history between the white man and their co-inhabitants, the Native-Americans has been recognized on a global stage since the very first interaction between the two groups. Although several hundred years has passed and the two populations may not be chasing one another down on horseback, a fruitful relationship still does not exist. This poor relationship is a focal point of Sherman Alexie, a Spokane tribe member, in his story, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.” Through the interactions and events of his Native-American character, Victor, Alexie shows the isolation of Native-Americans due to this tension that underlies the relationship between Native-Americans and mainstream American society.

It was significant for Gallay to explain these societies routine before their contact with European colonists because it is easier to see how their complex society had to adapt in order to survive these changes. Paralleling with the title, Gallay focuses more readily on the slow changes in the Carolina area then compared to the others in this section. Gallay traces the interaction between Europeans and Indians and makes note that though Europeans have visited these areas, the impact of them living there permanently had not yet succeeded. Once Europeans created the colonies the slow change caused a ripple effect in the Indian civilizations. The introduction to weaponry and items the Indians had not yet used caused Indians to aggressively attack and create havoc to their neighbors. Their ability to pick and chose the new technologies Europeans brought spoke to their adaptable. One previously noted alteration Europeans caused was the value of a slave. Indian societies began to trade their captured neighbors for other needed goods to those that needed labor. One such group was the Westo; this society realized the benefit of trading captives to the English. Their previous way of life was to devoting their time and energy to hunting and processing pelts, but through trade they could gain the

The exchanges made between the Natives and the Europeans are numerous. From a biological standpoint, DNA, microbes, plants, and animals were exchanged. Although taboo, Natives and Europeans did mate and swapped genetics which could benefit the children produced. Genetic diversity is extremely important to the survival of offspring. While the exchange of microbes was a tragic one, it’s still vital to history. It decimated the population of the First Peoples. This allowed the Europeans to take over even more. Plants and animals were also important trades. New foods were introduced to both sides. This could have helped farming technology and the amount of food production. However, invasive species like weeds were also introduced which could harm

Smoke Signals is a movie written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre that deals with many social issues in modern Native American cultures. The film follows the journey of two Coeur d’Alene Indians, Victor and Thomas, as they travel from their reservation in Oregon to Phoenix, AZ in order to gather the personal artifacts of Victor’s father who has recently died. Along the way, Thomas helps Victor to understand and forgive his father, who left the family when Victor was a young boy. Victor’s father, Arnold Joseph, saved both of the boys from a fire that he inadvertently caused on the 4th of July when the boys were mere babies. Although the boys were saved, Thomas’s parents both died in the blaze.

In the story "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" by Sherman Alexie, two American Indians Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire together travel to Phoenix, Arizona. Victor's estranged father has recently died, leaving Victor three hundred dollars and a truck in Phoenix, Arizona, so Victor must journey to Arizona from Washington to retrieve the property. The Tribal Council of the Coeur D'Alene Indian Reservation were unable to provide sufficient funds for Victor's trip to Arizona. Thomas, Victor's old childhood friend assists with the money needed for the trip to Arizona. During the story, the author Alexie provides insight into the societal issues that harm American Indians on Indian reservations. The societal issues on American Indian

American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,”

The one most historically significant effect of the cultural exchange between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans is racism. Racism is such a huge effect from this cultural exchange because the Europeans and Native Americans relationship was ruined by the Europeans thinking they were superior to them, the Europeans turned to Africans for trade as well as labor to build their society in the Americas knowing that they were lesser than themselves, and finally Europeans could build a new world because they created race-based slavery. This exchange during this period of 1492 to 1700 brought a lot of change, and usually this change happened by force. The Europeans believed they were smarter and more superior which led them to think that they could just control whomever and take over whatever they pleased. The Europeans basically created race-based slave labor in order for them to successfully build their own economy and have laborers colonize the Americas.