To Say Phoenix Arizona

From the flashbacks the readers can conclude that Victor and his father didn’t have that close of a relationship. Victor’s character seemed unemotional. Also during his flashbacks, he seemed happy most of the time until Thomas and Victor got into a fight. From then on, Victor seemed to lose his way and connection with the Indian people. Thomas seemed to feel like Victor’s father was his father.

Thomas goes on to change his way of dressing, and even his hairstyle. The old Thomas wore his hair in two braids, and sported suits everyday. The new Thomas wears his hair unraveled so that is it appears to be long and flowing, like the typical “native american”. When they arrive back on the bus the two are bullied by two caucasian men who steal their seats. The two try and get back at the men by singing a song they casually made up in Native American style. When Thomas and Victor finally arrive in Arizona at Arnold’s trailer, they are greeted by his girlfriend. Once inside the home she presents them with Arnold’ s ashes. Victor becomes emotional and is ready to head back to the reservation. As he goes through his father’s belongings, something comes over Victor and he retaliates by cutting his hair. Victor and Thomas portray to be “American” in a sense. The two play sports, have typical family problems, and reference pop culture. However they also portray two indian stereotypes; the warrior and the shaman. Victor represents the warrior, and Thomas the shaman. Victor’s short temper and

When they returned back to the reservation, Victor knew that he still could not be seen talking to Thomas for fear of being ridiculed for talking to the crazy storyteller. “Victor knew that he couldn’t really be friends with Thomas, even after all that had happened. It was cruel but it was real.” (Alexie P. 518) Victor in a way was thankful for Thomas’ help but seemed too proud to admit it to Thomas. Victor knows that Thomas would remain the crazy storyteller. In a way Victor felt ashamed of himself.

Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories do not wants to hear. Thomas bring a very interesting flavor to the story. He tells many stories to the people, but most people ignore him, because most of his stories are made up. He sees Victor as a brother. Each time something happen between Thomas and Victor like a fight or an argument, Thomas would go back to him and talk to

Throughout the story Victor replays moments in his mind. Times when he and Thomas were best of friends. Times when he loved listening to Thomas' visions about life and stories with hidden lessons. Times when Thomas was there for him and even a time when Thomas helped to save his life. The good memories turn to visions of Victor turning his back on his best friend. Victor is faced with the reality of his cruel actions and choices. Of how he chose to go with the rest of the 'pack' and attack the 'weak' one. Victor recalls being drunk when he was fifteen and beating up Thomas for the fun of it. How all of the other boys on the reservation just stood and watched and how he may have continued beating Thomas

Thomas Builds-the Fire values his Native American culture by being a spiritual person. He has prophetic vision and dreams of the future. Thomas Builds-the-Fire tells Victor stories about his father on the trip to Phoenix, Arizona. One of Thomas vision is he predict that Victor father’s going to leave before anyone knew what was going to happen. “Your father’s heart is weak. He is afraid of his own family. He is afraid of you. Late at night he sits in the dark. Watches the television until there’s nothing but that white noise. Sometimes he feels like he wants to buy a motorcycle and ride away. He wants to run and hide. He doesn’t want to be

Victor Joseph’s portrayal of the classic Native American man is exemplified by Alexie’s use of dialogue, costumes, and flashbacks. For example, when Victor sees Thomas smiling as they ride their way to Arizona he says, “Indians ain’t supposed to smile like that. Get stoic” (Smoke Signals). This example of dialogue reveals how Victor believes a Native American man should present himself traditionally, which strongly contrasts with Thomas’s demeanor and appearance. Victor continues on, saying, “Look at your hair, it’s all braided up and stuff. You gotta free it. An Indian man ain’t nothing without his hair.” (Smoke Signals). Hair design is used to symbolize Victor’s close ties with his ancestral past as a Native American. Additionally, Victor’s comment on hair foreshadows when Victor himself cuts his hair, symbolizing a moment in which Victor embraces his traumatic past by accepting who he is as a person. In a more literal sense, flashbacks are also used to symbolize the trauma that Victor experienced in his direct past - living with an alcoholic father, Arnold Joseph, who abandoned him. However, by the end of the movie, Victor embraces this past through the spreading of his father’s ashes.

