Stereotypes In Reservation Blues

One of the themes used in the book is of racism towards the Natives. An example used in the book is of Edward Sheriff Curtis who was a photographer of 1900s. Curtis was interested in taking pictures of Native people, but not just any Native person. “Curtis was looking for the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the imaginative construct” (King, 2003; pp. 34). He used many accessories to dress up people up “who did not look as the Indian was supposed to look” (King, 2003; pp.34). He judged people based on his own assumptions without any knowledge of the group and their practices. Curtis reduced the identity of the Native Americans to a single iconic quintessential image of what Native meant to white society. The idea related to the image of this group of people during the 1900s consisted of racism in terms of the “real looking Indian”. This is not

Most of Alexie’s writing reflects life on the reservations today. The poverty, oppression, commodity food, and alcoholism are the main themes in his stories. The title story of his collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, however, deals with the life of an Indian man who has left the reservation to live in Seattle and some of the obstacles he faces in the white world. We never know the main character’s name, probably because he feels like a nameless nobody in this strange world. He is alienated and told that he doesn’t belong even

The colonization of Native American people has consequently framed Native American society as heteronormative, despite the historical inaccuracies of such a notion. The relationships presented throughout this collection range from sexual, platonic, familial and interracial. Race is "a constant presence" (14) throughout the course of each narrative. Alexie 's stories question of identity as it relates to race and sexuality across a boad spectrum. The nine stories in The Toughest Indian in the World move off the reservation to Seattle or the nearby city of Spokane. The ‘urban Indians’ at the heart of these stories are educated, middle class and sober, and outwardly at least, they are fully integrated into the dominant white society. This paper will explore the trajectory of identity in Alexie 's work and how Toughest Indian demonstates a sense of otherness of Indians in an urban envirnment. This theme is expored through Alexie 's treatment of race and sexuality as demonstrated in two stories: Toughest Indian and John Wayne.

When first read by the reader many different things could be going through their minds, one assumptions could be that the “Indians” that the author is

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.

Hollywood’s early depictions of Natives consisted of tribesmen and noble savages who are in tune with Nature. Films such as The Silent Enemy portray these stereotypes on screen with actors like Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance being shown as tribesmen who are very noble Natives. Although these stereotypes are positive, they are still stereotypes nonetheless. These stereotypes have caused

Specifically citing the story when Thomas had a dream that told him to go to the river and look for a sign. This easily displays the stereotypes of Native Americans, but it also shows the stereotype is not accurate, because he meets Victor’s dad there and they

In the story "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie, points out the hardships of being a Native American back in the 20th century. These hardships were racism, alcoholism, poverty and isolation. The story takes place in the reservation and it is about a young Native American whom struggles in society because of his skin color, family's addictions and fights. The narrator moves to Seattle with his white girlfriend who he seems to have an odd relationship because they are constantly fighting. He becomes an alcoholic and moves back to the reservation after a break up with his girlfriend.

With a life on the reservation filled will alcoholism, poverty, and years of stereo types, people need someone to look up. These warrior type characters give people hope in a bad time. Many times, this hope comes from the idea that it is possible to escape from the reservation

Indian Horse, a novel by Richard Wagamese, is a realistic and tragic story of a First Nations child named Saul who is taken to residential school. Saul Indian Horse goes through a multitude traumatic experiences at a young age; experiences consisting of losing his family, experiencing sexual abuse, and violent racism. In the novel, a theme the reader is always brought back to is Saul’s connection to, and longing for the land. Saul’s relationship with the land is meaningful to his character because it helps him understand his family history, connects him with his culture, and comforts him in times of need.

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 Ceremony, the author, Leslie Silko, displays the internal struggle that the American Indians faced at that time in history. She displays this struggle between good and evil in several parts of the book. One is the myth explaining the origin of the white man.

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

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian features two main settings, the Pacific Northwest towns of Wellpinit and Reardan. These contrasting locations – one an impoverished Indian reservation and the other an affluent white community – become very important to the ever-shifting identity of our narrator, Arnold Spirit, Jr.

Sherman Alexie’s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a short story about the modern day Native American. The speaker of the story welcomes the reader to the setting of the story, a 7-11. In this 7-11 the graveyard manager is skeptical about the speaker thinking that he is an armed robber and what not because of his tan skin and long ponytail. The speaker understands why the cashier may feel threatened because he himself was one a 7-11 graveyard shift employee. The speaker has a white girlfriend who he fights with quite often and she accuses him of being an alcoholic, eventually leaves his life with her in Seattle, Washington to go back to his reservation where his family is. He often has vivid dreams of Native Americans and white fighting on a battlefield until it takes a sick twist and the white are playing polo with an Indian woman’s head. The speaker is often stopped by the police for wandering in neighborhoods that the majority of the population is white. Him being different makes white people nervous and on edge. The speaker talks about how he was supposed to be different and that he had potential compared to your average Native American” (Alexie 386). The speaker was in college from a couple years and eventually dropped out and ends up a couch potato flipping through the television stations like the way society