Symbolism In The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

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 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, uses various concrete objects, such as rivers, to symbolize a diverse range of feelings, emotions, and even actions. The ultimate symbol in the novel is the Mississippi River. Rivers often

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.

In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Superman and Me,” Alexie writes about his life as an Indian child growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the state of Washington. He depicts his life from when he was three years old, living on the reservation, up to his current self, as an adult writer who frequently visits that reservation. He primarily describes his interest in reading and how it has changed his life for the better.

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

The river represents the period between life and death. Another part of this symbol is the air representing life and under the rocks and waterfall representing death. Just as the transition from life to death is in motion, so is the rushing of the water. Both have a beginning and an ending point, but the part in the middle is constantly moving, swirling and churning. As the girl loses hope for survival and the waterfall is approaching, the narrator states, “[S]he becomes part of the river” (45). The girl now crosses over the borderline of life and death, and she is about to be swallowed up by the falls of death and can never return to life. However, when the diver goes into the river to save her, he comes out saying that “he’d never enter that river again” (47). He encounters the spiritual eccentricity of the edge of death when he looks into lifeless girl’s animated eyes, and he can not fathom that experience. Another symbol that is introduced twice is the gurgle of the aquarium, which symbolizes the attempt to understand nature’s cycle of life. As she floats downstream, the girl remembers “her sixth-grade science class, the gurgle of the aquarium at the back of the room”(45). During this moment, all of her thoughts are puzzled, and she cannot understand the death awaiting her. Later on, after sleepless nights, the diver is in the empty school where “the only sound the gurgle of the aquarium” (48). This moment is the point at which he decides

 Water represents Sethe's transition from slavery to freedom. Sethe left Sweet Home pregnant with Denver, "and ran off with no one's help" (p.224). She ran scared and fearful of the trackers following her trail.  Sethe met Amy Denver, a white women, on her way to Ohio.  Amy helped Sethe find the Ohio River.  The river was "one mile of dark water...[and] it looked like home to her and the baby"(p.83).  When Amy left, Sethe traveled downstream and met Stamp Paid.  He helped her and Denver cross the river to freedom.  Stamp took Sethe upstream, "and just when she thought he was taking her back to Kentucky, he [Stamp Paid] turned the flatbed and crossed the Ohio like a shot" (p.91).  The river locked away the memories of Sweet Home and began her life with Denver at 124.   Water represents the transition of Sethe's slave life to her life of freedom.  Again, water has cleansed the soul of the sin of slavery. The river is now a barrier.  It separates Sethe's life of slavery, to her new life of freedom.

Analysis of Sherman Alexie's 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven' and 'Smoke Signals'

In the passage “Two Ways of Seeing a River,” author Mark Twain attempts to share the feelings of loss he experienced after he was disillusioned to the beauty of the Mississippi River. Twain was a famous Nineteenth century author who had previously worked as a steamboat captain and who grew up along the river. The organization of the paragraphs in relation to each other is linear, and the content of each paragraph is dominated by a different rhetorical device.

Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull are all noble Indian warriors of the recent past. Each warrior symbolizes courage, hope, and bravery in battle. The mighty warriors proved themselves in battle time and time again. These men were looked up to with the highest regards of their people. Indian children grew up with stories of these brave warriors being passed down from generation to generation. A great respect is seen for the legendary warriors of the past. As times change and the days of Indian and cowboy battles are behind us; how is it possible for a warrior to still be relevant in the modern day? Sherman Alexie expresses this idea of a modern-day warrior in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Many times,

The two rivers mentioned in ASP are symbolic of the experiences of the students at Devon. The Naguamsett is described as dirty, murky and forbidding, much like the war raging on in the world outside Devon. The strong currents and unpredictability of the river mirrors the war and its chaos. The Devon, on the other hand, is a river that the students are fond of. Fresh water, it is clear and uncomplicated, and is the scene of the golden summer days the boys spent in and around it. The fact that the Devon emptied into the Naguamsett is symbolic of the inevitable transition from the simplicity of childhood innocence to the complications and confusion of maturity. The cave in “DPS” represents freedom. Freedom from convention, freedom from the constrained ideology of the school, and the freedom to express themselves. In the cave the boys read prohibited poetry, drink, smoke cigarettes and discuss women, all things they cannot do within the rigid confines of Welton Academy behavior. As in the lore of old, this cave does indeed contain a treasure, the Dead Poets’ Society’s unrepressed intellectual exchange, combining both their coarser thoughts and their most elevated ambitions. The cave is not so much a barrier against the outside world, rather a cocoon for the ideas of the world within, where they are free and

Another powerful symbolisms was when Jim meets the girls for a picnic. The symbol of the plow against the powerful sun. The third symbol is the rattlesnake and it 's symbol of Jim becoming a man. The girls reminisce as does Jim at the picnic. The girls remember the beautiful wonderful memories of their homelands and contemplate they 're great struggles to make it in America. At the end of their picnic the silhouette of the pile against the setting sun symbolizes the plow like the pioneer spirit of strength, beauty in all inspiring greatness of nature like the sun. “Presently we saw a curious thing: there were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-wash sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disc rested on the high fields against the horizon, and black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We swing trophy, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. And some upland farm, a pile have been left standing in the field. The sun was thinking just behind that to find across the distance was the horse on a light, it 's third against the sun, it was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; The handles, the tongue, the share-Black against the mountain ride. They are at wise, heroic in size, A picture the sun. Even while we were whispering about, our vision disappeared; The ball dropped and dropped until the red tip meet with the earth. The field below us was dark, the sky was growing pale, and that forgotten

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

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 last and most prominent example of the river symbolizing peace, calmness, and freedom was the ability of Huck and Jim to when they wanted �lit the pipes, and dangle their legs in the water and talk about all kinds of things.� The most surprising aspect was when Huck stated that �we was always naked, day and night.� This continues to portray the theme of peace, calmness, and freedom that is given to the characters by the river. The most obvious is that because the river was so peaceful and calm that it led to their freedom to do as they please without the barriers given by society on land.