Indians have faced oppression and discrimination ever since Columbus landed in the New World, and that frustration has affected their relationships with themselves and White people. The film Smoke Signals begins with a flashback to Thomas' house being on fire on Independence Day on the reservation. Thomas was thrown out of the window by his parents in hope of saving him from the fire and Arnold caught him. Victor "rose from the flames" of the fire and has a temper throughout the majority of the film because of his bad memories of his father being abusive and leaving him and his mother Arlene. Victor was also angry with how Indians were treated ever since Columbus landed in the New World and refused to trust White people for the majority of the film. Thomas "rose from the ashes" and has already lost his parents from the fire and accepts his life on the reservation and remains cheerful with his good memories of growing up with Victor's father. Arnold was beginning to come to peace and accepting his mistakes by spreading his wisdom and telling stories of his son Victor to his neighbor Suzy but died before he could completely let go of his regrets and is cremated into ashes. Symbolic objects in this film function as metaphors to represent the past and present struggles of Indians with colonialism and the Europeans that took away their land in the New World. These struggles include oppression from White people and frustration from being forced to live on a reservation. In the

Stereotypes are shown in the story through the binary depictions of Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire. The most important binary that is emphasized by Alexie is the stereotypes that Victor is “bad,”while Thomas is good. Victor is portrayed as the negative views of Indians. “Victor was really drunk and beat up Thomas up for no reason at all” (Alexie). In this situation, Victor is shown as the typical drunk Native American. Other stereotypes that are presented by Victor are that Indians are lazy when he fails to be persistent to try to get more money to get to Phoenix. When Victor beats up Thomas as a teenager, this depicts Victor as the bloody savage. Thomas Builds-the-fire, on the other hand, is portrayed as the more positive view of Native Americans. The romantic portrayals of Native Americans include the idea that they are noble savages. Indians are characterized as gentle and connected to the world. For example, instead of being captured as a bloody savage as Victor, Thomas is seen as the noble savage as he appears to be more connected with the environment and nature. Being connected with the nature and the world shows that Thomas-Builds-the-Fire is is not a selfish person. Also, instead of being viewed as lazy, Thomas Builds-the-Fire appears as diligent. This is because Thomas continued to

The story begins "Just after Victor lost his job at the BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs], he also found out that his father had died," indicating to the reader that this is a third-person narration by the use of Victor, he, and his. Sherman continues with "there was still a genetic pain . . . as real and immediate as a broken bone" to show the depth of Victor's loss. Sherman also states that this pain was "soon to be" transformed into something, foreshadowing that Victor's pain would not fade with time but rather grow and intensify.

Born 1833 in Taos, New Mexico Ouray would grow up to become the leader of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe and known as a man of peace; According to oral history passed down by Ute elders, he was born on a gloriously clear night when a display of meteor showers came across the sky. The elders believed it was a sign; a message from above of good things to happen. Ouray’s mother was apart of the Uncompahgre Ute and his father Guera Murah was half Jicarilla Apache. Ouray grew up in Taos areal; spanish and english were the languages spoken, he would later learn the to speak the Ute and Apache languages. He spent his youth working for a mexican sheepherder and fighting the rival Kiowa and Sioux.

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 his 1998 independent film, Smoke Signals, Native American director, Chris Eyre, tells the story of Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Victor Joseph, two Indians on the Coeur d'aLene Indian reservation in Idaho. Thomas and Victor have grown up together. The death of Thomas’ parents in a house fire on the 4th of July unites the two boys, even though they were infants, as Victor’s father, Arnold, saved Thomas from the fire. As time passes, Arnold becomes more and more distant and abusive, drowning his sorrows in alcohol. One day he leaves Victor and his mother and disappears for good. Victor never really knew why his father left him, but felt that it was his fault. He goes through his days feeling guilty and is constantly plagued by Thomas, who annoys

In Dagoberto Gilb’s story “Al in Phoenix” the narrator feels that Al is treating him unfairly. The narrator believes that Al thinks of him as a guy that is living loose and not bothering to get a job (Gilb 75-81). The narrator being the inductive thinker thought that Al was being unfair to him because of the way he was being treated. Al on the other hand, uses deductive thinker because he just based his facts about the truth. Al based that the only reason the narrator is at the garage getting his car fixed was because of it having problems and probably because he had the image of the narrator of being a living loose type of person that worries about every single little thing.

“This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”: The Road to a New Beginning